A Look into Nokia’s Sponsorship Program

As one of today’s leading brand of telecommunications technology, Nokia has proven true to its vision of ‘connecting people’. The use of their brand spans countries from those in Asia to America, and is widely known as a tried, tested and versatile mobile instrument.

With its rapid growth over the years, Nokia is now seen as a power corporation capable of developing ubiquitous, intuitive and beautiful technology. Its growth is duly based on the company’s strategy on growing, building, and transforming its products and services based on the needs of the changing times – all of which have been a pinnacle point in the company’s success.

As a well-established corporation, Nokia in turn has taken up the responsibility of ‘giving back’ to the community. It aims to be an environmental leader by developing environmentally sound commerce practices; and producing products that offer sustenance. In addition, Nokia has also taken up the goal of taking up a role in society by providing a number of programs that aid in community development.

Sponsorship guidelines

As part in community involvement and at the same time in marketing communications, Nokia involves sponsorship as an integral part of their business strategy. A number of requests for sponsorship, prizes, support, and assistance of all sorts are received by Nokia often.

Because of the huge amount of sponsorship requests, the need for setting guidelines for such were developed by the company as a means for screening viable proposals. These guidelines involve a number of requirements that a sponsorship proposal should encompass in order for it to garner the attention it needs.

The key requirements that Nokia looks for in sponsorship proposals are the following:

• The proposal should be relevant and fitting with Nokia’s brand

• The proposal must provide a clear message towards Nokia’s consumers, clients, and/or buyers

• The proposal should be innovative, creative, and unique and to be able to stand out

• There should be a clear and solid outline that shows a return of investment

• The proposal should exude an excellence in execution and logistics

In addition to the key requirements mentioned above, there is additional information that should be in a potential sponsorship that assists Nokia in its proposal evaluation. These are:

• Details on the organization that requests for sponsorship – this includes name, full address, organization description, and relevant credentials

• An outline and description of key persons in the organization that are involved in the proposal

• Details on the benefits and their corresponding numerical value that Nokia will acquire from sponsoring

• A full detailed description on the event that is to be sponsored – this includes the location, venue, and time.

• A valid timeline of the proposal/project

• An exact requirement on the type of support Nokia is to provide

• Details on the exposure extent that Nokia will have in sponsoring the event

• Information on other sponsors involved in the event

All these are required for Nokia to give its consideration on taking up a sponsorship proposal. There are also tips that the company includes for an even more attention-grabbing sponsorship. The reason for giving out such tips and hints is the company’s desire to be able to give out as much sponsorships that will both profit them and their sponsee.

Some tips and hints that Nokia shares are the following:

• Be sure to include the following information, as it sometimes has a tendency to not be included – name, return contact numbers, and valid address

• Proposals can be emailed but should be under five megabytes

• Pictures, images and such are very helpful

• The proposal should be short but have quality information

• Don’t waste time ‘sucking up’ to Nokia, but instead focus on what is requested

• Do definitive research

• Clearly outline the benefits for both sponsor and sponsee

• Persistence is key, but it does not mean ‘hassling’ the company with numerous update calls and emails

Marketing with Your iPhone

When most people think about the iPhone they think of the younger generation talking, sending texts to millions of other teens, sharing photos, and more talking. That's what corporate America is beginning to see, especially those with savvy marketing departments. Smaller to medium sized businesses have really started to pay attention to what the younger set is doing with their iPhones and how they socialize. It is very different from what most of us grew up with. What these businesses have discovered is a virtual gold mine for sales opportunities. This is how marketing with your iPhone can help to increase your bottom line.

Using a phone for marketing is not something revolutionary and new. Ever since man discovered the telephone, it has been used for sales and marketing purposes. However, in today's competitive markets, how you use the telephone is more important than ever before. Let's take a look and see how marketing with your iPhone can generate more business for your company.

First of all, you will need an account with several of the social marketing websites that are out there. If you are specifically looking to target iPhone users, who happen to have more disposable income than others. This is based on the fact that they can afford a $500-600 cell phone. The websites you should be specifically looking into are Facebook and YouTube. No, these websites are not just for kids. Here is how powerful using social websites can be. Take Facebook for example. Have a programmer write a Facebook application for you to upload. This is not difficult and almost anyone with some knowledge of C++ or other language can do this for you. Have this application be unique and desirable. Perhaps make it a game, or a contact manager. Then offer a very desirable feature that can only be retrieved if they visit your website. For example, there is a fish tank application that offers glitter fish and other critters for your tank. You can only get these fish if you visit a website first.

