Saffire Blog

4 Inexpensive Ways to Go Above & Beyond for Your Sponsors!

By: Jodi Buresh So the other day in the office, we had a current client ask us if we know of any good ideas on how to report back to their sponsors after their event. This client was looking for presentation ideas and what to include to show a little more value in that … Continue reading “4 Inexpensive Ways to Go Above & Beyond for Your Sponsors!”

By: Jodi Buresh

So the other day in the office, we had a current client ask us if we know of any good ideas on how to report back to their sponsors after their event. This client was looking for presentation ideas and what to include to show a little more value in that sponsorship. That got us thinking about how all of our friends in the event, venue and destination industries have more than likely solicited sponsorship at some point, so we thought we would put out a post!

The standard basic recap report usually shows the typical statistics of the event, the demographics and how many visitors viewed their website or social media page. But this client was looking for something ‘different’, something unique that will set them apart from the other events that are trying so desperately to secure the dwindling sponsorship dollars.

For those of you that don’t know, before Saffire, I was the Assistant General Manager at the Red River Valley Fair Association in West Fargo, North Dakota. While at the fair, I helped generate thousands in sponsorships and without those dollars, our events would not have been successful. Below are my top four suggestions to go above and beyond the event recap:

Video – If you have a Day Sponsor or Event Sponsor, take a video on the day of the event. For example, we had the Electric Company as a day sponsor for Kids day at the Fair. On their day, I videotaped myself in front of kids on a carnival ride. The script read: “Hey Electric Company. This is Jodi Buresh and we are SO HAPPY that you are our sponsor for today at the Red River Valley Fair. As you can see, the kids are enjoying the great weather and are having a blast. We truly appreciate your support!!!” Throughout the day I took a few more short videos of people or photos of them. Later that evening, I combined those into a quick video using a video editor. I used Animoto.com to create the video. It was easy and took less than 15 minutes. I would then email it off to the sponsor before I would leave that night! Cost: $0

Photos – I am a visual person which means I like to show our sponsors what they are getting for their dollars. One year we had a major sponsor for one of our grandstand entertainers. To show them how much we appreciated their sponsorship, I made a sign with their logo on it. I got pre-approval from the Stage Management, and asked the entertainer to take a photo with the sign. That sponsor was so grateful for that photo that they have it framed and hanging in their entryway of their office. Cost: $10 for the frame.

Gifts – Sponsors appreciate small tokens of appreciation, but they do not want their sponsorship dollars to be spent on gifts back to them. If you are planning to give your sponsors an appreciation gift, be cognizant of the cost. One year we ordered small individual bags of cotton candy. Printed a label for the front of it using the Fair’s Marketing scheme for that year. When I went for the Recap Report appointment, I took along the cotton candy bag. Cost: $2 each bag.

National Sponsors – Sometimes National Sponsors expect more information from their sponsorship to justify the cost they are spending to be a part of the organization. The Farm Show that we hosted had free admission, so it was difficult to give an accurate count on how many people attended the 3-day event. We utilized aerial photos showing the parking lots and the grounds packed with people to help secure the sponsor for future years. We also had additional photos of people near their booth interacting with their sales people. Cost: $0

There are so many more ideas out there on how to engage more with your sponsors and being creative with the recap reports. We welcome your suggestions and ideas and will plan to share those in some upcoming issues of The Dirt. Please send those to us at info@saffire.com

Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number … Continue reading “Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers”

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number of people; so initially you might be thinking, how can I use this trend to my benefit?

The gamer’s (typically 21 to 27-year-old men) goal is to catch all of the Pokémon, which are creatures of different sizes and types spread throughout your geographical location and will randomly pop up when the app is open. Users also take advantage of the “PokéStops”, which are points on the game map used to collect “PokéBalls”. You can think of “Pokéballs” as small, ball-shaped cages used to store each Pokémon you collect. Users also travel to Pokémon Gyms, used for battling other Pokémon and trainers. The “PokéStops” and Gyms, are normally located near landmarks, statues, parks, churches, etc. which are strategically place to attract many people. This is where the marketing comes in. PokéStops could also be used as a tool by businesses to turn their location into a huge, profitable ad in the virtual world of Pokémon.

One example of an organization using this app to its advantage is the Brown County Fair, located in Aberdeen, SD. Currently they have 8 PokéStops on their fairgrounds and have decided to put them into their marketing strategy. The stops are located anywhere from the Bunny Barn to the Grandstands, which are an easy way to get traffic to these fairground locations. The fairgoers have the opportunity to see parts of the fair they otherwise might have never experienced!

