In today’s marketing landscape, brands need to stay on the cutting edge, finding new and innovative ways to connect with their target audience and achieve their marketing goals. However, there’s something to be said for tried and true strategies as well.

Sponsorship marketing is one of the oldest and most powerful tools for marketers, offering a time-tested strategic approach to brand building and growth. By aligning your brand with events, causes, or influencers that resonate with your target market, your brand can get the rare triple win by fostering positive sentiment, increasing brand awareness, and ultimately driving sales… all at the same time!

If you’re looking to get started on a journey with sponsorship marketing, we’ve got your roadmap right here:

The power of positive sentiment

One of the most important functions of sponsorship marketing is its ability to connect brands with their target audience in a natural way. By sponsoring events or activities relevant to a specific industry or demographic, brands can engage with potential customers in a way that aligns with brand voice and values, and can drive positive sentiment.

For instance, if you have a menswear company, sponsoring a local youth sports series can help drive positive feelings about the brand among men 25-54 who attend the event to see their kids play. Not only will this targeted demographic see your brand’s name week after week when they attend the event, but they will associate it with their children’s sports team and the larger community, which will help keep your brand top of mind the next time they need clothes, and help them feel like they are supporting the local youth when they make a purchase.

Thinking beyond just events

Though event sponsorship is one of the oldest and most popular types of sponsorship, brands can invest in several other types of sponsorships to consider as well, including the following:

• Digital Content Sponsorship: This encompasses online content like podcasts, videos, social media posts, or blogs. Benefits include reaching niche audiences online, aligning your brand with relevant content themes, and creating opportunities for native advertising that seamlessly integrates with the content.
• Influencer Marketing: Partnering with social media influencers who hold sway with your target audience can be a powerful strategy.  Sponsored posts, product placements, and strategic collaborations can leverage the influencer’s established audience and credibility to propel your brand message.
• Cause-Related Sponsorship: Aligning your brand with charitable organizations or social/environmental causes that resonate with your company’s values can demonstrate your commitment to social responsibility, further fostering positive brand perception, and strengthening customer loyalty.

There are of course, even more kinds of sponsorships out there, but these are some of the most popular ones that can help boost your brand’s visibility and increase positive sentiment.

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Measurable results

One key benefit of sponsorship marketing is the ease with which these types of campaigns produce tangible ROI metrics. Here are just some of the data that you can track as part of your sponsorship campaign:

• Website Traffic:  Sponsorship activations often drive surges in website traffic. By analyzing referral traffic sources and website visitor behavior during and after a sponsorship campaign, you can gauge the effectiveness of the sponsorship in attracting new potential customers to your brand.
• Online Brand Mentions:  Monitoring online brand mentions through social listening allows you to track how often your brand is being discussed online, particularly in relation to the sponsorship campaign. This provides valuable insights into brand awareness and brand sentiment specifically generated by the sponsorship campaign.
• Leads growth: Utilize marketing automation tools and track website conversion rates during and after a sponsorship to assess its impact on both your initial leads as well as your overall sales funnel.

This list of metrics is of course not exhaustive, but implementing just some of these tracking methods can help your brand optimize your marketing spend and maximize the impact of your sponsorship investments.

Getting started

Image of someone with their finger on their chin, pondering a question

Sponsorship marketing presents a powerful opportunity to enhance your brand image and drive sales growth, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Fortunately, we’ve got some tips to help get you on your way:

• Define Your Goals and Target Audience: Before diving in, take a step back and solidify your marketing objectives. Are you aiming to boost brand awareness? Generate sales leads? Build brand loyalty?  Who is your ideal customer?  Clearly defining these aspects right off the bat will steer you towards the most suitable sponsorship opportunities.
• Research Potential Partners: Once you understand your goals and target audience, look for potential sponsorship partners that align with your brand identity and resonate with your desired demographic.  Industry publications, event websites, and social media platforms are just some of the places where you can discover potential sponsorship opportunities.
• Don’t Go it Alone: It’s important to make sure you’ve got the details of your potential new sponsorship deal right, and no matter what phase of planning or execution you’re in, E29 Marketing can help ensure you’re making the right moves. Our team of experts can guide you through every step of the process, and help you craft a sponsorship marketing plan that aligns with your brand objectives and delivers measurable results. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your brand leverage the power of sponsorship marketing!