4 minute read
THE SPONSOR DOC
WITH BRUCE L. ERLEY, APR, CFEE
CHATGPT AS A COLLABORATIVE PARTNER
Dear Sponsor Doc:
At the IFEA convention this fall, I attended a seminar on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in my efforts to find and service sponsors. I feel it’s a bit like cheating and won’t reflect my personal and genuine efforts. What are your thoughts? Have you used AI yet?
LL – New Orleans
Dear L.L.:
Great question and quite relevant today. I have been “experimenting” with ChatGPT for about six months so far and found it both fascinating and chilling.
If you have not used ChatGPT yet, I encourage you to do so. chat.openai.com/ It is free and simple to open an account. You simply ask a question, and it instantly spits out a detailed response. Frankly, it’s eerie how useful I find some of its suggestions.
But for me, that’s the role AI provides…to give me ideas and suggestions to “prompt” my ideas and creativity. I regard AI as a creative tool, like a sounding board or meeting with cohorts to bounce around ideas.
As an example, some of my resent chat queries included:
Companies that sponsor cycling events
Creative illumination festival assets
Fun names for a cycling newsletter
Typical sponsors benefits for an arts festival
ChatGPT provided me with a bunch of ideas. Many were pretty ordinary, some irrelevant, but others quite insightful and innovative. I was able to glean something useful from each query I made.
As a demonstration, for this column, I asked ChatGPT “How can I use AI to help me sell festival sponsorship?” Of the ten suggestions it provided, here are four direct responses I found the most useful.
ChatGPT
Using AI to help you sell festival sponsorship can streamline your efforts, provide data-driven insights, and enhance your sales strategy. Here’s a step-by-step guide to using AI effectively in this context:
Market Research & Targeting:
• Use AI-driven tools to analyze market trends, identify potential sponsors, and understand their preferences.
• Predictive analytics can help in forecasting which companies might be interested in sponsoring your festival based on their past behavior and industry trends.Personalized Pitching:
• AI can help you tailor your sponsorship proposals to each potential sponsor. By analyzing their brand values, target audience, and previous sponsorship history, AI can suggest customized sponsorship packages that align with their objectives.Virtual Tours & VR Experiences:
• If applicable, use AI-powered virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) experiences to showcase the festival grounds, potential branding opportunities, and the overall attendee experience to potential sponsors remotely.Feedback & Iteration:
• Collect feedback from sponsors post-event using AI-driven surveys and sentiment analysis to understand their experience, gather testimonials, and iterate on your sponsorship offerings for future events.
Remember, while AI can enhance your sales efforts, building genuine relationships and understanding the unique needs of each sponsor will always be crucial. Use AI as a tool to augment your capabilities, not replace human interaction and creativity. So, I would give it a whirl L.L. It’s fun, useful and a great new instrument to add to your sponsorship sales tool box.
The Sponsor Doc
Bruce L. Erley, CFEE, APR is the Founder and President of Creative Strategies Group, a consultancy based in Denver, Colorado which he founded in September, 1995. Creative Strategies Group (CSG) specializes in sponsorship and event marketing consultation for events, festivals, nonprofit organizations and other properties as well as municipalities and for-profit companies. With more than four decades of experience, Erley is considered a master in the field. In 2012, Erley served as the World Board Chairman of the International Festivals & Events Association (IFEA). He is a 2015 inductee into the IFEA Hall of Fame. He is Accredited in Public Relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America and a Certified Festival & Events Executive (CFEE) by the International Festivals and Events Association.
Contact Info:
Bruce L. Erley, APR, CFEE
President & CEO
Creative Strategies Group
Phone: +1-303-558-8181
Business Email: berley@csg-sponsorship.com
Column Enquiries Email: bruce@sponsordoc.com
