Author: Slingshot Team

How to Integrate Sponsorship & Deliver ROI 3rd November, 2010

Sponsorship and brand partnerships are on the rise and almost mentioned as much as the terms social media and integrated marketing. However, not everyone seems to understand how to go about finding sponsorship funding or how to deliver a return on investment. Perhaps not as sexy as integration or social media, sponsorship and brand partnerships are actually much more interesting as they work within these medium as well incorporated above and below the line channels. The flexibility of sponsorship in the marketing environment opens up a world of possibilities, but with so many options, it can be difficult to understand the benefits.

Three top tips when considering sponsorship opportunities for your brand:

Is sponsorship right for me? Even before you decide on your goals, you must first make sure that sponsorship is the best way to communicate with your audience. Sponsorship is a great addition to your marketing mix, but only if it achieves your objectives and is planned out in a strategic way. A starting point for deciding whether sponsorship is the right fit would be understanding the audience and making sure that the audience is your target market. If they are not, any sponsorship messages, no matter how amazing they might be, will be lost.

Know your goals – In the planning stages, it is important to know your objectives for sponsorship at the outset. Sponsorship chosen to help get your brand some ‘face time’ will have different measurables than sponsorship chosen to give back to the community. Typically it will be a mixture of a variety of key benefits: showcasing expertise, aligning with another brand, sharing costs of marketing, supporting a good cause, and corporate entertainment. As mentioned, regardless of the key benefits you are looking for as a sponsor, in order for sponsorship to be effective, you must certain that you are reaching your target audience. The rights owner should have a proven track record of engaging with your target audience.

Set objectives for your sponsorship campaign – Make sure that you are measuring both brand engagement as well as sales increases. These should be measureable and have targets set. Throughout the term of the sponsorship, these targets will assess which elements of your sponsorship are most successful and will allow you to focus more on the activation of that element. By continually measuring and assessing your sponsorship campaign against targets you will be more cost-effective as well as flexible to take up new opportunities to further leverage your original rights package.

Sponsorship is not just about attaching your logo on the next promotional bulletin or making sure your brand has ‘face time’ at the next event, it is strategic and should engage your audience to be effective. Thought needs to go into developing these sponsorship relationships so that they reach their full potential. When they do – they can be incredibly successful and your audience will be begging for more!

How to Find the Right Sponsorship Agency 26th April, 2018

Finding the right sponsorship agency can be tricky. Each agency pitching for your business will be doing their utmost to convince you that they are the best people to help with all your sponsorship needs. But how do you make a decision that boosts your business, rather than one you live to regret?

To help you find a sponsorship agency that can deliver everything you need, here’s a list of eight questions you should ask any prospective agency. It’s important to ask these questions and get the answers at the outset, rather than a few months down the line when you’re wondering if you’ve picked the wrong sponsorship agency.

1. Where do you think we need help?

You probably have a fair idea of what you want from a sponsorship agency, but it’s a good idea to ask this question before you tell them exactly what you need for two reasons. Firstly, any prospective account manager can repeat your list of requirements to you, so putting the onus on them will give you a better idea of how well they understand your business and how much they’ve done their homework. Secondly, they may actually suggest some things you hadn’t thought of that should be added to your list of requirements. The sponsorship agency may offer a range of services beyond what you thought you needed, enabling you to get greater return from them than you had imagined.

2. Why do you think we’ve been unsuccessful in the past with getting or activating sponsorship?

This will tell you whether the sponsorship agency have gone to the trouble of looking at your past work and coming up with ideas on how they could improve it. If it becomes apparent that they’re just reeling off a list of standard services not tailored to your business, that’s a good indication that they haven’t put much effort into pitching for your business.

A good answer will give you confidence that the agency understand your business and how they can help it. It may even generate the first few tasks that you and the sponsorship agency need to tackle, assuming you start working together.

3. Do you have any clients with similar property rights to ours and how successful were you in helping them achieve their goals?

Whether you operate in the fields of sport, fashion, entertainment or B2B, you need to be confident that the sponsorship agency understands your sector and has a good contacts network. Ask for specific examples of success backed up by quantifiable results. “We did some really great work with such-and-such client,” is not good enough.

