Bringing The Right Company To The Table

We have this joke we always use in our slide presentations when we want to emphasize the fact that your sponsors should always be appropriate or, as we say, "relevant." 

We normally show a slide that our graphics guru, Eddie Hernandez, developed and it's this digitally-enhanced outfield baseball fence that has two sponsors that we felt didn't match... it always gets a laugh at presentations. See below:

But, now, thanks to the FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) High School Football Finals at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, we no longer have to use an image we made up.  We have a real one that was displayed before the St. Thomas Aquinas/Plant football finals on Friday night....

Maybe we're just too sensative to the possible parental backlash.  To be honest, nobody at The Citrus Bowl seemed to mind or notice, probably because parents are so used to seeing this type of advertising at sporting events and venues.  I'm pretty sure though that, if anybody contacted Anheiser-Busch and said, "hey, we're running the state high school football finals... can we take the bulbs out of your signage or cover it up?"  Bud would be more than happy to oblige.  They don't want or need the bad press.

It might fly at the Citrus Bowl during high school football games but I would dare not test it at a high school.  Even with the same association presiding over the same coaches and student-athletes, there is a huge difference between watching a high school football game at a privately-owned facility and attending your students high school stadium and seeing the exact same signage.  Our expectations are different and it's good advice to keep that in mind when we're scouting for corporate partners.

Buses: The Inside Scoop and Outside Chance.

There's really a central question surrounding this one and it's simple Risk vs. Reward:  Does the revenue from advertising on your school buses justify the risk. 

Risk is the chance that the advertising on the inside of the bus while suffer the wrath of the public backlash and put the breaks on your program or that somebody reading that ad on the back of the bus isn't paying attention to the brake lights and now you have a much bigger problem.

Anybody that has talked to me about advertising in schools knows I'm not a fan of advertising to children in a "trapped environment."  That includes the insides of classrooms and school buses.  If they don't have a choice to leave the immediate surroundings then I don't think it's a good place to be putting advertisements. 

I don't like the locker wraps either.... too forced.  I don't like murals or mobiles either - blurs the line a bit too much for me. 

There's too much easy inventory out there to mess with the sticky stuff.  There's also two much more important groups your missing:  Parents and employees.   Most of the big companies have their own rules already in place about "advertising to children" and they are very strict.  Concentrate your efforts and focus on the parents and the employees.  There's good money in that and a lot less hassle.

41st National Athletic Directors Conference

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) are hosting the 41st National Athletic Directors Conference Orlando World Center Marriott Resort from December 15th through December 19th. 

I'll be presenting in the third workshop session on Sunday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.  The workshop will be on "Lining Up Sponsors For Your Athletic Program."  It will be moderated by Tracy Leinen, CMAA, Athletic Director from Boise (Idaho) High School.

We'll be discussing district-wide and single school partnerships.  We'll discuss how we can cultivate and keep these partnerships valuable and hassle-free.  At last count, we already have over 200 participants signed up for this workshop.  Hope to see you there. 

The flood gates

Looks like school districts all over the U.S. are looking into advertising programs.  I've been lucky enough to get to talk to some of these districts and have heard some good - and bad - ideas.

For example, putting electronic billboards on your chest and walking up and down the bleachers for fans to see... well, you call that one.

There's two things the school district I work with abides by that I think has distinguished ourselves and has prevented us from receiving any push back from anybody in our community.

Two simple rules:

• Keep the advertising relevant - Work with companies that complement the schools and/or programs that they affiliate with.  Neither the company or the school or school district will benefit from a partnership that is not relevant.  
• No trapped environments - we don't do anything on the inside of buses or inside of classrooms.  We haven't put any advertising anywhere that a student, employee or fan can't walk away from.  In fact, I really haven't found many companies even want the students.  School districts would benefit more from working with companies that want to reach parents and/or school employees and use that as the anchor to your program. 

Don't open the flood gates to outside companies that don't have the best interest of your school district in mind.  And, never allow multiple companies to sell the same inventory.  I know it sounds good initially when somebody brings it up and says let's just let all of them sell it so we ensure it sells... but, after you think about it, consider this:
You'll have companies over-promising and under-delivering.  They'll also undercut each other to win the business and that will drop the value of your inventory.  It also confuses local businesses when multiple school programs, the school district, the booster club, the band, football team, PTA, and teachers are all calling them asking for donations and proposing partnerships - add in multiple third-party companies and you'll confuse them even more.

Vendors at your games

This continuously seems to be one of the hardest things to transition among high schools.  Tradition should be considered in your program, not your vendors.  It's one of the most contentious topics I encounter, especially with media groups. 

If you are going to charge your vendors (and you should) the only important factor to consider is to be consistent and have an outline.  Here's the one we use:  Any company promoting a service, product, or brand at our high school sporting events falls under our vendor agreement policy.

This includes media.  They love to fall under the guise of "reporting" and there needs to be a very clear outline here.  If they show up with a journalist and/or photographer.... bingo: Editorial.  If they are handing out bumper stickers and tee-shirts and parking their van on your front lawn: marketing/promotions.  It's very clear cut.  Radio, television, and newspapers know that their favorite audience is sitting in your stands on a Friday night.

