Prospecting is the most crucial part of the sponsorship sales process. Sponsors can make your event shine by injecting cash and benefits or putting fresh eyes on your brand.
Sports sponsorships provide a unique opportunity for brands to reach a large number of a highly engaged audience of potential buyers.
Before putting pen on paper on a sports sponsorship deal, here are some questions to consider.
Data is one of the most important factors that can help your organization make the best investment decision when it comes to getting a sponsor. Brand marketers that have been in global sports sponsorship for several years can have the necessary data to inform investment decisions regarding sponsorship.
Brand marketers could also possess information that can help to set KPIs based on the performance of past events.
Unfortunately, brand marketers new to the market have no historical performance data to tap into, making it difficult for them to negotiate sports sponsorship programs.
You can use technology to develop a sports analytics program that helps you to compare the performance of numerous sports partners to determine the organization that best suits your organizational needs.
Before making a sports sponsorship pitch, it is necessary to consider the ability of the selected partner to reach an audience relevant to your brand. Use this time to ask your potential sponsor about their target audience. This will help you to gather valuable information about your sports sponsorship proposal while helping you understand how sports sponsorship works.
Sports marketing firms understand that not every sponsorship opportunity suits your brand. Therefore, they use analytics tools and platforms to determine the connection between the brand and its sponsors.
Analytics help your company determine how well a potential partner can perform across various metrics. Analytics platforms also reveal how well the brand's target audience overlaps with the sponsor's.
Here are some factors to consider when asking whether you can activate the relevant audience.
With time, brand marketers can use audience data to create marketing campaigns that resonate with their preferred target audience, thus growing brand loyalty.
A good sports sponsorship proposal should compare the investment performance against the set brand objectives in real-time or at your preferred time.
Some sports marketing firms will only check in at the end of the season. This means you have to trust their process to deliver results. Unfortunately, this affects relationships and the need to look for another partner next season.
The most successful partners measure progress and deliver results to partners weekly or monthly. This helps to create collaboration throughout the season.
Regular performance evaluations also help assess any underperformance areas so that they can be fixed on time.
You can also ask your potential partner to describe their sales goals for the year. A marketing plan and a budget often accompany sales goals.
Therefore, asking about a company’s sales goals helps them discuss their pain points. It also gives insight into where they may be willing to invest.
You can also involve important questions like the actions taken by your sponsor’s target audience before making a purchase. Find out how the firm pushes them to take that action.
By asking this question, you want to understand your partner’s sales cycle. Ensure you know about the most critical steps in that cycle.
Sponsors often rely on logo placement and awareness building. Determine whether the prospecting client cares about creating awareness.
Before making a sports sponsorship pitch, you may want to understand the deals that went south with your partner and the factors that led to them.
This would help to understand the factors that frustrate potential partners. This allows you to avoid any mistakes made by competitors in the past.
While you may think that your competitors messed up, be ready to find things that may be in your stock package. Good thing you can avoid these things before choosing your partner.
Before writing a sports sponsorship proposal, consult your potential partners for guidance to get it right.
Consulting potential sponsors about the elements that are important to their package could help you understand whether they align with your brand's goals.
Sports sponsorship is not all about spending a lot of money. You need to conduct thorough research to determine the prospect that best suits your brand's needs.
Commit to the process and spend a lot of energy focusing on your prospect. This can ensure you develop a plan that helps your brand to meet the set objectives.
