barter cooperation. Barter conditions in sponsorship. Unique offer for partners
The history of the emergence of barter transactions goes back to ancient times, when there was only barter trade on the principle of "give it to you". In the modern world, this type of transactions also remains relevant, implying a direct cashless exchange of goods or services.
In market conditions, when certain goods or services lose their value for various reasons, then it is rational to conduct transactions on the principle of barter. In such cases, there is the benefit of being able to get rid of an item that is not needed, which is often referred to as non-liquid.
Is it possible to cooperate on barter in Moscow
Of course, there are some difficulties in finding the right partner for a product or service, especially when your product or service is not very popular in the market. During a crisis, many businesses begin to suffer losses. People stop spending money on entertainment, order expensive gifts, go on vacation.
And in order to avoid downtime, let's say at a country hotel, cooperation on barter will be a real salvation. Sometimes the search for partners to make a deal is delayed and in some cases the issue of barter becomes irrelevant.
Registration on the site is absolutely free. Here you can, also for free, post an ad for a non-monetary exchange of any product or service, or use the already existing extensive catalog to find a suitable barter deal.
Each registered user of the site creates a personal profile with full name and contact e-mail address. Be sure to keep a record of completed transactions with results, on the basis of which a so-called “trust rating” is created, by which one can judge the reliability of a partner.
After some agreement between the partners on the terms of the transaction, it is possible to draw up a virtual contract, a sample of which is posted on the website. If desired, the contract can prescribe additional and individual conditions for the transaction in order to avoid disputes and misunderstandings about its content.
It is important to note that non-compliance with the clauses of even a virtual contract, as well as refusal of the transaction, after its approval and signing without a good reason, leads to a decrease in the “trust rating” of the client profile. Thus, the conclusion of an agreement on the site is a certain guarantor of the transaction.
The formation of a “trust rating” of customers and the preparation of a virtual contract are just some of the advantages of the 1barter.ru website. before other similar sites on this profile. But we never rest on our laurels, and constantly continue to improve and optimize our work. If you have any suggestions for the work of the site, we will always gladly accept any suggestions and advice.
Every day more and more PR-managers and marketers resort to barter in the process of organizing events: press conferences, presentations, seminars, social events... The effectiveness of barter is beyond doubt, if only everything is done correctly. We talked about the key nuances of barter events with leading marketers and representatives of PR agencies.
Irina Gaeva Head of PR and Marketing Department of Salon of Elite Ceramic Tiles and Sanitary Ware "Atmosfera"
Three important steps in conducting barter negotiations.
1. Give yourself an answer to the main question: "What benefits does my proposal bring to a partner?"
2. Designate a pool of potential partners that are important for solving the tasks. If we are talking about a large volume of barter deals (for example, information support for a design competition - what we are doing now), then it is better to start with key players who will then serve as "anchors" in negotiations - that is, whose names can be unobtrusively used when communicating with other market players, making it clear that if the "anchors" are interested in the offer, then others should take advantage of it.
3. Fix all the agreements (if we are talking about a large volume of barter transactions, it is difficult to remember all the obligations).
Generally speaking, barter deals today are a whole direction in PR activities, and if you do not own this tool, then we can say that the PR service does not work well, to put it mildly. Without the ability to achieve a goal without spending company funds, public relations lose their essence.
Tatyana BurchenkovaCEO of KorkinoLake
In my opinion, barter is the best business tool that you need to know how to use correctly. Our experience has given us the opportunity to use several types of barter, including unsuccessful ones, and each of them has taught us something. I can definitely say that barter is beneficial for those who have a larger share in the calculation of services, or high margins are foreseen in advance (including due to the level of average retail prices).
Organizing an event by barter is easy. For example, our site willingly accepts barter offers, but only for certain types of services, for example, for team building events. Naturally, when calculating, I must understand the cost of the service and know the average retail price. Thus, the customer receives the service at market value, and we receive the goods offered by the customer.
