- Increase return on investment. …
- Build business relationships. …
- Gain valuable insights. …
- Expand its content strategy. …
- Foster a positive reputation. …
- Generate leads. …
- Reach sales goals. …
- Benefit from association.
The high-profile Sharp sponsorship lasted 18 years with Manchester United. Sharp’s involvement with the club greatly increased the visibility of its brand worldwide. Sharp’s marketing communications manager at the time, Martin Arnold, acknowledged to Tech Radar in 2010 that the sponsorship’s end also signaled a decline for Sharp in the UK.
With their logo on the recognizable red shirt, from Sharp to Aon, AIG, and most recently Tech Viewer, it can bring a company’s name into the public eye. They are rarely forgotten. The legendary Champions League comeback on May 26, 1999, in Barcelona will be remembered as the greatest football moment ever. Even 23 years later, Sharp’s sponsorship is still clearly remembered, along with Solskjr’s 90+3 winning goal and knee slide (although, as an Irish person, Thierry Henry’s 2009 handball might be the most enduring memory).
Contrary to the traditional exposure of a logo on a jersey or a sign in the camera arc, sport sponsorships have recently grown more complex. Sport sponsorship, however, is frequently preferred to advertising because it is frequently targeted at an audience through sporting ties and fan loyalty. While the size of the sector has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Irish sponsorship industry grew by 6% in 2021 to reach €180 million, and according to the 16th annual ONSIDE Irish Sponsorship Industry Survey, there will be additional growth of 8% in 2022 to reach €195 million.
Sponsorship has many advantages and is equally effective in B2B and B2C applications. Depending on your execution strategy, sponsorship offers opportunities for business access, brand affinity, connections, access to target audiences, data, and much more. Most importantly, it aids in influencing public perception, which can be challenging to accomplish through purely internal branding and marketing initiatives.
Together, sponsors and businesses can achieve more and have more in common by multiplying their resources and using the combined might of the alliance. This comprehensive guide to the advantages of sponsorship explains what sponsorship is, how to use it for PR, and the various types of sponsorship, including case studies from Legacy clients.
Sponsorship is a financial and/or in-kind fee-exchange arrangement between a funder and a company that involves the exchange of rights, access, and associations that may be used for commercial gain. It enables a company to show that it is affiliated with the person, thing, or group that it has chosen to be associated with.
There are numerous levels of sponsorship in the media, sports, arts, music, venues, and gaming. There are also several different types of sponsorship. The most important thing to keep in mind is that sponsorship is a targeted marketing strategy that appeals to their customer base by providing rights and benefits to the purchaser, or “sponsor.”
Financial sponsors who provide advertising for an event are known as media sponsors. Media sponsors agree to advertise the event. This may entail paying for advertising space in local or national newspapers or radio programs, as well as posting information about the event on their personal social media pages. Having partnered with Newstalk’s Off The Ball to exclusively sponsor three weeks of Team Ireland content across all online and digital platforms, our client Indeed, the proud sponsor of Team Ireland at the Tokyo 2020 Games, achieved a high level of brand recall among the relevant target audience.
An arrangement known as an “in-kind sponsorship” occurs when the sponsoring business offers products or services in lieu of cash contributions. Instead, they provide goods or services in exchange for retail cash value. This kind of sponsorship appeals to companies looking to cut sponsorship costs and gives the company a chance to showcase the caliber of their work.
Promotional partnerships are similar to media sponsors. These sponsorships differ in that the promotional partners are typically celebrities rather than businesses and media outlets. A promotional partner can help you reach your target market by advertising to their own network. For instance, our client Energia promoted its Smart Home Store campaign using rugby ambassadors from their sponsorship portfolio. We carried out three paid influencer collaborations, giving each influencer a Smart Home Store package that best suited their requirements. Influencers promoting an Energia product that would most appeal to their followers by selecting their preferred bundle ensured authenticity. The ambassadors had a combined reach of 71,000 people and high levels of engagement.
