Successful participation in any event as a sponsor means getting involved and connecting. You won’t get much attention if you stop after paying a fee and displaying your name.
You might also find yourself clashing with the event purpose if you fail to incorporate it into your overall marketing experience. If you’re going to sponsor an event, really help to make it happen.
This doesn’t mean you have to start telling the charity or concert organizers what to do. But think about yourself as being part of the experience for the attendees.
Gaining Consumer Loyalty
Sponsorships can help you gain consumer loyalty. It can place you within the sphere of your target audience, helping them see you as a part of their community.
Your active participation makes you a company who, in the consumers’ eyes, helped to make an event possible that mattered to them.
You’re participating in events that they want to attend. And the positive energy that they get from the event is also reflected in your brand.
What Will You Sponsor?
Sponsoring can reach very different audiences depending on the type of event. There are opportunities out there to sponsor concerts, charities, sporting events, even community gatherings.
And then, in each of these, you can imagine the different demographics that might attend. Start with your target audience and then imagine what kinds of sponsorships will best reach them.
Put Your Customers First
Think about your goal in terms of what will enhance the consumer experience.
If you make your participation in the event you’re sponsoring all about what you do and why people should choose your brand, the purpose will come across as self-centered instead of involved with the community.
How can you help your consumers get what they came to the event for? Sponsoring, as a marketing tactic is about making a meaningful connection with potential customers.
What can you do that will achieve that? Depending on the event and the people you’re trying to reach, this might involve free samples, games, music, raffles and any number of other features.
Your team should come up with actions that most make your audience feel like you’ve put them first, and that most enhance their experience.
Show a Commitment to the Sponsee
If you’re sponsoring an event, you’re advertising leading up to the event should be all about who you are and what you’re bringing.
This information is important for your audience to understand, but it’s also important to show your investment in what you’re sponsoring.
If you’re sponsoring a charity, for example, you might announce leading up to the event facts about what the charity has accomplished or who it helps in the community.
In this way, your audience can already begin to form an emotional connection to your brand in seeing your investment in the event.
Like other types of experiential marketing, sponsorship involves communication, consideration and engagement of the senses.
As you make preparations to get involved as a sponsor, make sure your actions speak to your commitment and your target audience.
Need some help with launching an experiential marketing program? Leverage our 20+ years of experience and expertise in creating impactful, successful programs.