Sponsors Needs Versus
Sponsorship Packages

What's the Purpose of a Sponsorship?

There are many outcomes a company can be looking for when spending their marketing funds on sponsorship. Increase brand awareness, new product placement, gaining access to potential customer contact details, and the list goes on. Therefore when a proposal hits the desk of a Marketing manager or CEO of a company, how can they honestly assess the potential value of an offer if it's already been decided what they are going to get and what it costs? Human beings are generally not instinctively creative, therefore we often process and think about what is presented, rather than automatically also consider alternatives. In order to have any chance of securing a sponsorship and making it work, you need to understand the purpose of the sponsorship in the eyes of the Sponsor.

All the W's

What, When, Why, Where and How. The "Why" should be known when you find out the purpose, but you also need to understand the other aspects of the Sponsor's needs. The timing of a sponsorship might be important to coincide with a new product launch, or for seasonal sales, so you need to understand the When aspects. What does the Sponsor want to get out of the sponsorship? You should understand what tangible evidence or outcomes they want to see, as then if you can meet or exceed these, the renewal conversation next year should be straight forward. Do they want a spreadsheet with potential customer contact details? A survey of event attendees to check brand awareness or impressions? Where the sponsorship is enacted is also important. There's no point chasing a sponsorship from a local motor mechanic for your tournament that is held interstate or overseas. Unless of course they are looking to start to franchise their brand, then it might be a good fit, but you need to find out. The How is also important. Does the Sponsor want to get involved in activities, attend events, contribute to newsletters, speak at a function.

How Much?

The main parameter of most commercial transactions is how much money the buyer has. You can create a lovely sponsorship package and create a price based on what you need, but often this bears little resemblance to the Sponsors budget or what they believe the package is worth. By understanding what the Sponsor is willing to spend in this financial year on sponsorship, and understanding the W's mentioned previously, you can create an offer that will generate a return on investment for the Sponsor. Even if they want more than you believe their sponsorship money is worth, do it anyway. Most of the effort is time and energy rather than tangible costs. In the sales industry it is proven that it costs 5x more to win a new customer than to retain an existing customer. You are selling your services to the Sponsor, so if you can get them on the hook and create a partnership, there is a much greater opportunity for you to retain and potentially increase the sponsorship in the future.

Summary

Work with the prospective Sponsor and let them be the decision maker in regard to what will help them achieve their objectives, and what they believe its worth. Then if you're able to fulfill their objectives with them, the benefits of sponsoring you are easily visible to the company and they will continue to invest in you.

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