4. How many people work at your sponsorship agency and how many of you will be working on my campaign?

It doesn’t take a team of hundreds to manage a sponsorship relationship, but you need to ensure that your sponsorship agency has the resources necessary to manage your campaign effectively.

Find out whether you will have one dedicated account manager and point of contact. The last thing you want is to find yourself being passed around the sponsorship agency’s switchboard in your hour of need!

5. Who will be our account manager at the sponsorship agency?

Find out if the person you’re already dealing with will be your account manager going forward. If the agency person you initially meet won’t be your main contact, then insist that the account manager who will be gets involved with your discussions early on. You don’t want to commit to a relationship with someone you’ve never met!

You’ll need a strong working relationships with the person or people you’re trusting to manage your sponsorship programme. You don’t want to agree the deal with someone you have full faith in only to never see them again and find yourself dealing with someone you feel isn’t up to the task.

6. What measures will you put in place to track the success of our sponsorship campaign?

Agreeing the measurable KPIs at the outset is vital. It will help the sponsorship agency know exactly what you expect, and give you a fair idea of what they think they can achieve. It may require some back-and-forth or negotiation, but it will save a lot of trouble down the line.

There’s nothing worse than finding yourself arguing with your sponsorship agency that they haven’t hit their targets when they’re insistent that they have. Good targets equals good results.

7. Do you have existing contacts that would help secure sponsorship deals?

Ideally, the sponsorship agency will have plenty of existing relationships with companies that would be interesting in sponsorship opportunities around your business. Don’t expect them to list every name and number in their little black book, but you should at least have faith that they can open doors you can’t.

If they don’t have existing contacts in your sector, make sure you find out how they will build relationships and source prospective sponsors.

8. What are your sponsorship agency fees?

Don’t be afraid to talk about money from the start. If the sponsorship agency are way beyond your budget, they’ll appreciate discovering this early on, rather than investing hours’ of work only to be told you can’t afford them.

The agency fees will obviously have an impact on your budget, but don’t necessarily opt for the cheapest offer on the table. Try to pick your sponsorship agency based on the potential ROI, rather than just the upfront cost. Work out what each prospective agency can deliver for you compared to how much they will charge and make your decision based on that.

Obviously you won’t want to spend more on agency fees than you can help to get back in increased business. This article on ‘How much revenue could my project earn through sponsorship?’ will help you make that judgment.

UK AWARE Announces Sponsorship Opportunities 20th October, 2010

UK AWARE, the UK’s only green and ethical lifestyle exhibition, releases sponsorship opportunities to brands. Leading brands looking for a platform to communicate their current sustainability programmes now have the opportunity to partner with this grass roots social enterprise to deliver something truly exceptional.

With significant exposure both locally and nationally, UK AWARE will help sponsorsposition themselves effectively against other brands who are just ‘whitewashing’ green credentials.

Through a two day exhibition held on the 1^st & 2^nd of April 2011, with over 15,000+ sustainable advocates in attendance and business networking events held throughout the year, sponsors of UK AWARE have the ability to communicate to both the consumer and business market. They also are able to help their current and prospective customers live a more sustainable lifestyle by providing them with practical tips and products through partnership with UK AWARE.

Danny Carnegie, co-founder of UK AWARE comments, “UK AWARE is a social enterprise with three main purposes. The first goal is to deliver events that simplify the environmental message for consumers. There is simply too much confusion in the market and while most people want to be green they are not clear what they should or should not be doing. The second goal is to provide a platform from which green businesses can reach consumers and offer their products and services in a face-to-face environment. And thirdly we want to offer larger companies that are not exclusively green the opportunity to support start ups in the sector through sponsorship, investment and guidance.”

Previous exhibitors of UK AWARE have included Transport for London, Fiat, Zipcar, ActionAid, RSPB, BT, and hundreds more businesses hoping to make a significant impact on the environment in a meaningful way.

Slingshot Sponsorship have been assigned as the exclusive sponsorship agency working with this fantastic opportunity. New sponsorship rights have been developed in order to effectively leverage this platform for UK AWARE sponsor brands in 2011 providing a new and unique opportunity to reach the sustainable consumer and business market.

