Archive for July, 2009
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Due to the econmy, Sponsorship.com has issued a first-ever, mid-year spending forecast. Sit down for this. The horrible news; corporate sponsorships have increased by only 1.1 percent this year. Gasp!! That’s right, sponsorship spending by U.S. and Canadian organizations will be a mere 16.79 BILLION dollars for 2009.
I’m almost speechless. Folks over there need to get a grip. Yes, this is a huge change from the double-digit growth in the boom times. Bothered by an increase when almost six million people have lost their jobs? When the meeting and training industries are suffering major cuts? When advertising and sales promotion budgets were hit with 4.2 and 2.3 percent cuts? I can here the violins playing from here…
Biggest winner: Association spending, with a 3.3 percent increase for a total 2009 spent of $498 million. Another favorite – cause marketing – came in at a respectable third place with a 2.9 percent increase for a total 2009 projection of $1.5 billion. Sports deals took the biggest hit, increasing less than one percent.
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Yep, associations are taking a major hit in this recession. But what are association execs doing about it? Going virtual according to ASAE and the Center for Association Leadership’s Spring 2009 Associations and the Economy study. The interesting part: The Winter 2009 version of this study surveyed 8,500 association members, and reported that only three percent of those attending a face-to-face meeting said they would go to virtual events the next year. Even more interesting: nine percent of those attending virtual events want to participate in face-to-face meetings. The migration is just the opposite of what the execs are doing. Is it just me, or is there a train wreck coming?
Regardless of what happens, experts will be tapped to offer their content virtually. Have your pricing strategy down. Many associations expect you to do it free. My alternative idea: share the revenue. No risk for them and upside for you. To pitch this, have stats on your community and promo plans ready. You need to show that you will partner with the association to promote.
Click here to check out the Spring study.
Tags: associations, Marketing, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan, virtual events
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Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Whew! That was close. The Treasury regs on meetings are out and the travel industry heaved a collective sigh of relief. No big problems — just requiring a bunch of procedures. U.S. Travel Association and the National Business Travel Association applauded the new guidelines. Yes, the comment stage is still open, but no one expects material changes. Will go into effect the middle of August.
A great example of how to turn the tide of negative perceptions. What the industry focused on: their value in the overall economy. Which begs the question: how are we experts showing up? Are we showing our value in the bigger picture? Are our descriptions specific? The cutbacks won’t last forever – but the perception of value will last a long time. No more pie in the sky promises. The more specific, the better.
Tags: branding, economy, experts, meetings, positioning, strategy, travel, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Yet another sign that the recession is bouncing back: industry giant Nationwide Insurance has reinstated their incentive meetings for 2010. Both trips were canceled this year due to the AIG effect. These are not junkets though — the agenda includes two half-days of education and business meetings. This rebound is great news for experts — educational content will be around for a while. Still won’t help expensive entertainment and celebrity speakers — they remain on the list of “too spendy” bells and whistles. Prediction: the idea of using top execs as motivational speakers will not last long.
Also look for closer to home locales (read: not extravagant) and efforts to give back to the communities they visit (read: great opportunity for cause marketing and sponsorship folks).
And Nationwide is not alone. Industry insiders report that the incentive cancelations have stopped. For now, 2010 is looking good for these lucrative meetings. Bottom line: recognition is back, but is retooled for a new financial reality.
Tags: branding, education, experts, incentive meetings, Marketing, Speaking, Sponsorship, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Had a total blast on Tuesday’s call. As an avid reader, I love books. As an advocate experts, I want authors to get the value of all their hard work. But it’s just plain crazy in the publishing world. And let’s face it: publishers and agents want to sell books. They don’t care one bit about your platform or if you leverage all your time and money. To their defense, they aren’t suppososed to care. Let’s get real: that’s your job.
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen authors make: they forget who is in charge of their platform. They are so thrilled that a publisher wants their book, they throw strategy out of the window. They’ll do anything the publisher wants; won’t even try to suggest a better idea. The result: a book that sounds great, even gets some sales, but doesn’t translate into better opportunities for any other revenue stream. Like speaking or consulting. I call this having fame without fortune. Nothing good comes from this.
Here’s the secret: publishers want to sell books. Platforms sell books. Keeping the publisher happy and supporting your platform are not mutually exclusive. You have a voice here. Use it. If you want to hear about the other mistakes authors make, reality checks on what books can really do for your business and other good stuff, the mp3 of Tuesday’s call is now available. Click here to purchase.
Tags: agents, authors, books, experts, Here's the Deal, Marketing, publishers, publishing, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
I just love it when someone calls the game. A couple of weeks ago I ran across this article in Fast Company by Po Bronson. Written back in January and highlighted in FC’s email digest in June. Bronson is a New York Times best-selling author and thisarticle shows why. His books take on compelling subjects and turns what you think about the topic on its head.
He’s not afraid to call something stupid, even if it’s popular. And his reasoning is simple yet brilliant. He shows his prominence in his stories. This is what I want to want to tell folks about on Tuesday’s Here’s the Deal call. The book only showcases what you already have and who you already are. If you are not acting like a seven-(and eight) figure visionary, do you really think a book will make you that? Unless you have built in sales or distribution systems (and those can evaporate in a heart beat) then why do you give up almost a year of your life?
A book is just gasoline to launch a rocket already built. I can’t wait to explore the other reality checks we all need before devoting our life to a book (or website, or any other tool). Click here to join me.
Tags: authors, books, Here's the Deal, Marketing, sales, showcase, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Interesting tidbit about books from industry powerhouse Bowker’s: in 2008 U.S. book production declines three percent with 275,000 plus titles put on the market. That’s right, there’s almost 300,000 titles competing with your literary baby.
But wait, there’s more. On demand publishing explodes with 132% growth. Yep, more than double the titles from 2007. Another 285,000 plus titles promoted over the Internet, tweeted about and distributed through the usual social media sites.
If that’s not a noisy market, I don’t know what is. Good news though: the big winners in 2008 were education and business. (The losers: travel, religion, and fiction.) I can’t wait to cuss and discus the trends and how to use them to our advantage. Join the lively conversation on July 14th when the Here’s the Deal series deals with the wild, wild world of books. Only $59 — is that worth making your book better? Click here for more information and to register.
Tags: books, Here's the Deal, publishing, social media, strategy, Vickie Sullivan
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Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
One of my biggest points from last week’s Here’s the Deal call on web sites: buyers today are looking for tools to implement your great ideas. Just throwing up content like white papers won’t cut it. Here’s a great example from the intense tradeshow industry: a calculator to determine your cost per lead and cost per closed sale. How handy is that? It’s specific, it’s simple. And best of all, it gives the user an industry benchmark to compare themselves with. If we had more of this stuff on our sites, I just know user experience would soar. Moral of the story: give someone a way to use your expertise and they will want more of it.
Check out this cool calculator here: http://tinyurl.com/msbdee. And if you want the mp3 file from last week’s call, you can buy it here for only $59.
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