In my blog a couple weeks ago, I wrote about the benefits to be gained by joining one (…or more…) of the many sponsorship groups that LinkedIn offers up on the web. (I hope you took me up on that advice? You won't regret it.)

However, in my follow-up here to my recommendation, I also wanted to point out that while there are a lot of GOOD things to be "S&D'd" (stolen-and-duplicated) from the postings you'll see, there are also some classic philosophical mistakes being made there as well.

For example --- I was just reading one of the Group Member postings on LinkedIn's "Sponsorship Sales Professionals" membership site. It was one of those "Hey … does anyone know anyone that would be interested in sponsoring ‘xyz’?" – types of postings.

I'm not a big fan on those generic kinds of ...

You've got to ASK for them!

Nothing "sells" your sponsorships better than a happy sponsor. And of course nothing makes a sponsor happier than having their expectations met.

So first order of business here is to make sure that you're taking great care of your existing sponsors. (Let me ask you – do you even know what their "expectations" are? Hmmm… good question, eh? Well ... there's not time like this moment to have a sit-down with your existing sponsors and ASK them!)

And speaking of "...ASK them..." --- that's my word today (...well, actually ... that's two words…), on getting Sponsor Referrals. You've got to ASK for them!

Of course the best time to ASK for them is when you're successfully delivering results for your existing sponsors. You've worked hard to build a strong rapport with your sponsor --- w...

If you’re going to go to all of the trouble to be there ... be there!

Last week in my blog posting I wrote about how I just got back from speaking at the 2009 Glazer-Kennedy InfoSUMMIT in Atlanta. It was a great opportunity and I certainly had a blast.

And I was glad to see, while there, that the GKIC folks had sold sponsorships to the InfoSUMMIT – as well they should. It was a great opportunity, a "natural" ... and no doubt a handsome revenue stream for GKIC.

But what I thought was interesting was ... here I was, the only speaker on the entire 3-day program that was addressing the topic of sponsorship. And at one point during my presentation I gave a "shout out" to the conference's sponsors ... asking them to kindly stand up and take a bow. And you know ... not ONE representative from any of the event's sponsors was in the room. There must've been ...

By the time you read this posting, we'll have just returned from our trip to Baltimore, MD and several days of "final walk-thru" meetings with all the various partners, hosts, suppliers and coordinators of our upcoming 2010 National Sports Forum conference (www.sports-forum.com). It won't be long now – in fact, we're just about exactly three months away from "Show Time"!

This will be my second trip into Baltimore in advance of our annual conference/trade show. And the reason why is that we want to make sure that EVERY DETAIL that we can think of has been taken care of. Oh sure – stuff always comes up. Always will. But as the headline above says: "The Devil's in the Details". We want to do everything we can to make sure that there are no surprises come our third and final trip into Ba...

Has sports met its sponsorship match?

It's a common thought in sports circles that the Sports Industry owns the "cornerstone" on sponsorships and perhaps they do. But I dun'no … I think I may have met the Industry's match this past weekend when I took a trip through the Magic Kingdom ... Disneyland!

Wow – all I can say is that the happiest people within the "Happiest Place on Earth" – must be the sponsorship accounting people tucked away upstairs in the Haunted Hotel!

Let me give you some idea of who's sponsoring what over there ...

Main Street Vehicles – presented by National Car Rental

Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor – hosted by Dreyers
"Minnie & Friends – Breakfast in the Park" – hosted by Kellogg's
Refreshment Corner – hosted by Coca-Cola

And folks … that's JUST on Disneyland's MAIN STREET! (...which for t...

Last time I sat down at the keyboard, I wrote about my recent experience of watching World Series of Poker on ESPN recently. I'm admittedly a poker neophyte – wouldn't know an inside straight from an inside fade. (Okay, I made that up... I don't even know if there IS something known of as an "inside fade"...)

But I do recognize good sponsorship tie-ins, and if you want to see some classic text book sponsorship tie-ins, you've got to watch WSOP.

From the players themselves sitting around the tables for hours/days at a time --- check out their "wearing apparel". Heck, most of these folks are sponsored by somebody (...or several somebodies)! If you didn't know any better, you'd swear you stumbled into a NASCAR drivers convention!

So I started doing a little research on this and di...

Okay … so maybe we can chalk this up to a "focus group of one" story … but I think I'd prefer to claim this as a great example of just how well a well-placed sponsorship works instead. I gotta say -- it sure worked on me!

So here's my tale. My middle son, Ryan, came home from college this past weekend for a nice three-day weekend. We hadn't seen him since he headed off to school in mid-August, so it was great to have him home for a few days.

And as he usually does when he's home -- Ryan turned on the TV to watch poker on ESPN. Admittedly, while I'm familiar with poker, it's not something I know a whole lot about, and had never really watched it for much more than 3-4 minutes on TV in the past. However this time -- since Ryan is so rarely home, I pulled up a chair and watched a rec...

Advice: Think beyond a two party sponsorship transaction for added value

I was just reading about what sounds to be a really nice (and effective) local-market sponsorship program that tied MultiGrain Cheerios in with CNN and local market YMCAs in tandem with several high profile city marathons. On just about every level – this worked. And it's these kinds of multi-channel combinations that you would be wise to look for as well in your sponsorship programs.

The sponsorship (…which is on-going right now as I write this), ties in with five major marathons going on around the country this year. (It started with the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon back on May 17th …will continue this month with the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11th … and then will wrap up at the end of the month at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. on October 25th.)

I...

In a previous post, we specifically "focused in" on those of you in the speaking business – and how you should be out there cultivating your own stable of companies to "sponsor" your speaking tour.

And in so doing, be prepared to interweave your sponsors into all facets of your speaking business. From your letterhead … to your hand-outs … to the clothes you wear, even down to your web site and business cards – you need to actively show your association and affiliation with your sponsor (… or sponsors).

Be sure to recognize and thank the folks at "XYZ Company" for their support, involvement and sponsorship of your speaking tour during each presentation. And then use that opportunity to launch into a "soft pitch" for why you're a supporter of this company and why you think they're...