Sponsorship marketing is a great way to develop deep relationships with contacts from various industries. It is an effective way to maximize every dollar you spend on your search for sponsorships. Leveraging an extensive network of industry resources, you can ensure that you also develop high-level relationships. But how do you find the right sponsorship agency for your brand?
About a year ago, we listed North Carolina's top 50 corporate sponsors in a blog post. This post has become one of our most visited pages through organic traffic, as people are looking for information on corporate sponsorship. We decided to publish the list nationwide, and while we work with organizations in every state in the US, our database is leaning towards urban and suburban areas. Therefore, companies that sponsor rural nonprofits may be underrepresented. Similarly, companies that focus their sponsorships on organizations with a strong religious or political bent may also be underrepresented.
To get started, you need a compelling story that inspires any sponsor to support your business goals. There should be a natural connection with any sponsor of choice to ensure that customers see this as an authentic relationship. Therefore, it's important to start by identifying what business goal you hope to achieve with sponsorship and how it can benefit your sponsor and your target audience.
Staff can manage sponsorship of a special event for the first few years as it grows, but once it reaches a certain level of prominence, sponsorship commitment can be transferred to an agency. This type of agency is usually hired by the person or event seeking sponsorship, but can also participate on the corporate side to identify opportunities that meet a particular goal or objective.
Many companies consider sponsoring brands because it helps them reach their target demographic and promote their brand. A sponsorship agency is usually better equipped to handle this type of management because most agencies have established a system that matches companies to opportunities and monitors results so that both parties of the sponsorship are satisfied with the relationship.
A sponsorship agency is a company that specializes in combining marketing and promotion opportunities with corporate sponsors. Although sponsorship is available to individuals and events of all levels, agency representation is generally reserved for famous athletes, artists and major events that require extensive management of sponsorship sales, renewals and return on investment at a high dollar value.
If you have a brand that is ready for promotion and is relevant, a sponsorship agency will be interested in playing a runner. By the time you read about a new sponsorship in the news, that perspective is too far away to be a realistic short-term opportunity.
Finding the right sponsorship agency can be difficult if you don't know where to look. There may be a temptation to apply the “I know my brand better” attitude to sponsor selection, but a sponsorship agency will have a network of companies eager to support multiple brands in many different sectors. They don't have time, have been disappointed by sponsorship sales agencies in the past, or they just don't know how to find them.
When looking for an agency, make sure they have experience in your industry and understand your goals. It's important to find an agency that has established relationships with potential sponsors and can provide insight into what kind of sponsorships are available. Additionally, make sure they have experience negotiating deals and managing relationships between sponsors and brands.
Finding the right sponsorship agency can help you get the most out of your marketing budget and ensure that your brand gets the exposure it needs. With the right agency on your side, you can maximize your return on investment and build long-term relationships with potential sponsors.