It should be noted that it is important to understand the expediency of barter. We had a case when a well-known brand of expensive suits and accessories approached us with a request. In addition to a specific list in the face value of their goods, a restriction was imposed on the period of use of their offer. This option did not suit us due to the lack of need for the proposed product.
Since we hold many banquets, we have experience in this type of service. This is one of our not so successful experiences. Any service must contain a net profit. In our case, we considered barter cooperation possible, based on the cost of the menu, but did not include personnel payment, depreciation, taking into account heating, washing, combat, cleaning and recovery after damage. On the part of the customer, his services were offered. It's not easy to admit mistakes, but in that particular transaction, barter was beneficial to the customer, but not to us.
Nevertheless, we have a sufficient number of positive cases. For example, our business is seasonally dependent and we regulate a number of issues in the low season through barter opportunities. In my opinion, business will always be interested in barter. It is more profitable than a standard deal: if the market value of the service is 100 rubles, and the cost is 10 rubles, then with the right agreement, you actually get the desired product or service with a 90% discount.
Victoria Goreva Interscholastic News Agency
Barter relations are very relevant for state organizations - educational institutions. Including, where financing of such activities as PR, advertising, design, etc. is not provided. Barter relations work exactly on this line. When organizing festivals, competitions, and other events, this means not only prizes and awards from sponsors (partners), but also performances by professional masters, additional platforms for posting information.
What, it would seem, can the institution of education, for its part, promise to the "giver"? First of all, these are products that students produce as part of the educational process. In our case, these are articles, radio stories, TV programs, photo reports created by young journalists. Practice shows that in such products "by exchange" for gifts and prizes, they are interested as representatives commercial companies who will receive materials about their activities written by schoolchildren. This is especially true if the company is a manufacturer or supplier of goods (services) just for schoolchildren.
The second case is the media. By providing free space for posting information about the event, they receive in return thematic materials that may be in demand by them for various reasons (they won a grant for covering youth topics, they need to submit a report on covering youth problems, etc.). The result of one-time barter relations in our case was projects that are of interest both to the media themselves and to the institution of additional education.
Maxim Sundalov Head of the online English school EnglishDom
For about a year and a half, we have been recording an increase in interest in barter in the PR market in a variety of areas. On the basis of barter, you can find almost everything: from high-quality writers and SMM specialists to halls, transport, catering services. In our case, we are very actively cooperating with a number of media outlets, helping them in three main areas - high-quality content, translations of English-language articles, and a promo code for a year of free online English education. In exchange, we get press mentions and promotion, which is extremely important to us.
An equally important area of barter and cross-advertising cooperation is cooperation with bloggers and co-working spaces. Their audiences are also of great interest to our school, we, in turn, increase the value of their content for users thanks to, again, free education English language. We managed to launch interesting cross-advertising projects with a number of cinemas - both online and offline. And although a number of our colleagues criticize barter as a trend that kills the system of paid services, nevertheless, our experience shows how reasonably applied barter can be an effective tool for startup development.
Alexander Yanshev Creator "Drive to Russia"
1. It is not a big problem for a specialist to find companies to participate in a barter event. But I would like to clarify that without a base of loyal contacts and an extensive circle of friends, it is quite difficult to quickly agree with partners on the services provided for organizing events.
2. After studying the proposal, the partner understands what he receives in return for his services. And he decides how he can integrate into the event. The main criteria for such interaction are advertising, publications, expanding the circle of customers, getting to know potential customers. In some cases, partnerships are direct profits from participating in an event.
3. The higher the status of the event, the more famous people taking part in the event and the number of media, the higher the bar for sponsors and partners. On the part of sponsors, of course, provided that the event suits them - this is the level of media, the number of publications and the planned coverage of the target audience. Possibility of direct communication with the audience targeted by the sponsor's business.
4. Interest in barter is rather growing. Through cross-marketing. Intersections of potential partners arise in completely different areas of business - a great event always attracts attention.
5. The difficulty in the work of a beginner is that he is a beginner! First and foremost is trust, which takes a long time to develop, and the possibility of losing it is instantaneous. The potential participation of proven and successful agencies greatly increases the chances of novice professionals to work with partners.