These are the sponsors who directly donate funds to campaigns and organizations to support their work. The type and amount of exposure provided by the beneficiary is frequently determined by the level of support provided by the sponsor. For instance, the size and location of sponsor logos on sports apparel can be determined by the sponsorship’s financial contribution. Two of Ireland’s most renowned golfers, Shane Lowry and Stephanie Meadow, are proudly supported by our client Immedis as its global brand ambassadors. The global payroll solution, which only started as a start-up in 2016 and now employs over 400 people across 150 countries, was founded from scratch. The business has developed a very clever way to strategically reach their target audience in billions of homes around the world thanks to the strategic sponsorships with Irish golfers who regularly compete on the international stage. The execution of the ambassador partnerships served as crucial early marketing tactics to raise brand awareness, profile, and affinity of the company among the key target audience around the world in the absence of funding for a sustained global above-the-line marketing campaign. Shane Lowry was selected as brand ambassador following a thorough selection process after demonstrating that he was the ideal fit for the brand in terms of target audience and had a bullseye global reach among the target demographic. Stephanie Meadow later joined Immedis as an athlete after the outcomes were established, strengthening Immedis’ connection to golf. Both players live Immedis’ core values.
Although it may appear that sponsorship is more of a selfless act than a charitable one, businesses that are willing to invest in sponsorship reap a number of benefits. As a means of positioning the brand, sponsorship can offer concrete advantages in the pursuit of their overall business goals. Sponsorships may go beyond making quick money to help a company establish its identity. One benefit of sponsorship, according to McKinsey, is that brand strength contributes 60 to 80 percent to overall sales. However, there are other benefits as well, which are listed below.
Worldwide, sponsorship spending has increased significantly, and it now accounts for an impressive portion of marketing budgets. A sponsorship may be used to support or alter a company’s positioning by associating it with a certain market segment, changing how consumers perceive the brand, or setting it apart from rivals. Sponsorships can increase brand recognition. Your business may be exposed to new markets and target demographics as a result. This frequently occurs as a result of press coverage or mentions on social media, as well as through event advertising, signs, radio, and featured ads, which is where Legacy Communications comes in!
In order to develop new content for a company’s content strategy, sponsorships can be a great resource. You can increase your engagement on your company website or social media channels by promoting your participation in an event or activity. Engaging your target audience through the creation of clever content that appeals to both audiences is one way to do this. Our client, Go-Ahead Ireland sponsors Dublin club leagues and championships. We assisted in developing human interest tales illustrating how GAA Clubs in Dublin and Go-Ahead Ireland, a leading transportation company, connect communities. Their primary target audience watched hundreds of thousands of videos as a result of this campaign.
What Are the Benefits of Sponsorship?
How do business sponsorships work?
Sponsorship is frequently needed for community events in order to reduce costs and offer exciting programming. These promotional opportunities typically sponsor things like:
There are typically fewer opportunities for product or brand placement when businesses support smaller, regional causes, such as a fundraising campaign or sports team. These sponsorships can be very helpful for businesses that have a very local target audience, even though you may reach fewer people.
What is business sponsorship?
A business sponsorship is an organization’s support of an occasion or activity, such as a charitable cause, group, trade show, or neighborhood sports team, and it typically takes the form of a monetary donation. Sponsorships are a marketing strategy used by businesses to gain a competitive edge and accomplish business objectives.
Sponsorships enhance a brand’s recognition and reputation because they support particular events that your target audience cares about, in contrast to advertising, which shares specific messages about a company or product in the hopes of increasing sales. As a result, potential clients link your business to the occasion or activity.
By enabling businesses to connect with and gain valuable exposure from quality audiences, sponsorship frequently leads to business growth.
