Sports sponsorship is booming never before has
more money been put into marketing with athletes, sports teams, or sporting
events. Sports sponsorship is a powerful and impactful marketing technique that
gives companies the opportunity to generate brand awareness and customer loyalty.
In times of information and advertising overload, it is imperative to
incorporate storytelling and content marketing in your advertising plan.
Here are 5 reasons why sports
sponsorship should be used in a brand marketing strategy.
1.
Build Brand Awareness
Whether you are a
well-known brand or a small local company, brand awareness is critical as it
sits at the top of the purchase funnel. Some of the most common assets
leveraged to enhance brand awareness are those with some sort of media value
attached to them such as stadium signage or commercials during sports radio and
television broadcasts. A brand can leverage marketing benefits from an athlete,
event, or sports team. These sponsorship opportunities are highly visible,
offering exposure to millions of consumers. Brands can drive marketing by
getting the brand name, logo and mission in front of fans when they are the
most engaged.
e.g. A sports sponsorship deal with MLB team – New York
Mets having the benefit of brand logo and tagline displayed on signage
inside the stadium, or mention of the brand by the announcers during the
sporting event.
2.
Become The Brand Of Choice
Increasing consumer
willingness to purchase the product or service is the top priority for any
company, as it is the step right before purchase. Brands are doing everything
they can to become the consumer’s brand of choice and sports sponsorship's provides
ample resources to accomplish this objective. Sporting events excite consumers,
so pile onto the excitement by teaming up with the athlete, team or event to
put your brand at the forefront of the excited consumers mind.
e.g. A sports sponsorship deal with an athlete like NFL’s New
York Giants player Odell Beckham Jr. can provide your brand with the
benefit of being mentioned on social media just before or after their big
game. Another avenue would be to have the venue allow your product to be
purchased at the event, or to offer a discount on purchasing tickets to another
event at the venue such as a VIP Experience (e.g., Player Meet & Greet or
participation in an in-game feature).
3.
Increase Sales
What better way to boost
sales than to bring your product straight to the customer or better yet entice
the customer to come to you. Every company, no matter how big or small, needs
to sell their product or service to stay in business. As such, the overwhelming
majority of corporate sponsor are looking to leverage their partnerships to
drive sales for their organization. Sport venues, events and athletes all
directly drive sales, by giving the brand the benefit of having either a
location in the stadium, a booth at an event, or using an athlete to promote
the campaign.
e.g. There are numerous activations that can be employed to
accomplish this objective. For example, a B2C company like a retail store might
place a coupon on the back of your ticket stock. Meanwhile, a B2B company like
a firm might leverage a suite to entertain potential clients and close that big
deal they have been working on. A sports sponsorship deal with a sports
property like the American Ultimate Disc League will agree to sell
products to their 100,000’s of followers, and 1000’s of members through stands
at their games, email marketing campaigns to their members and social media
mentions to their followers.
4.
Increase Website Traffic
One of the best ways to
drive customers to your site is by word of mouth from someone they trust. With
their favorite player or team promoting your organization and including links
to your site through their social media feeds, or their teams page. The
customer will feel confident that your product or service is the one they
should trust and rely on. Get back-links from athlete, team and event websites
to a company website via logo placement on their websites. Include
company website link in an athlete, team or event social media profile,
pinned post or feed. Generate interesting content from the athlete, team or
event to include in the company blog.
e.g. Whether you’re a sporting goods store looking for a boost in
merchandise sales or a car dealership interested in consumers getting exposure
to the latest model-year cars, one of the best activations for driving traffic
is a player or team promoting your company. Another example is a UFC
fighter Matt Brown contributing to the company blog with an
article like A UFC fighter’s top tips for keeping healthy in the workplace, and
then Matt Brown promoting this blog post on his social media
channels.
5.
Sell To A New Audience
Many sports partners are
pitching brands on the premise that their fans are more likely to conduct
business with one of their sponsors. As such, they are in possession of lists
of leads that their partners can use to sell their product or services too. You
can also benefit from athletes spending a lot of money on gadgets, services,
fashion and luxury goods. What better way to break into this elite community
then getting exposure to a few of them using a sponsorship deal. Word of mouth
marketing is huge among athletes, locker room chats on new products, athletes
seeing what the other is wearing and using.
e.g. One of the most common partnership assets that result in a
list of leads are on-site activations where your sponsor has a prize to give in
exchange for your fans providing their contact information. Alternatively, this
can also be done online through an enter-to-win sweepstakes. Another example is
LPGA golfer Lexi Thompson as a brand ambassador who can get awareness
and sales to all her LPGA companions, as well as selling into pro and amateur
golf shops who want to carry products that the pros are using.
Source: OPENSPONSORSHIP
Source: UMBEL
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