If you are interested in finding out more information on being involved with UK AWARE as a sponsor or an exhibitor, please contact Jackie Fast, e: jackie@slingshotsponsorship.com

For more information, please visit www.ukaware.com or follow UK AWARE on Twitter @UKAWARE

Sponsorship Prevails under Economic Downturn 11th October, 2010

One only has to look at the success rates of the sponsorships of the 2010 Fifa World Cup to see that sponsorship can still prevail in a time of economic downturn. The official sponsors of this year’s sporting event, Budweiser, Coca-Cola and McDonalds, have lauded their sponsorships of the Fifa World Cup a resounding success, stimulating sales and increasing brand awareness on a global level. The fact remains that in spite of a necessity of cutbacks for all companies, the only way to stimulate growth in these difficult times is to increase sales. Brand awareness and mass exposure to your direct market remain the most effective ways to achieve exactly this.

During the World Cup, Budweiser beer sales were up 18.6 per cent in the UK over the comparable period in 2009, while Coca-Cola observed a 7 per cent increase in sales in Latin America. Despite already being globally recognised brands, this positive association allowed the companies to grow in spite of a spending-conscious public. By selectively sponsoring an event with great public appeal, companies such as these can increase their own appeal through association, without having to advertise why their product is better than it’s competitors. The public’s association of it with the biggest sporting even of the year will see to that.

For a company such as Red Bull, sponsoring extreme sports allows it to remain ingrained in public consciousness as an exciting, fast-living brand. Whether it be BMX biking or the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the message remains the same: Red Bull are the brand to go for if you aspire to live a high octane, stimulating lifestyle. Alternatively, by sponsoring the hugely popular Reading and Leeds festivals, Vodaphone can ensure it is in good stead with a music-loving youth generation, allowing it to be seen as a brand that has it’s feet placed firmly on the most hippest of grounds.

It would be a misconception to believe that a world still recovering from a brutal recession is one without need for a ‘luxury’ such as sponsorship. It is in actual fact one of the most cost-effective ways of generating growth, boosting sales and increasing brand awareness. By directly exposing one’s brand to its target audience, and thus allowing for brand engagement, companies can generate the positive upswing that will help lift us out of this recession, and not flailing in it’s midst. In an uncertain time, a strong public image is the greatest asset a company can possess, and a great affiliation through selective sponsorship can provide just this.

Scally Rally Adventure: looking back 3rd October, 2010

I recently took part in one of our client’s exciting marketing campaigns – the Scally Rally. An adventure all in itself with teams participating in a four day race across Europe raising money for charity. Our team consisted of three cars with teammates from the Pure360 email marketing team in addition to their friends – the DMA, Content & Motion, and myself. Throughout the Scally Rally, Pure360 was stopping along the way fighting spam and providing fantastic email tips, which you can check out on Pure360TV.

Starting Out

On September 23^rd we set off in our car that, by Scally Rally rules, had to be purchased for under £100 – our first stop was Calais, France. Needless to say, it was not surprising that our car broke down as we were getting on the ferry to Calais and we had to push it on.

Fortunately, our car named Bel, started miraculously and we were able to get to the starting point.

Our Journey

Our journey took us from Calais to Basel, Basel to Lake Como, Lake Como to Cortina, and finished in Rimini. Along the way, we were able to take part in the Scally Rally challenge, although most of the time was spent trying to overcome our own ‘challenge’ of learning how to read a map and inputting foreign postcodes into the sat nav (which most other Scally Rally teams considered cheating, although they still always seemed to make it to the finish point of the day before we did). Pure360 also managed to shoot a significant number of email tips, my favourite one can be found here.

We finally made it to the finish point after an exhausting and yet very exhilarating four days of driving. I am exceptionally grateful I did not hit another car and also that I took part in an epic over 40s disco night. We also saw some amazing sights.

Including the not so amazing sights of hairpin turns on the sat nav and flat tires, which conveniently turned out to be the same day our car Bel broke down. And the day we got lost. And the same day I was in a car for a total of 14 hours. On the positive, we did have a Michael Jackson tribute sing along!Special thanks goes out to the entire Pure360 Scally Rally Team for inviting us along on this adventure as well as their fantastic company during the entire trip!

For more on our Scally Rally, be sure to check out the Pure360 Blog, Tristan Garrick’s blog posts on the DMA’s Email Marketing Blog, and the hilarious blog post by Content and Motion.

