Get a Grip on Sponsorships by Danielle Ezell

Most companies spend thousands each year on sponsorships, but few have a clear idea of why they are doing it and if these efforts are even adding to the bottom line.

Although most CEOs would probably say these dollars are helping create community “goodwill” -- why shouldn’t they also achieve other business goals? Like other expenditures, sponsorships should be leveraged to support your company’s overall marketing goals and objectives.

For example, a bank that is sponsoring a local marathon should make sure that the sponsorship includes not only the typical logo and press recognition, but also other opportunities to extend marketing initiatives. For example, the opportunity to stuff race registrant packets with a credit card offer or a booth at the event to promote the bank’s latest checking account options.

Haphazard Spending Doesn’t Help ROI
Too many organizations lack any rhyme or reason when it comes to their sponsorship budget. Frequently their spending has been dictated by three factors:

1. History – if you supported an organization or event 20 years ago, you still do today.

2. Employee involvement – once upon a time an employee asked your company to support an organization or event and that support continues despite the fact that no one internally can remember who was involved with the organization in the first place.

3. A client asked – it’s sometimes hard to say “no” when a key client or vendor asks you to support an organization they also support.

Perform a Sponsorship Audit
The first step to smarter sponsorship spending is to analyze your marketing goals for the year and ask yourself if your current sponsorships can be leveraged to help achieve those goals. Are your target markets/audiences supporting and/or attending the event you’re currently supporting? If not, cross it off your budget.

Begin with Research
You can’t even begin to evaluate ROI without doing some preliminary research. Incorporate research into your sponsorship evaluation process. Demand statistics that help you make good sponsorship investments. The number of logo impressions isn’t important if the eyes seeing your logo aren’t part of your target market.

Negotiate Sponsorships
Once you’ve determined what types of sponsorships are best suited for your organization, make sure you negotiate a sponsorship deal that is in line with what you want to achieve. Don’t settle for the pre-set sponsorship packages if they don’t fit your needs. Most events and organizations are willing to work with you to come up with a sponsorship opportunity that will benefit all parties.

Budget for Activation
Sponsorship savvy companies know that in addition to the actual sponsorship costs they frequently have to spend additional funds (and effort) to truly maximize sponsorship opportunities. In fact, some sponsorship experts advise that you budget three times the actual sponsorship fee on activation.

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