Let’s talk sponsorship. The benefits from a successful sponsorship can be huge as it’s so multi-faceted it can deliver a variety of communication goals. From power of association and multiple stakeholder communication, through to encouraging direct sales and developing long-term strategic partnerships, the right sponsorship is a definitive communication strategy to implement.
Sponsorship is a perfect fit for passion marketing, although it does depend on the target audience and their perception of relevance. With the right sponsorship, you can convey memorable emotions and experiences far more effectively than other communication channels. Power of association can be a formidable tool.
The emotional appeal of sponsorship also makes for a positive arena for a brand to influence and change the attitudes of consumers. As a unique persuasive tool, sponsorship can influence target audiences to reach a favourable impression of a brand, especially if they’ve had an enjoyable experience that the brand is associated with.
Apart from the obvious goal of using sponsorship to reach potential customers, it’s also a great way to motivate your employees and give them the opportunity to give back to their community through their involvement with the sponsored charity. From a recruitment perspective, there is a distinct correlation between a company’s corporate social responsibility efforts and its attractiveness as a workplace to potential employees.
Sponsorship is normally utilised by companies as a conduit to direct sales by using the network of the sponsee or its power to ‘open doors’ for the sponsor to new opportunities. Also, by using themed incentive programmes, you can generate increased sales, which can invariably result in a return on investment much greater than the value of the sponsorship.
With the right sponsor/sponsee relationship, the development of long-term strategic partnerships are inevitable. Think Slazenger, Rolex and Robinson’s with their long-standing sponsorships of Wimbledon. These strategic collaborations can span decades implementing joint communication campaigns, co-branding and joint ventures, fully maximising on the positive outcomes of the sponsorship.
In order to benefit from a successful sponsorship partnership, the two parties need to have either a natural or created fit. The latter requiring a larger budget to build a connection between you both.
The five factors influencing the harmony of a partnership are essentially based on similarities between you, whether that’s functionality, location or experience. The similarity could also be a symbolic resemblance through characteristics of your branding: matching colours, shapes, brand name or another aesthetic feature. And the final factor is a non-natural fit that is a specific concept created by a sponsor to promote the sponsorship.
Whether you already have a sponsorship in place, or are contemplating entering into one – it’s important to look at sponsorship strategically as it could be extremely beneficial to your business, whilst simultaneously giving back to your community.
This article was first published in the Suffolk Free Press, Thursday 12 September 2019.
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