If your organization doesn’t have a PokéStop, and you want one at that location, you can request one. The request forms are here: http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Additionally, if your organization would like a Pokémon Gym on your location, a suggestion can be submitted at http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Tips and Tricks

Make sure a few people in your organization have a Pokémon Go account, so they can purchase lures, which will help attract Pokémon to your location
Put up signs that warn people to stay out of restricted areas.
Get a Pokémon logo at each building or monument that has a PokéStop. Signage is important!
If a gym is on your property, give the leader of that particular free tickets or prizes if he or she is a leader at a certain time of the day (Advertise this on Social Media to attract more people to battle in the Gym).
This could provide incentive for other players to take over your particular gym. The prize for the winner of a PokéHunt or Gym leader could also be PokéCoins.

Staying up to date with the newest tech fads may seem overwhelming at first, but whether it’s giving an extra jump to a small business’s finances or helping double revenue in big corporations, Pokemon Go is a growing force not to be reckoned with.

Pokémon Go is free and available for download through the Apple App Store for iPhone users and the Google Play store for Android users.

We want to thank Michaela Liebl for being our Guest Blogger! Michaela is currently a student at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She is looking forward to a career in the fair or festival industries and is currently seeking internship opportunities. To contact Michaela about this article or about potential internship opportunities, please email her at michaela.liebl@wolves.northern.edu

Facebook Live Tips & Tricks

Facebook Live is quickly growing in popularity and will remain a HUGE trend for the foreseeable future. For those that might not have heard of this fairly new feature, Facebook Live is a live video broadcasting platform designed to connect users with people (friends, family, customers, etc.). With Facebook Live, users can take audiences up close … Continue reading “Facebook Live Tips & Tricks”

ios live

Facebook Live is quickly growing in popularity and will remain a HUGE trend for the foreseeable future. For those that might not have heard of this fairly new feature, Facebook Live is a live video broadcasting platform designed to connect users with people (friends, family, customers, etc.). With Facebook Live, users can take audiences up close or behind the scenes for literally anything.

Broadcasting live is easy and only takes a few simple steps, which we’ve shared below:

There are a number of ways marketers can improve Live broadcasts. Two of the most effective ways are promotion and presentation. It is crucial to promote the Live broadcast by letting the audience know the time, date, and purpose. An extremely effective way to promote is by posting short videos that preview what content you will be covering during the Live broadcast. While the promotions are running, focus should shift to ensure that the presentation is adequately planned. Be sure that all Live broadcasts start with a warm smile and an inviting welcome. During the welcome, the presenter should introduce themselves, what organization they represent and briefly give a road-map of what the Live video will consist of. Providing a road-map will allow viewers to understand about how long the broadcast will last, which will help keep their attention. It’s also very important that the presenter keep a confident and exciting demeanor to prevent viewers from dropping off of the broadcast. Finally, and most importantly, the Facebook Live broadcast should end with a call to action (i.e. “Click the link above to buy tickets,” “Sign up now,” etc.)

Facebook Live also works well to reach events’ preferred audiences. Facebook recently announced that Live broadcasts can now be conducted on “Events” and “Groups” within the Facebook mobile application. Therefore, you can broadcast special pre-event promotional Live broadcasts right on your designated event page! This helps build hype for events and can help boost ticket sales with the proper call to action.

Facebook Live is also a great tool for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO). DMOs can broadcast all sorts of great details about a destination like a beautiful sunset, firework displays, special events, or even a ribbon cutting for a new hotel! Showing fans of a destination’s Facebook page exciting, unedited live videos will allow them to see the authenticity of a destination, which means that planning and presentation will be crucial in order to portray the destination in a positive light.

Although Facebook Live broadcasts can be nerve-racking and have the potential to get off message or off track, the reward is worth the risk. Here at Saffire, we did our first Facebook Live video and then paid for a $20 boost to our fans. Out of 1,050 fans, 547 watched the video, 756 saw the video in their feed, and our total cost per video view came out to ONLY $0.04 per view.

As event season is ramping up and DMOs are planning their budgets, it is very important to add Facebook Live advertising into your marketing mix and planning for at least the rest of 2016 and into 2017.

Welcome Barbecue Festival!

We are thrilled to have another barbecue festival in the Saffire Family! The Barbecue Festival takes place in Lexington, Kentucky which is the Barbecue Capital of the World (some in a few cities across Texas might argue this claim.. ha!) The Annual Barbecue Festival has been recognized nationally, regionally, and state wide for its … Continue reading “Welcome Barbecue Festival!”

The Annual Barbecue Festival has been recognized nationally, regionally, and state wide for its excellence. The event has been recognized as one of the “Top Ten Food Festival in America” by Travel & Leisure Magazine, designated as a Top Twenty October Event by the Southeast tourism Society, is a part of the Library of Congress’ Local Legacy Event, and has received won more than fifty awards through The N.C. Association of Festivals and Events Excellence Awards program. The festival was also named “One of Ten Great Places to Celebrate Food” by USA Today.