For all those that donated and supported Slingshot Sponsorship on this journey, thank you. And for all those who have not yet donated, be sure to help support us by donating here.

Ciao!

Day Four of Scally Rally 27th September, 2010

After four days of solid driving I can say I’ve experienced more during this trip then I’ve ever experienced in four days.

I have mounted a horse, road a cable car, drove for 14hours straight, jumped on a water plane, watched someone change a flat tire, drove through four mountain passes, used the loo in a cow/cheese factory, broken into boat sheds, got yelled at by a French woman, escorted out of an Italian toy shop, almost got ran over by a tram, and (my personal favourite) danced at an over 40s disco.

Along the way, our team Pure360 have been posting email tips along our route and at all our stops. Make sure to check all the Pure360 email marketing tips on our journey through Europe on YouTube.

I’ll be taking my experiences back to the Slingshot Sponsorship office in a couple days. Looking forward to creating some interesting sponsorship proposals!

Be sure to follow our last day of the Scally Rally with team Pure360 on Twitter #scallyrally.

How SMEs can utilise Sponsorship to Grow 24th September, 2010

Sponsorship gives the impression that only international brands and high salary footballers can benefit from these strategies, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Sponsorship by its nature is a partnership opportunity for two organisations to create synergy. Synergy creates savings for both businesses and so should really be something every company should undertake – especially in an economic climate such as ours. Small businesses are even better organisations to undertake sponsorship initiatives as they are more flexible providing them the opportunity to leverage their sponsorship activation strategy when and as it is needed with the opportunities that arise.

Small Business Sponsors Supporting the Community

Sponsorship works for businesses who understand their target audience. This needs to be the starting point. Once you understand your target audience, you then have to consider where this audience communicates and how you can communicate with them. Community sponsorship programmes are a great starting point, especially in the ways of sport.

Many school and community sporting events/teams are desperate for sponsorship to provide their athletes with new equipment. Sponsoring these teams can be a cost-effective way to build brand awareness to your community. This works especially well if you are a business who deals with customers within your area – such as restaurants, flower shops, etc. If you considered the amount of people who are attending the games (both home and away!) and compare that to an advertisement spend in your local paper, I’m sure you will see the benefits. In addition to providing a CSR programme for your company and its employees.

Getting involved with community sponsorship programmes such as sport can also bring an additional element of staff engagement to your business. If this is your objective, speak with the organisers of the event(s) you are sponsoring and see what opportunities you could create. It might be that your local pizza shop provides pizza for the team when they have won a game or that your staff help out at practice. This will give your staff the opportunity to be a part of something bigger – part of the community and part of your company – through your sponsorship.

Contra Agreements to Provide Your Services

Your business offers a great service or product which others need. A great way to get involved with sponsorship with little investment would be to provide your services or products for free in return for sponsorship of an event/programme or perhaps your branding within their communications to their clients. The key to choosing the right sponsorship contra agreement is to make sure that the event you are sponsoring and the sponsorship proposals you are considering have a large enough audience for you to gain the benefit of reaching them.

Another great example of SME sponsorship is from one of our current sponsors Phil Stannard Associates. A small audio visual company, but with great potential, they approached the DMA Awards to get involved. Through a contra deal, they are now the Judging Event Sponsors – an event that brings together 200 of the most influential people in the marketing industry during a four day event. With no financial investment, they are able to showcase their services and their equipment to the people that are most likely to purchase from them in the future providing them significant ROI moving forward.

These are just a couple of the thousand ideas that are out there on how SME’s can integrate sponsorship within their organisation and utilise the benefits that many of the top brands receive, just at a smaller investment level. If you ever need further sponsorship tips, be sure to check out our Top Sponsorship Tips on the Slingshot Sponsorship website.

Scally Rally with team Pure360 24th September, 2010

Today is the first day of the Scally Rally with team Pure360. We are dressing up as superheros and fighting email spam by providing top tips throughout our trip via videos on YouTube and Twitter.

I’ll be blogging throughout the trip, but if you want to keep posted on our adventure make sure to follow #scallyrally on Twitter and search Pure360 TV on YouTube.

Stay tuned!

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