Seven Things To Consider Before Giving Sponsorship

We all know sponsoring works and that’s why all of the big guns and most of the small-medium businesses are using it to enhance their brand awareness, increase brand exposure, re-position brand in new ways with new meanings/emotions, to gain financial benefits.

This post is not just about guiding the Sponsors (On how to evaluate a sponsorship request, what things to consider....) but also the Sponsorship Requester's (On how to advance/request for sponsorship's, what things to consider...).

So let’s get to it ;).

1.    Target Market

The sponsor should ask the question, does the SR (Sponsorship Requester) represent the similar target market, customer group as that of sponsor (Or the one the sponsor desires, wants).

The SR should provide right and valid reasons (beneficial for both parties, win win situation... or at least a win situation for Sponsor) to the sponsor that indeed it does represent the target market/customer group that the sponsor needs.

Without a reasonable right and valid reasons from SR, a sponsorship is of no benefit to the sponsor as it would be a cost with no returns.

A Sponsor should consider the SR as a medium to reach his target market and the SR should justify with reason, facts/figures that the Sponsor will reach its target market effectively.

2.      Context

And having agreement in terms of valid, right, objective reasons with the SR alone is not enough for a Sponsor to consider a sponsorship deal, context (event, festival, television event etc) still matters. 

Context helps the Sponsor to estimate the relative costs and benefits of sponsoring (in a particular context) while on other hand it helps the SR to set the right price.

As we know some contexts would cost a lot to the Sponsor therefore it is imperative for the SR to provide a detailed comprehensive picture of the context (like the Sponsors competitors, context worth Total ROI/Benefits etc) to justify the price.

And similarly the Sponsor should consider objectively the context in similar terms, remember objective factual analysis will result in a best decision for both parties.

3.      Sales Assurance

Well most of the Sponsors consider sales/ROI/proceeds/profits they will earn from sponsoring and you as a SR should provide objectively, well calculated, educated estimates when it comes to sales/profits.

4.      Brand Exposure & Other Benefits

For a Sponsor it’s the second most important thing after the sales assurance.

Therefore as a Sponsor you should consider and assess the non-monetary benefits your brand will have, like over all brand exposure/positioning/leverage, target market brand perception so on and so forth and what mechanism, method, tool the SR is giving you to objectively measure such returns.

And as a SR it’s your job to count such non-monetary benefits to your Sponsor , the more the better plus provide tools, methods, mechanisms that would help the Sponsor to calculate these benefits.

5.      Team Approach

Sponsor should take team approach to assess the SR sponsorship request. Especially when it’s your first deal with the SR, as team approach can help you in assessing/analyzing the request from more angles and in better ways.

Similarly the SR should also take the team approach to cover all those angles that would help in striking the deal.

6.      Multiple Objectives

Sponsor should look for the number of objectives a sponsorship request would cover/achieve, these objectives may relate to a single department or multiple departments (Objectives).

Similarly the SR should try his/her best to convince the Sponsor, on most number of objectives a particular sponsorship deal would deliver.

7.      Sponsorship Requester Reputation

And this is the final one, the Sponsor should also consider the reputation, success graph, reliability, influence of the SR, the better the reputation the better would be the delivery on promises made and vice versa.

The SR's should also provide reasons, facts (mentioning achievements, certificates, awards and other recognition's etc) to rightly justify their worth, reliability and success.

That's it, Now I would love to hear from you guys, share your thoughts, comment box is just under :)