We can’t wait to show the world a beautiful new website design to showcase such a great event!

Welcome Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival!

We met the awesome Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival team two years ago at the International Festivals and Events Association Annual Convention and knew we wanted to work with such a great organization! Visitors and residents have marked the Bedford Blues and BBQ Festival on their calendar every year, as this event grows in national … Continue reading “Welcome Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival!”

We met the awesome Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival team two years ago at the International Festivals and Events Association Annual Convention and knew we wanted to work with such a great organization!

Visitors and residents have marked the Bedford Blues and BBQ Festival on their calendar every year, as this event grows in national recognition. Every Labor Day Weekend, Bedford welcomes over 20,000 music and food lovers from all over the world to get their groove on. Three days of blues and rock musicians along with down home southern BBQ, the annual Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival is sure to please the senses.

Stay tuned for a gorgeous new website for a great event!

Using the Facebook Events Feature

As we all know, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform in the world with over a billion users. Since its launch, Facebook has evolved and brought new features for users as well as businesses. One of their most improved features are Events, which give an opportunity to individuals as well as organizations to promote … Continue reading “Using the Facebook Events Feature”

As we all know, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform in the world with over a billion users. Since its launch, Facebook has evolved and brought new features for users as well as businesses. One of their most improved features are Events, which give an opportunity to individuals as well as organizations to promote their events on Facebook. Before this change, the Events
feature didn’t work very well for organizations and was a much better tool to invite friends to events such as your backyard barbecue.

After years of research and design, Facebook has improved upon their Events feature and made it a great tool for marketers. Today, over 500 million people search Facebook Events each month to find local events to attend, making the Events feature an important marketing tool to increase attendees.

During a recent presentation by the Facebook Events team, Facebook talked about the new success of the Events Feature with a case study on the event “Water Fight New York NYC.” In 2014, before Facebook started focusing on Events, the Water Fight NYC only had 1,400 attendees showing on their Facebook Event. Then, in 2015, after more features were put in place, the event skyrocketed to 64,000 attendees.

How to Market your Event

For a more guerrilla marketing approach, you can invite your friends list and ask your friends, relatives and event staff to invite their friends and share the event on their personal pages. You are also able to use the Facebook ads to target your desired audience. When someone says they’re “Going” to your event, it creates a story that may appear in other’s News Feed so that their friends and followers can see they’re going and then decide to attend too.

To grow your attendee list using ads, you’re able to specifically advertise your event. This has a different mission than normal facebook ads, which is to get more attendees and ticket sales.

Event promoters often get better results when they:

Set up a lookalike audience to show ads to people similar to your followers
Use a CPM bidding strategy to get more people to respond to your event and buy tickets
Create a conversion pixel to see which ads worked well and they can also measure performance
Create an ad with using the “Ticket Link” which will allow you to create ads that are optimized to drive ticket sales

What do I do after my event?

So you just finished your event and can finally relax, right? Not exactly. People have connected because they truly care about your event and what you share about it. Facebook’s research has shown that event attendees are wanting the following:

Professional pictures of the event action
Final scores for competitions
To be thanked for attending
To know about future events from your organization

We hope that this has inspired you to add Facebook Events into your marketing efforts. You can also explore some great Facebook resources by reading through Facebook’s Guide to Getting the Most Out of Facebook Events.

Events are about community, culture, experiences and fun and Facebook is the avenue most people choose to share this experience. One inspiring statistic is that within one week of the event, each event attendee, on average, befriends another event attendee on Facebook. Events bring people together!

The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!) Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the … Continue reading “The Three P’s to Gaining Sponsorship”

Earning the Digital Sponsorship Dollar (& Keeping It!)

Do you know what businesses and organizations are spending in sponsor dollars these days? Do you know what it would take for YOU to see some of those dollars? The fact is, sponsorship continues to rise! The amount of revenue is growing, but the problem is the people who are getting that money are receiving less. More money is being spent, but it’s being distributed between fewer and fewer people.

“The sponsorship pie is growing, but being cut into fewer pieces.” – www.sponsorship.com. The largest slices are reserved for properties that can meet the high standards required by a new breed of corporate partner. These are the people who ask for SMARTER partnerships. Once again, the growth rate for sponsorship spending will surpass outlays for traditional advertising in North America. Projection for spending in 2015 is $21.5 billion!

At Saffire, we believe in the Three P’s to gaining sponsorship – Prepare, Personalize, & Provide. Preparing to work with sponsors in a digital age, Personalizing by coming up with creative ideas to market to your sponsors so they will want to partner with you and Providing them with results they need so they will want to work with you again.