Andrey Likhanov Lead PR Manager, AMC Communications Group
Practice shows that companies in almost all sectors of the economy have reduced their advertising budgets, but have not stopped looking for alternative options for PR promotion. Barter is one such tool that allows you to achieve PR goals and save money at the same time. Interest in cooperation among potential sponsors fuels the brightness of the event, as well as the participation of media people and opinion leaders in it. For effective PR promotion, it is also necessary to understand the scale of the media coverage of information partners.
The forum is an official event, which is mostly interesting for business publications. Presentations, business breakfasts and lounge events are more likely to attract industry media. Thus, by providing a barter service, a company can count on media exposure (especially TV), and gets a chance to talk about its product in industry publications.
It is also important in terms of promotion that the logo of the company that agreed to barter is placed on all possible media provided by the platform and information partners, in the main press releases and subsequent publications, including on social networks.
An indicator of a successful event is feedback from partners and participants. During one of the car presentations, we established friendly relations with the dealership. The result was further fruitful cooperation. But when offering to do something by barter, it is important to set priorities correctly. The search and coordination of the location are primary, otherwise the event will be in jeopardy. This is followed by the stage of coordinating the details of the program with partners. At one of our events, the partner refused to provide alcohol at the last moment. I had to urgently look for a compromise and offer barter, because the budget had already been drawn up.
Therefore, you need to understand which of the partners is definitely interested in working together on the sponsorship package provided by the organizers. A good venue and high-quality information partners are the basis of a barter event.
A huge headache for a large number of organizers is providing an event with a sufficient number of options and advantages on an often limited budget. It's no secret that barter is mutually beneficial cooperation in the provision of goods or services by the organizer and contractor in equal monetary terms without direct cash settlements- is a very common option for working with events. How to make barter cooperation maximally "environmentally friendly" and beneficial for both parties?
Let's start with the fact that by barter you can get almost anything. Venue, catering, souvenirs, printing, transfer and accommodation, information support - you can list for a very long time. And, it should be noted that barter partners are no worse, no less significant than commercial ones. They work in exactly the same way. And the big question is where to find those who, as an organizer, will be ready to provide you with everything you need, and what can you offer in return so that the other side is satisfied? The algorithm for searching for barter partners, as a rule, is as follows:
List of services from a barter partner
Making a detailed list of what you need for the event and what you would ideally like to barter. Just sit down and write the list from the very beginning:
- platform - and describe in detail what, your requirements for it, if there are specific options - list;
- drinking water - coolers or bottles, how much;
- coffee break - what it should consist of, how many times during the day it should take place;
- wi-fi - what speed, how many participants;
- polygraphy - a list of positions with a detailed description, the number of each;
- photography - what tasks, what time interval, how many photos and in what time frame do you want to receive;
- the list is endless.
List of partner services
Making a detailed list of what you can give your partner in return. It is important to remember that barter is a mutually beneficial cooperation. If there is no reciprocity, then this is sponsorship.
Usually, the organizer can offer basic options (posts on the social networks of the event, logo on the website, on the printing and press wall, stand, logo in the breaks on the screens, handout to the participant’s package, branding of volunteers’ T-shirts / lanyards for badges / networking zone, announcement by the moderator with scenes, prank at the event). Larger packages on your part imply a large amount of barter support from a potential partner.
Important: be prepared to not only send out compreds (it won't get you anything), but really work really hard with a potential partner and be creative to come up with an integration that will help your opponent fit into your event in a relevant way and get the most out of it. This is a very important point - no one owes you anything, and you are just as interested in the goods or services that you want to receive for free as your partner is in helping him shine in front of your audience as profitably as possible.
I have a Google document in which I collect interesting ideas for potential future partnerships - because the simple placement of logos and stands is almost uninteresting to anyone, much more relevant today is the adequate and high-quality integration of a partner into a project, both commercial and barter .
Unique offer for partners
For each direction, drawing up a separate, unique offer for partners. It is important to understand that the printing house, the taxi service and the public speaking school are interested in different activities at your event, different options from among those that you can offer. Therefore, it is very important to carefully approach the development of an offer for each niche, for each company. Believe me, it pays off in the long run.