Now here is how this marketing with your iPhone helps you. Your application gets downloaded by Susie who loves it. She also wants your special feature so she visits your website, which happens to sell upscale shoes, handbags and accessories. She fell in love with your product and ordered a bag. Then she sent a notice to all of her friends about your application. Then those contacts also visited your website and sent out more links and information about your application and website to others. The "viral" marketing has started and you really did not have to do much other than getting the application uploaded to Facebook. In a nutshell, this is how you can start marketing with your iPhone.

The iPhone plays a huge part in this marketing scenario listed above. You as a salesperson or marketer can use your iPhone to rate the uploaded application, keep track of who is downloading it, post messages to the blog about how great it is and invite everyone who has downloaded it to be your friend.  Now, your list of friends becomes your potential customer database. You can send out special sales to these people because you know they fit into your companies demographics. More and more businesses are starting to catch onto this concept. This is one way that you can start marketing with your iPhone.
YouTube is another avenue for marketing with your iPhone. There are so many ways you can use this website and your iPhone to market your business. Musicians can post demo videos out there. Companies that are offering a product can post a sample advertisement or an additional advertisement out there. Keep in mind that iPhone users can download and save these videos to their iPhones and readily share them with everyone. You want your video to be entertaining, worth sharing and effective. Selling blenders? Why not do a video on how not to use your blender. Same thing with vacuum cleaners.

As you can see, marketing with your iPhone can take your business into areas that only a few are utilizing. However, each day more and more companies are joining in the social marketing revolution. Now is the time to get in on this, before everyone else does and it becomes no different that junk mail, spam, and telemarketing.

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iPhones on eBay

Can you buy an iPhone on eBay? Yes, you can. However, there are important things to watch out for if you want to buy iPhones on eBay. With eBay it is always caveat emptor - buyer beware. This is true when you are looking to purchase iPhones on eBay as well. If you take measures to be sure that you know what you are buying, then you can get a really great deal on an iPhone. However, if you are not careful, you will be disappointed and possibly out of a lot of money. This is what you need to be aware of when buying iPhones on eBay.

First, know what you are buying and if you are not sure ask the seller before you bid. Some things to look out for are conflicting information between the title and the extended description. For example there was a listing for an unlocked 16 GB iPhone. That is what the title said. In the description is stated very clearly that this phone is locked but then went on to say that they are using it with T-Mobile, so it is clearly unlocked. The best way to resolve issues like this is to send the seller an email and ask for clarification. Save this email and the response you get so that if you are the winning bidder you have recourse if the iPhone is not as described.

Know the difference between unlocked and locked. Unlocked means that the firmware has been hacked and now you can insert any chip that will work on ST&T or T-Mobile's networks. If you use T-Mobile you will lose the visual voice mail, which is an AT&T exclusive feature. In the US the iPhone will work only on cell phone networks AT&T and T-Mobile. This has nothing to do with the chip and everything to do with the wiring. The iPhone will only work on the radio frequencies that AT&T and T-Mobile provide. The terms "unlocked" and "new, unopened box" are incompatible. You have to open up the box and hack into the firmware in order to unlock the iPhone. Apple does not ship unlocked iPhones. In order to hack into the iPhone you must open the box, and hook the iPhone up to a computer. This is hardly unopened.  Locked means that the firmware that Apple shipped the phone with is intact and untouched. These phones will only activate and work on the AT&T network. However, a locked phone has no issues or troubles with any firmware upgrades whereas an unlocked phone must be careful when updating to be sure they do not re-lock the iPhone.

Another thing to look out for when buying iPhones on eBay is to know if the phone is refurbished, new, or used. A refurbished iPhone is one that Apple (hopefully) has taken from not working properly to a like new state. This is a great way to get an inexpensive iPhone. However, an ethical seller will clearly state that this is a refurbished item. Les scrupulous sellers may not disclose this. If unsure, ask. New and used are self-explanatory.

Be alerted to the fact that there are phones that are similar in appearance to the iPhone but they are not iPhones. On eBay, you will see phones called A88, iPhone, PDA, cell phone... These are not Apple iPhones, they are iPhone look alike. Make sure that the manufacturer of any iPhone you purchase is Apple and not CECT.

Finally make sure that you are aware of the sellers return policies and only pay through PayPal using a credit card or pay directly with a credit card. Never pay with cash, checks, Western Union, wire transfers or money orders. This way if you are sold a fraudulent item, you have recourse through your credit card company or PayPal. Buyers who do not take credit cards or PayPal are questionable so once again remember caveat emptor, buyer beware.

eBay tries to make their venue a safe place to purchase items. An educated consumer stands the best chance of getting a good deal. Before you buy iPhones on eBay do a little research to be sure you are getting exactly what you are looking for.

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