We'll get into the fees in the next post.

contact info

I get calls on my work phone for this blog and wanted to give some other contact details:
info@tebosportsmarketing.com
brian_siatkowski@yahoo.com

Taking it to the next level

When you are ready to take the advertising programs in your school district to the next level, there's nothing like doing a lot of research.

Well, except there is the option of asking somebody who has already been through the first year. 

A lot of school districts are under the misnomer that as soon as you say "We're accepting advertising" that you'll be selling ads.

There's a lot of work between passing board policy and receiving checks.

We're going to start addressing these issues in upcoming weekly posts, including invoicing, operations, internet, policy, prospecting, and decisions on inventory.

We'll also be doing an online presentation around the second week of September.
Look forward to hearing from other school districts on how and what your plans are for 2010-2011.
I've been talking to a bunch of you and it looks like a lot of districts will be moving forward this school year.  We need to all stick together and teach each other so we're not all making the same mistakes.

Around the country

It's good to see school districts around the country taking the bull by the horns.

Just yesterday, I met with a team and I think I walked out with a few new ideas myself.  I look forward to establishing a more interactive presence on this site to create an idea-exchanging atmosphere. 

how long does it take?

The school district I work for just hit the one year mark in our efforts to sell advertising to benefit our school district.  I found some interesting statistics. 

On average it takes about 3 people to reach the decision-maker
About 13.375 phone calls or emails with that person.
And about 5.625 months to close a deal from start-to-finish.

It's interesting.  This stuff doesn't happen over night but it does happen.  And - I can say with the utmost certainty the pace picks up the longer you have your programs in place.  You'll start to receive call-in's and do less outbound calling.  You'll be worrying more about invoicing than lead generation.

Going out on your own

If your school or school district is going to go out on your own and there isn't anybody with legit marketing experience, you should find somebody to help you out prior to starting an advertising or marketing program for your school or school district. 

I can't emphasize this enough.  I don't mean some guy that set up parties back in college and did all the "promotions" for it or somebody that had an internship putting flyer's on cars for a restaurant chain.

Get real help.  Here's a good starter kit:  Donna Anselmo's Marketing Demystified.
http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Demystified-Donna-Anselmo/dp/0071713913

Or contact an agency (this one is mine) to help you out:  http://www.tebosportsmarketing.com/
Do not contact an agency that asks you to sign anything giving them exclusivity.  That's like saying, "hold me hostage for a year."

Online advertising

Online advertising is the quickest way to bring in revenues to your school district. Our district brought in over 100K the first year and it was 48.4% of our total revenues. The second highest percentage was athletic sponsorships/advertising with 31%.

 

That's a good indicator of where a school district should start. Plus, the greatest thing about online advertising is:

• There's little or no overhead
• You don't pay for anything until you sell it
• It can be implemented quicker than other revenue-generating programs.

Plan Ahead: Reaching to companies for the 2010-2011 now

With school right around the corner, you should be sending out your fall advertising opportunities now.

The key benefits to point out to a potential partnering company working with your school district, let's use football/stadium ads for example, are this:
-Retailers love advertising in the fall (affectionately, Q3/Q4 or quarter 3 and quarter 4).
-The games are on Friday night - it's prime time to get a message to parents who do most of their shopping/purchasing on the weekends.
-The advertising reaches families in a comfortable and relaxed environment.
-The advertising will be well-received because families know the company that is advertising is supporting their school.

Schools rule

First rule of fight club is: Nobody is going to tell you that you are worth $100 if they can get you for $10.

There's a new horizon in reaching parents and school employees and it starts in Orange County, FL.

Selling the faces of kids

Looks like an idea got in the hands of the media. I'm digging it.

I think high school revenue programs need all the press we can get. We've tried for months and nobody wanted a story on our success selling Web ads. But, one reporter gets his hands on a 2010 advertising guidebook (available piece meal here) and suddenly we're in the New York Post?

The eye black promotion isn't even online for people to see because we want to be able to explain it carefully when we are in front of a potential sponsor.

Here's the skinny: Nobody is going to put ads on the faces of kids. The whole idea of having a company sponsor eye black was to have something that raised eyebrows. The package only states that the eye black pay for the "promotional distribution and displays available to be displayed in locker rooms." Meaning if a student-athlete needs eye black and he/she likes the idea of supporting the sponsor that would be supporting his/her school, they have the option of using it.

Check out the stories here and here.


It's not much different than when a company throws out a free shirt or hat at an event, you don't have to wear it but it's there.

We wanted companies and ad agencies to see packages that they don't see everyday. We want to create dialog and conversation.

The package was for sponsoring the high schools in Orange County for one week and the company got two PA announcements at every game in the district. That there should be enough to spend the $6,725 to help pay for the coaches.

Also, on the same page, it stated how proud we are of the coaches, parents, and athletic directors in this district for turning out athletes like the NFL's leading rusher, Chris Johnson, and baseball's CY Young award-winning pitcher Zach Greinke. Maybe we could get one of them to don an Orange County Public Schools eye black next season, huh?

Also, on the same page, it wasn't included in any of the media coverage that Orange County Public Schools must cover $4,162,085 in coaching supplements alone each year.

Hope this puts everybody back on the same page. By the way, you can order eye black from here (www.eyeblack.com) and kids already pay for corporate eye black logos.