Are you a small, independent news site or a news entrepreneur seeking to connect with your local bank or hospital for sponsorship? If so, keep the four P’sin mind when developing relationships with sponsors.
The goal of a sponsorship is to build financial support for your organization. And sponsors may be seeking a marketing or community engagement platform, but the first rule in developing that relationship should be to conduct a complete needs assessment. Think about the last time you visited an online car shopping portal or a car salesperson. You likely were asked questions about your needs, so the best car could be matched with you. Realtors and other sales people use the same approaches. Sponsorship sales are customized and asking questions — as a journalist would for a story — is how you get to the heart of the problem that your solution will solve. For longevity, which is our goal, we must understand the prospect’s/client’s needs today and tomorrow. That will help you determine what are the needs and whether you can provide a worthy solution.
Getting ready for the needs assessment conversation requires research about the target, but also a deep understanding of your organization, platform or product’s value. What are you bringing to the table and how will it solve the prospect/client’s needs? What sponsorships has the client already done? What sponsorships have its competitors done? In an assessment, you should listen more than you talk.
Remember this is your chance to learn the needs, not be a pushy salesperson. You want to be respectful, attentive and state your value proposition before leaving, but the goal is to get a follow-up meeting. Because of how many decision makers are often involved with sponsorship buys, it’s unlikely you will be able to sell it on your first visit.
Your needs analysis will help you obtain plenty of the information you’ll need for the next critical step: defining the four P’s. This information will help you understand what a client really needs, how that solution should be packagedand promoted. You’ll also find out what pricea client expects and what their expectation is for sponsorship placement credit.
Associate Professor Ebony Reed is teaching a session on the four P’sof sponsorship sales at the Institute for Nonprofit Newsconference in Orlando, Florida, from June 13–14. She is a former news and sales executive and a member of the faculty at the Missouri School of Journalism.
FAQs
The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion. The concept of the four Ps has been around since the 1950s. As the marketing industry has evolved, other Ps have been identified: people, process, and physical evidence.
What are the 4 P's of marketing? ›
The four Ps — product, price, place, and promotion — are key elements of marketing a product or service. These elements are considered part of a “marketing mix,” a combination of factors a company controls when creating a marketing strategy.
What do the 4 P's achieve when these work together? ›
The 4Ps of marketing is a model for enhancing the components of your "marketing mix" – the way in which you take a new product or service to market. It helps you to define your marketing options in terms of price, product, promotion, and place so that your offering meets a specific customer need or demand.
What are the 4 Ps of word of mouth marketing? ›
The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion. They are an example of a “marketing mix,” or the combined tools and methodologies used by marketers to achieve their marketing objectives.
What are the 4Ps of go to market strategy? ›
The 4 Ps of Go-To-Market Strategy: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. When it comes to crafting a successful go-to-market (GTM) strategy, understanding and implementing the 4 Ps is crucial.
What are the 4 Ps of social marketing? ›
The essence of all marketing can be summed up in what has been termed the "4 Ps." They are product, price, place, and promotion.
What are the 4 P's of marketing quizlet? ›
product, place, promotion, and price, which together make up the marketing mix.
What are the 4 Ps known to be called? ›
The marketing mix, also known as the four P's of marketing, refers to the four key elements of a marketing strategy: product, price, place and promotion.
What are the 4 Ps of marketing for dummies? ›
The four Ps are product, price, place, and promotion. The concept of the four Ps has been around since the 1950s. As the marketing industry has evolved, other Ps have been identified: people, process, and physical evidence.
What are the 4 Cs and 4 Ps of marketing? ›
The marketing mix consists of four Ps (price, product, place, and promotion), four Cs (customer needs and wants, cost, convenience, and communication), and more. To get a better understanding of the marketing mix, we'll take a deeper dive into each of these areas to help you unlock the power behind it.
With these management tools providing input in real time, organizations can quickly adjust course as circ*mstances present new opportunities or threats. A simple model made up of “Four Ps” can help companies create this advantage. These Ps are Perceptions, Performance, Purpose, and Process.
What are the 4 steps of marketing strategy? ›
The marketing process consists of four elements: strategic marketing analysis, marketing-mix planning, marketing implementation, and marketing control.
Are the 4 Ps of marketing still relevant? ›
While the four Ps have been around for decades, the concept is just as relevant to businesses today as it was when the four Ps were first introduced.
What are the 4 P's of marketing which do you think is most important? ›
These are Promotion, Product, Place and Price. These 4 Ps play a major role in delivering the customer needs at the right time and the right place. Philip Kotler says, The most important thing is to predict where clients are going and stop right in front of them.
What are the 4 or 5 P's of marketing? ›
The 5 P's of Marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People – are key marketing elements used to position a business strategically.
What are the 7Ps of marketing? ›
The 7Ps of marketing are product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. This post and more is contained within our CIM ebook, 7Ps: a brief summary of marketing and how it works. Learn the 7Ps and you're well on your way to having your marketing fundamentals completed.
What are the 3 C's and 4 P's of marketing? ›
The 4 Ps are Product, Price, Promotion and Place - the four marketing mix variables under your control. The 3 Cs are: Company, Customers and Competitors - the three semi-fixed environmental factors in your market.