Market analysis
Market analysis and listing of potential barter partners for your event. Let's look at the example of drinking water: in a search engine, you ask the query "Water delivery" - and study the first 2-3 pages that appeared on your request. Call the indicated numbers, find the person responsible for marketing / sales / PR - in different companies, representatives of different departments can solve the same issue. And then it depends only on you how you can convey the value of your offer, whether you can guarantee the presence of an up-to-date target audience at your event. There is another option - to ask fellow organizers who supplies water to them, and on what terms. The third option - you can not ask, but look at photo reports from other people's events and draw conclusions. True, in this case, you will definitely not know whether it was barter, catering included in the budget of the event, or just buying water in Auchan.
Negotiation
Search for contact persons, distribution of a compred and telephone conversation. The most important and difficult thing when working with partners of any level is to find a decision maker - a person who is competent to make decisions on your issue. The key task is to persistently seek a conversation with him, because, in fact, all the other employees of the company will still not be able to resolve your issue. It is also very important to understand that simply sending out a commercial offer, even beautifully and correctly drawn up specifically for a particular company, is not enough - you need to make sure that it is received, read and considered. This can only be done by telephone conversation or personal meeting.
Important: when you start interacting with contact persons in companies you are interested in, you are faced with the fact that this is a huge layer of work, where one of the key elements is personal contact. Therefore, accept right away - if you are chaotic and / or an introvert - then it will be very difficult for you to engage in partnerships. Because, in fact, working with barter partners takes as much effort, time and energy as working with commercial partners.
Hall without rent + projector as a gift!
Conclusion of a mutually beneficial agreement
Search for a variant of interaction that suits both parties, conclusion of an agreement. It is clear that if you want to receive 600,000 worth of catering services from a partner, and in return are ready to offer placement of a logo on the site, then this may make sense for a partner only in a situation where this is the site of the Olympics. But seriously - measure your options in money and do not be greedy when discussing who, to whom and how much. An adequate assessment of your offer and “reasonable consumption” of what a partner can offer you will most likely be the key to a signed contract.
Coordination and control of terms and volumes
Coordination of terms, volumes, procedures for obtaining by the parties of what is due to them. I will not tire of repeating - sign all the agreements. Especially if you are interacting with a partner for the first time, especially if you feel insecure about getting what the other party promises you. Calculate the deadlines for the production of what you need, promptly request all the materials you need to fulfill your part of the obligations. Control that everything is done in strict accordance with the signed partner package.
Thanks and Summing Up
After the event, be sure to thank the partner, get feedback, close all the documentation. Barter relations, as you probably already understand, are as important and frequent as commercial ones. A clear and timely fulfillment of obligations on both sides is highly desirable for positive conclusions about joint work on the project. If everything went well and you and your partner were mutually satisfied with each other, then, most likely, the first joint event will become the basis for regular barter relations. At least that's how it often happens to me.
Sometimes a situation arises when one of the parties is dissatisfied with what they eventually received. For example, you invited a coffee shop by barter, assuming a natural flow of participants at an event of 5,000 people during the day. The coffee point does not pay for participation, but gives unlimited coffee to your entire team of 50 people, earning on sales to everyone else. But something went wrong, hail, storm and +12 instead of the +25 you expected - and instead of 5,000 people, 700 came.
Or, for example, you gave an information partner options in the amount of a large partner package (handout, printing, stand, press wall, posts, logo, and so on) - in return, you received 300,000 banner impressions on the main page of this partner’s website, and also participation in mailing list, and more posts on social networks, where there are tens of thousands of subscribers. And there were as many as 12 clicks from this information partner on tagged links. Will you be satisfied? Is it mutually beneficial? No.
However, when working with barter, there is a share of partnerships, the result of which cannot be predicted without a test. Therefore, you should always be prepared for the fact that the negative from the side of barter partners will have to be worked out, and some will be included, if not on the black list, then definitely on the list “not recommended for the future under any circumstances.”