Prepare to Partner with Sponsors

Consider yourself a salesperson because sponsorship is sales! Start early in the year, network, do your research, and understand your value! Be smart about what you’re offering your potential sponsor. Basic research before you meet with them is HUGE. Finding the right fit for your company can be a little tricky, but you’ll want to look for “natural fits” by things like: customers, products, geography, past sponsorship experiences and people who work there. Make it clear to them that you’re taking their partnerships seriously and you’ll do whatever it takes to gain their trust! Things like adding a logo to your site at the time of the sponsor meeting can make all the difference. How can you use your sponsors that will be the best partnership for everyone? Sometimes you’re paying them, using their product and they’re giving you sponsorship dollars. Find things you can do to support your sponsor’s business. Saffire’s tip is “People will find a way to work with people they like”. Leaving a good impression and creating bonds with people goes a long way.

Personalize your Packages tailored for each Sponsor

It’s important to make your sponsors feel special. A good rule of thumb with sponsorship packages is to give more than what they’re expecting. This will make them feel special, which will go the extra mile when your event comes around again and they are considering who to partner with. In order to do this, it’s essential to know the most basic components of your organization, which can be provided as benefits to sponsors. You can add value by offering year-round marketing, hospitality, and onsite event promotion

Put sponsors on your online! Create emails, social media shout outs, online advertisements or consider naming the event after your Sponsor. You can also have a dedicated Sponsors page on your website that features your list of sponsors. If you’re looking to get a new website and don’t have quite enough funding for it, this is a fantastic way to get it! Most digital marketing doesn’t cost you anything but time and effort. Give your sponsors space on your YouTube channel, add sponsor logos to print-at-home tickets or name your entire event after a sponsor. Other ways you can feature your sponsors offline are by creating sponsored charging stations on the event grounds, photo booths with sponsors or utilizing their services on fairgrounds.

Provide Measurable Results

Sponsors like data. Sponsors have to have that data to justify why they’re giving you so much money year after year. The best ways to show sponsor ROI are Google Analytics & Audience Survey. Audience Surveys assist and measure ROI, show recognition, attitude and the image you’re showing. Google Analytics is great, but it can be really hard to narrow down once you get it set up. Everyone should be able to get this data from your website. Show sponsors things like Total visits, Audience overview, visits on the Sponsors page of your website, engagement and clicks to leverage ideas for more success in the future.

We believe that the Three P’s – Prepare, Personalize and Provide will help you gain sponsorship (and keep it!).

SFEA 2015 in Chattanooga

Every year at Saffire, we are privileged to travel to new and exciting conferences and meet more amazing people than the year before. This year, Cassie and Elaine had the pleasure of going to the Southeast Festival and Events Association in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There, we were almost snowed in, met scores of fun people from … Continue reading “SFEA 2015 in Chattanooga”

Since it was unusually cold outside, everyone at the conference stayed inside most of the time! One exception was to go to the Tennessee Aquarium in downtown Chattanooga, which had been closed off and privately catered for the conference attendees. It was such a good time, especially thanks to the face painting artist and delicious food.

At the end of the conference, we had some time before their flight and were personally shown around by Dave Jones, the East Tennessee Regional Manager from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. Needless to say, we had an expert to show us all the beautiful attractions in Chattanooga and we went to a fabulous local burger joint called Urban Stack. A huge thank you to Dave for helping us kill the time before their flight and for representing Tennessee so well! His enthusiasm was a pleasure to experience!

We want to thank everyone at the conference for being so welcoming and warm! Who doesn’t love Southern charm and hospitality?! We also can’t wait to get back to SFEA in 2016 in Charleston, SC….hopefully without the snow and ice! (Maybe next year we’ll get to ride on the Segway again??)

Welcome The Great Texas Mosquito Festival

Why did the mosquito go to the dentist? → To improve his bite! The staff here at Saffire is known for being a little wacky, but our new client, The Great Texas Mosquito Festival was actually ranked as the number one “Wackiest Summer Event in America”! We are so excited to be a part of … Continue reading “Welcome The Great Texas Mosquito Festival”

Why did the mosquito go to the dentist?

→ To improve his bite!

The staff here at Saffire is known for being a little wacky, but our new client, The Great Texas Mosquito Festival was actually ranked as the number one “Wackiest Summer Event in America”! We are so excited to be a part of one of the best events in the country. We can’t wait to get our blood pumping and help them improve their online marketing!

Welcome Fayetteville Dogwood Festival

We are thrilled to begin working with the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival of North Carolina! We met the folks from this three-day event in April at the IFEA (International Festivals & Events Association) convention back in September, and were really impressed with how well they’ve branded their event! This premiere spring festival sets the standard for all of the community’s events that happen in the summer and fall because the Dogwood Festival sets a class-act precedent for the area. Additionally, this event keeps it’s presence year-round with an “After 5” summer concert series and “Historic Hauntings” in October where patrons can experience a haunted hayride and walking tour!