Sports sponsorship can be a fantastic way to raise your business profile, increase your customer base and boost sales and when done correctly, sponsorship can transform your business profile within the community, enhancing your reputation and allowing you to stand out from the crowd in a competitive market.
Getting involved with a local sports team as a sponsor should be seen as an investment. Do it right and you will reap the many rewards positive word-of-mouth can create for your business. When members of the local community see the sponsor getting behind their local team, you as the local business sponsor become their friend and embed yourself in the community (and communities like to support local).
But like every other aspect of your marketing strategy, to have a successful partnership, you need to have a plan:
1. Be Strategic – Deciding which team or type of sport to sponsor is an important decision and it pays to think strategically about who you want to be partnered with. Choosing your favourite team might be great fun, but ultimately may not be what is best for your brand. Think carefully about the reputation of the team and the individual players because any bad press for the team will be bad press for your business too.
2. Be Clear About What You Can Offer – Before you approach your team to negotiate a sponsorship deal you need to sit down and think about what you can offer the team and what limits you will put on their access to your products or services. As with any business arrangement you need to be very clear about what is being offered, and before you can do that, you need to know what it is you are – and aren’t – offering.
3. It’s All About Exposure – On the other side of the negotiation, you also need to be very clear about what you want in exchange for the products or services you are offering. Make it clear exactly what you expect in return, including how many banners you want on the sports ground, how much space you want dedicated to your business in the team newsletter and how big your logo will be in their direct mail campaigns. If you expect your business to be included on every piece of marketing material, you need to negotiate this in advance. It’s a good idea not to rely on a verbal agreement as you don’t want a positive to become a negative. You should make sure that a contract is written up that clearly agrees on exposure and finances.
4. Exposure Goes Both Ways – The responsibility of getting exposure for your sports sponsorship deal doesn’t just lie with the team managers. You can make the most of a sponsorship deal by including it in your own marketing materials as well. Get a ‘proud sponsors of…’ logo created for the back of your business card or the bottom of your letterhead, celebrate the team’s accomplishments and successes at every opportunity to remind your customers of your community focus and generosity.
Once the deal is done, make the most of your partnership and contact our team at Kwik Kopy. We can help you maximise the promotion of your new sponsorship deal.
