As the Bank of Ireland marketing machine gears up to promote its fantastic Sponsor for a Day competition many small business owners reading this will be thinking, why enter if you can’t win.
Look at the final short list for Leinster last year – Big Red Cloud, Nobo, Jobbio, Atlantis Seafoods and Radical Oats – all SMEs on the relatively small end of the SME scale.
Our common bond was that we took a few extra minutes to think about our 200 word submission, and that is all it is, a very short essay as to why you’d like to win the Sponsor for a Day competition.
Back in September 2014 when I clicked the send button of course I immediately imagined what it would be like to be in the RDS with the Leinster team running out wearing the Big Red Cloud logo on their jersey. We all are entitled to dream and some do so more than others.
Nothing in all my wildest dreams could have prepared me for the experience of the night itself when Leinster ran out seven tries from seven different try scorers to rack up their highest European Rugby Championship score in nine seasons.
Of course that big night didn’t come about just because of a 200 word essay. We were shortlisted with four other fantastic SMEs but we managed to pull the most votes from the long list of marketing activities that we ran.
To be honest, we were never cocky or arrogant that we would be the winners. We set our goal to be the winner but never, not even up to the last minute, underestimated the potential of our fellow competitors. That stood us in good stead and kept our feet firmly planted on the ground.
Yes, we won and it’s been an amazing journey since. For me and the online accounting software team here at Big Red Cloud our approach was……
Sponsor for a Day: You can’t win if you don’t try.