Sponsoring Manchester United ... well ... maybe your local football team

Sponsorship is one of the tools of marketing that is little used by small businesses.  Its easy to understand the potential awareness that you could generate by sponsoring Manchester United (if you can afford it!), but why bother with your local football team or the town's Arts Festival?

I've always found sponsorship to be one of the more 'slippery' of the marketing tools, here's why ...

Not the same as advertising

Whilst sponsorship generates awareness just like advertising does, it is typically seen by your target audience as a softer, more benign, approach.  This can overcome the "well they would say that wouldn't they" cynicism that we all have for paid-for advertising. 

At the same time, though, the complexity of message that you can communicate through sponsorship is inevitably limited, often restricted to just your company name or logo.

So whilst your audience may be more receptive to your message by using sponsorship, the message itself is much smaller.  So in terms of total impact and recall, you might be better off doing traditional advertising ... but equally you might be better off using sponsorship.

This is why I find it so 'slippery'.

Picking a winner

The answer of course is it all depends on the specifics of your business, the current level and nature of awareness amongst your target audience and whether a suitable sponsorship activity/event is available to you.

For example, a company making branded corporate clothing might do well from sponsoring local sports teams (by giving them team shirts).  You never know who gets involved with local sporting activity - either as a participant or as a parent of a young participant - and what responsibilities they have in their work life.

Similarly, a commercial photographer could sponsor the town Art's Festival and potentially influence entrants and audience members with displays, prizes or other related activity.

The trick is to pick a winner.  To find the activity that, in itself, adds value and weight to your message thus enhancing its impact and recall.  Typically these are closely related to your core business activity ... but not always.

So don't discount sponsorship out of hand. It could have a role to play in your marketing mix.  But like all other marketing investments it must pay its way.  Before writing out the cheque make sure that you understand what it will cost and what it will return.  Compare that to an equivalent spend on advertising, telemarketing or even a special discounted price offer. 

And remember, that massaging the MD's ego is not a valid reason to spend valuable marketing budget on sponsorship ... unless you're sponsoring Manchester United of course!

Memorable marketing

Thinking and working pragmatically like this will help you to make your marketing work better for you in a more memorable way. This means that your target customers will be able to differentiate your products and services from those of your competitors and clearly see the value in buying from you.

If you would like some advice on memorable marketing techniques for your own business, or you know someone at another business who might need help, then please contact us. The sooner you start, the sooner you will benefit.

Sponsorship

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Written by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as part of their Shape The Agenda series, this document makes easy reading for business people of all experience levels.

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Useful Links ...

Adduce Marketing

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Marketing UK (information portal)