When you sponsor a local event, you’re supporting your community. But, what you may not know is that it’s also a good investment for your business. Event sponsorship is targeted marketing at its best and builds an emotional connection with repeat and potential customers.
The Benefits of Event Sponsorship
People are bombarded with information, advertisements, and intrusive marketing. Most Americans are exposed to 4,000 or more ads each day. That’s a lot of noise. The effectiveness of what’s called push advertising is declining because of the noise it makes. It’s getting harder for any business to get noticed. Plus, there are so many sales pitches that people are now ignoring most of them. But event sponsorship is unique in several ways:
1. Media Exposure
Event sponsors are often recognized in press releases and media coverage.
2. Targeted Marketing
You can sponsor an event that aligns with your brand.
3. Improved Company Image
The impression you give is that your company is financially able to support the event, as well as professional and reputable enough to do so. This will improve the overall public perception of your brand.
4. Giving Back
Establishing goodwill shows the entire community that you’re a reliable partner. Support becomes a two-way street.
5. Networking
You get to know the event co-sponsors and other decision-makers within the community.
For these reasons alone, event sponsorship provides more return on your marketing dollars when done right.
Where Do You Start?
Events offer targeted interactions with the right people. Smaller, more intimate events build deeper connections. The same can be said for large-scale events if you have the right people in place. So, you need to consider the many options and commitments that an event has in order to get the most from your sponsorship. If you’re new to event sponsorship, you’ll need to know the answers to these questions:
- What are the levels of sponsorship?
- How much paid or volunteer staff do I need?
- Any travel, per diem, or food costs for staff?
- Which marketing activities do I need to use to promote the event?
- Will there be other expenses, such as design, tchotchkes, and giveaways?
It’s clear that your costs for an event go beyond the sponsorship fee. All of these rolls into your event budget and define the total cost for the event.
You need to set a budget that you can afford, or else you’ll feel cheated or let down. Plus, you want to make sure that you wouldn’t be able to get the same exposure without the investment. Why pay for something that you already get for free?
Supporting Your Mission
Your company is guided by a mission statement. It influences everything you do, and event sponsorship should align with it. If it doesn’t, your interactions with attendees may fall short of expectations, and your reputation may get damaged. That’s not what you want. You need positive energy that sponsoring an event can give. So use your mission statement as a guide when picking the perfect events to sponsor.