I was amazed recently, (and not in a good way), when I had a conversation with the managing director of a nearby company. They had got involved in sponsoring a charity event in the local community – their sponsorship being delivered in the form of expertise and materials. When it came down to the quality of the marketing material produced, it looked amateurish and shoddy. This wasn’t necessary as a bit of time and care could have resulted in the creation of the same flyers looking professional and a credit to all the sponsors.
The reason given for producing this standard of material was that, “It was only a local charity event”. It would appear that in tight financial times the cost cutting has reached the level where even the company’s image is up for grabs.
To my mind, it doesn’t matter how tight things are financially, or how small the target market for the event – pride in your reputation and your company’s image should be an unassailable principle.
If you don’t think the charity being supported is important enough – don’t sponsor the event
If you’re not prepared to put in the effort to be professional – don’t sponsor the event
If you’re not willing to act professionally in every way – don’t sponsor the event.
Unfortunately, so many executives who should really know better, just don’t get it. They decide that any exposure is good, but then they cut corners and compromise their image. They gamble that people won’t talk about how shabby their input was. But hey, we all know the odds are against you when you gamble.
I believe that treating everything you do professionally and aiming to deliver the highest possible quality at all times – even when its for charity – pays off massively in the end. If not in immediate new direct sales, then at least in the respect of people for whom the event was important.
And, come to think of it, would you rather have your company name associated with something that was executed with care and therefore at the highest possible quality? Or would you rather have people think of you as the company that produced those scrappy looking flyers for an event that, as a result, wasn’t as well attended as it might have been. I know which one we’ll keep on doing.
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Photo credit: ThunderchildM
Article by Vandy Massey
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