3 Reasons You Should Start Sponsorship Marketing

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you’re always looking at the next opportunity to get your company and message out there. Well, have you tried sponsorship marketing? Here’s what you need to know about it and why you should start ASAP. 

What is Sponsorship Marketing?

Sponsorship marketing is when one company or brand provides another company or brand with resources. In exchange, the receiving company promotes the other brand or company. 

The resources one company can provide the other varies from financial to providing a service or product. 

The terms of the sponsorship and the subsequent marketing of the other donor company vary and really depend on both companies. 

In addition to that, there are so many ways you can sponsor a company. You can offer:

• Capital
• Products
• Services
• Promotion

Why You Should Start Sponsorship Marketing

You may be wondering why sponsorship marketing would be worth your time as a small business owner. 

While there are many reasons, we’ll be focusing on:

• Brand awareness
• Leads
• Sales

Brand Awareness 

Brand awareness is important for any business. 

According to Investopedia, “Brand awareness refers to the familiarity of consumers with a particular product or service.”

So, how does sponsorship marketing help?

Usually, sponsorship marketing involves promotion to a new audience which helps with brand awareness.

Let’s look at an example.

If you decided to sponsor a baseball game in your community, your logo would be displayed around the stadium and chances are the announcer will mention your business throughout the game. 

Besides, an event, you can sponsor a podcast, YouTube videos, or other forms of digital content. 

If you sponsor a podcast episode, depending on your agreement, the host may mention the name of your business, what you do, and where to find you. Therefore people listening to the podcast will now be aware of your business. If you sponsor multiple episodes of the same podcast, you can further increase your brand awareness.

Remember, you need to iron out all of the details with the other entity to make sure you’re both happy and satisfied with the arrangement. 

In addition to that, you can be a sponsor for multiple brands at once.

Leads

Now that the company or brand you have sponsored has introduced its audience to your company or brand, the next step is generating leads.

Leads will be generated when someone hears about your company and decide to engage with you. 

As a result of sponsorship marketing, people may decide to:

• Visit your website
• Check out your social media platforms
• Email you 

If you’re sponsoring an event and have a booth there, you can also generate leads when people come to check out your booth. 

The key is being prepared to capture the leads that you’re generating. That means:

• Making sure you have a website
• Offering a lead magnet on your website to capture emails 
• Having a contact form on your website
• Collecting names and email addresses at your booth

While you don’t have to have the perfect website, make sure it is mobile-friendly, responsive, and easy to navigate. If it’s not, chances are people will take their business elsewhere and you won’t be able to convert that lead into a sale.

In addition to that, make sure your social media platforms are appealing to your target audience so they will want to follow and engage with your brand. 

Remember if you sponsor a company your target audience already loves and supports, the leads will come, you just have to make sure they’ll want to stick around and purchase from you. 

Sales

Another great benefit of sponsorship marketing is that you can get sales. 

There are two main ways you can make a sale.

The first way is selling your products and services at an event that you’re sponsoring. 

Secondly, you can convert leads into a sale.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say you sponsored a podcast episode and the podcast host not only mentioned the name of your company but also had your website in their show notes. Someone who is listening to the podcast is interested in your business and goes to your website. While on your website, they sign up for your email list. Afterward, you send out a sales email about a product or service and this person purchases from you. 

Another scenario could be that someone hears about your company on a sponsored podcast episode, follow you on social media, and buy your product or service after seeing an Instagram post. 

The truth is, these are ideal scenarios. Sometimes, a person does not purchase from you until after a couple of emails or social media posts. That’s because they have to trust you first. 

Next Steps

If you’re interested in sponsorship marketing, you can sponsor She Boss Talk.

This is an awesome opportunity for you to support the show, women in business and gain exposure for your brand or company. 

We have several sponsorship opportunities available including but not limited to corporate sponsorship, solopreneur sponsorship, podcast sponsorship, or live show sponsorship.

If you’re interested, reach out to us and we’ll get back to you in a timely manner. 

You can also explore other sponsorship opportunities by asking your network and reaching out to causes you believe in. 

Finally, if you really want to benefit from sponsorship marketing, we suggest getting an easy-to-navigate website, signing up for at least one social media platform, and starting your email list.