More importantly, there is such a position of the organizers: “Either by barter, or we can do without this option at all.” Wrong premise at first. If you could not attract any barter partner, but you, for example, still need drinking water - do not be greedy, even just order a cooler for rent and buy glasses. It is inexpensive, but without it it will be worse for the participants of your event, and, consequently, for your organizational karma.
Also, there is no need to try to attract by barter a partner who is obviously unequal to you. If, for example, you are planning a local hand-made fair, it is unlikely that Megafon will be interested in becoming your Internet partner and giving you wi-fi for barter participants. Balance the weight categories when compiling and sending offers.
Never forget that in addition to providing options from your side directly at the event, you can offer barter partner support options on your other projects. For example, when we had a children's club at the "Severe St. Petersburg SMM" conference on barter (you could come to the conference and leave the children under the supervision of educators so as not to be distracted from the reports), which, in addition to being placed on advertising media, on the website, on printing and in social networks, we offered to post posts in our group "Children's Petersburg" - it has nothing directly to do with the conference, but this proposal seemed relevant and interesting to the partner - because there are more than 60,000 target audience, St. Petersburg mothers. Always make a complete list of your options, and remember that for individual partners, they can be a deciding factor when deciding whether to barter with your event.
Journalists need more than expert commentary. Editorials and bloggers also need locations for filming, products for reviews and testing. Also, many media outlets will be happy to receive ready-made columns from experts and ready-made texts from corporate writers. All this creates a lot of opportunities for companies to save money on promotion, and for the media to get free studio space, products for reviews and projects, as well as content that does not have to be paid for.
To solve these noble tasks, Pressfeed launched a new feature - "Streams". These are specialized platforms created to solve the problems described above.
In chapter "Barter" requests are published with a proposal for barter cooperation. If you are preparing product reviews, creating beauty boxes, or looking for other integration formats, leave a request and collect interesting offers.
In chapter "Locations" now you can leave requests to search for places to record interviews, filming or photo shoots.
If you are looking for written articles or columnists for publication, place a request in the section "Authors".
And in the section "Texture" the usual requests for expert comments remained.
Morality
Promotion through reviews from bloggers, integration of your products into TV projects, reviews and tests in specialized magazines is an effective and inexpensive way.
Editorials and Bloggers: Post requests for the products you need for materials and projects, get them for free and use them to produce content.
"Gifts to the studio!" (With)
Request examples
Locations
If it seems to you that your company has absolutely nothing to say to the media, you don’t have high-profile business events, but you have a cool loft, a stylish office, textured production facilities, or a cafe with a stylish interior - this section is for you. Invite the media to shoot on your premises, record videos, shoot TV spots, do photo shoots and you will get mentions, get to know journalists, photographers and film crews. Which will obviously benefit you a lot.
Companies
Ask the media that you will provide a place for filming to put a caption for the photo on the site indicating your company and an active link to it, agree on a “barter” - a detailed mention or some other promo.
For the media
If you are looking for a place for interviews, photo shoots or filming, post a request in this section. By the way, now the service will be useful not only for journalists, but also for photographers - you can leave a request to find a place for a photo session.
Who will suit
A great option for cafes, restaurants and companies with an interesting office and production environment to get featured in the media, get mentions and links.
TV companies, magazine photographers, video bloggers - in a couple of minutes, post a request and find a suitable location for filming.
Request examples
Authors
In 2017, the EnglishDom company organized. At the same time, the company says that now both 100 and 200 publications per month no longer seem unattainable to them. This happened because the company launched a whole “content factory”. Here is how the company's PR director Margarita Kashuba describes it:
Our PR department is, in fact, a content production factory, which employs 3 specialists, as well as 15 writers and designers.
EnglishDom is not the only company on the market that has appreciated the prospects of content marketing and has set up a “text factory” within its walls. More and more companies are acquiring their own "commercial writers": hiring copywriters, working with freelance writers. The interest in text promotion coincided with the readiness of the media to accept ready-made content created by corporate writers for publication. Thus, sites save on authors, receive high-quality texts written according to editorial canons, but paid for by “someone else”. Companies get cheap (at the price of copywriting) and effective tool promotion.