Benefits of sponsoring events
Becoming a sponsor has a number of advantages. For example, your company can:
Increase return on investment
Sponsorships offer businesses excellent exposure, even though they typically require some financial investment, and typically yield a high return on investment (ROI). The majority of sponsorship roles are negotiable, so you can come to an agreement that gives your business the level of exposure you’re after. Prior to the event, you should decide what objectives you hope to accomplish. After that, you can select a useful metric to gauge your success and determine whether or not that particular sponsorship is worthwhile to repeat.
Build business relationships
Making connections with companies that are not competitors through sponsorship of an event or trade show can open up future collaboration opportunities for your company. Along with a plan for attracting new clients, you should also have a strategy for introducing your business to other sponsors and professionals who will be present.
Gain valuable insights
Sponsoring an event can teach you a lot, including the following:
Expand its content strategy
As a great source of fresh content for a company’s content strategy, sponsorships can be a great resource. You can increase your engagement and draw more people to an event or activity by promoting your participation in it. Creating content with themes and hashtags is a fantastic way to achieve this. Furthermore, you can interact with the host on social media and discover fresh target markets.
Along with the content your business produces, you can gain exposure from the attendees’ social media posts. During events, most attendees share blogs, videos, quotes, and photos, which could expose your brand to a much wider audience.
Foster a positive reputation
Perhaps the biggest advantage of event sponsorship is that it can improve your business’s reputation. Generally, consumers like to support businesses that give back to their neighborhood and promote virtue. By supporting a worthy cause, you can gain media attention, distinguish your business from bigger brands, and cultivate customer loyalty. Choose causes that at least loosely align with the values that your target audience holds dear.
Generate leads
Brand loyalty is largely dependent on emotional connections. You can expose your business to potential clients and show off its human side by sponsoring events. Additionally, by sending a representative to the events you sponsor, you can build a mailing list, gain insight into your target market, and advertise your company’s goods and services.
Typically, event organizers can give you information about attendees in advance, such as attendance rates. If you do your research beforehand, you can create a plan for generating as many leads as you can.
Reach sales goals
At a consumer event, you can make immediate sales in addition to obtaining leads. Look for gatherings that draw sizable crowds and have few direct competitors. By paying an additional fee in some circumstances, you can guarantee that you’re the only vendor in your specific market category.
Benefit from association
Branded event marketing is frequently an effective way to boost your business’s favorable reputation. People frequently believe that a company is reputable and reliable when it sponsors events or organizations. Customers are therefore more likely to buy services or goods linked to the companies sponsoring high-profile events.
Boost brand visibility
By exposing your business to new audiences, sponsorships can increase brand recognition before, during, and after the actual event. This frequently occurs through media or social media mentions, event advertising like radio spots, signs, and featured advertisements. By providing attendees with free branded materials as part of giveaways, you can benefit from this exposure.
Engage niche markets
You can make sure that you are connecting with high-quality leads who are interested in your solutions or products by selecting events that draw your target audience.
Showcase a service or product
Events offer a fantastic setting for releasing new features or products. By promoting launches and other incentives, like giveaways, on social media before the event, you can increase your traffic.
Gain a competitive advantage
You always have an advantage over your absent direct competitors when you sponsor an event.
Interact with prospects
You can strengthen the relationship between your business and its target market through in-person interactions. Engage with prospective customers by providing demos or branded merchandise.
Establish its authority
As a sponsor, you can establish your company as a respectable authority in its specialized field.
FAQ
What is the benefit of sponsorship?
Increasing your authority and competitiveness in your industry through sponsorship is a great way to grow your business. It has the potential to enhance the reputation, standing, and dependability of your business if your target audience can relate to the event you choose to sponsor.
What do sponsors get in return?
In order to support events, trade shows, teams, nonprofits, or organizations, sponsors provide funding or goods and services. In return, you receive business exposure and an opportunity to meet potential clients.
What are the reasons for sponsoring?
- Increase sales of a product or service. Pure brand awareness or image improvement is simply insufficient for some sponsors.
- Increase brand awareness. …
- Repositioning the brand. …
- Block competition. …
- Social responsibility.