And since there is demand and supply, then there will be a meeting place for them: that is why we have created the “Authors” platform. On it, the media publish their requests for articles or invite authors. And companies can find out for which media and on what topics it would be useful for them to prepare content.
Morality
Welcome to Uber Editorial!
Who benefits
Companies that have their own commercial writers, content creation practices, “writing” employees, managers, owners, their own content projects, corporate editorial offices, some of whose resources can be directed to preparing publications on external sites.
Media outlets that have recognized the value of bringing in content from outside contributors paid by someone else.
Request examples
Requests for comments and invoices, search for experts - the classic and most familiar way of interaction between companies and the media, a PR tool. Just follow the requests on Pressfeed, choose the one that suits you and respond. On average, every second response to a request turns into a publication on Pressfeed (we call this “conversion” and the average for the site is 52%, yours can be much higher). In total, about 1,500 requests per month pass through the service - there is something to choose and where to turn around.
To work more efficiently with requests, issue yourself a . You will get priority access to requests, you will be able to communicate directly with journalists in chats, set up notifications so you don’t miss anything relevant.
And of course, use new ways of promoting in the media - Locations, Barter and providing the media with ready-made materials for publication.
May the power of Pressfeed and budget-free marketing be with you!
Lecturer-expert of applied socio-economic programs of the Training Center "Specialist" at the Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman
Barter conditions and relationships with sponsors are a favorite type of partnership that helps to significantly optimize costs, organize charitable events and attract the media. However, it is always labor-intensive and only the most persistent and stress-resistant can do it. Event-studio “Amazing People” is happy to share life hacks on finding barter partners.
Clear event structure
To find a barter, you need to understand the concept of the project. Looking for something for a project without a clear plan is a waste of time. The list of open zones will speed up the search for what you need. Need a product? We are looking for everyone who, one way or another, is connected with him: manufacturers or owners trademark. No show program? We make a list of all possible (and impossible) artists and creative teams. Believe me, even famous people can take part in the project for free if you offer them interesting conditions. The main thing to remember is that barter is, first of all, a mutually beneficial partnership and building relationships.
Barter terms of cooperation
If the participation of the sponsor is supposed to be free of charge, it is important to discuss this right away. And it is even better to fix all the agreements on paper. As nice bonuses, provide your partner with a mention on the site, in social networks, other pos-materials, as well as a photo report with the participation of his brand. Remember thank you letters. It will cost you almost nothing, but for a partner company it is an opportunity to become a CO participant in the project.
Menswear designer Boris Rimar, partner of the "Fashion Fest" project. Moscow, Flacon design factory, 2012. Photo: Agata Brockmiller
Won't work fast
When planning a project, don't expect to be able to find the right sponsors in one call. Searching for good partners means dozens of calls. There are, of course, miracles when everything is solved in one call or even SMS. But this is more the exception than the rule. It must be remembered that the search for a barter sponsor is painstaking work.
Respect your partner, his work and time
Every product or service has its own value. Everything that partners provide by barter costs money. For a company, this form of participation is always lost profit, production costs and man-hours. Therefore, you should always take care of the interests of your partner first.
Optimism is the key to success
You can achieve high results only by believing in yourself and your work. Receiving refusals - do not despair and continue the search. If there are clear goals, then there will be clear people who will help to achieve them. Be bold and don't be afraid to communicate.
Sincerity, openness, real emotions
No comments.
Dance company "Nota G", Birthday of Retro FM radio station, Cheboksary, 2013
Summing up, we note that, most importantly, be a self-confident, unkillable optimist, respect your partners and be attentive to them. Remember that even a small barter can serve as fertile ground for further productive interaction. Appreciate barter conditions as well as "live" money and success will not be long in coming.
Event-studio “Amazing People” invites you to communicate on VKontakte vk.com/banda.komanda and on Facebook facebook.com/banda.comanda.
