The state of sponsorship is filled with opportunities as well as risks. Read on to learn what today’s opportunities and risks are and to find guidance on conquering the sponsorship space!
Consider Today’s Most Emerging Sponsorship Categories
There are quite a few emerging categories in today’s sponsorship opportunities. Let’s take a look at some of what's trending the most now, and hazard where each trend may be going.
Early Sponsorship for Emerging Sports
According to Marketing Week, “Formula E, UFC and eSports are giving rise to a raft of lucrative sponsorship opportunities for brands that get involved early.”
Companies are reaching out to expand their customer base to greater lengths than ever before. Partnering with emerging sports gives companies the attention of excited, engaged, and growing fanbases.
Experience Providers
The experience provider category ranges from indoor golf to resort vacation programs. These companies are increasingly using sponsorships to bolster their brand as consumers are increasingly allocating money towards experiences or events as opposed to physical belongings.
According to sponsorship.com, “Millennials’ preference for experiences over things creates [this] new sponsorship category.”
Digital Services
An array of digital service providers, including secondary ticket sellers as well as streaming video services have an exponentially growing customer base. Companies are using sponsors to help make them stand out in this increasingly dense market.
Hospitals & Healthcare Networks
An increasing number of sponsorship opportunities include all kinds of health and wellness-driven opportunities.
“Local, regional and national healthcare providers are increasingly using sponsorship to promote their health and wellness message and showcase their medical expertise,” shares sponsorship.com.
Marry Sponsorship Marketing with Traditional Marketing
According to the ANA, “While client-side marketers say that measurement, evaluation and accountability are critical to measuring the success of sponsorship and event marketing programs, 65 percent are not taking the necessary steps to determine the results of those activities, a new survey by the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) in partnership with IEG concludes.”
It is highly valuable to learn how to apply other marketing lessons to sponsorship marketing, including but not limited to social advertising lessons as well as increased (measurable) ROI. In order to conquer their sponsorship opportunities, marketers must learn how to use all types of marketing to their best effects, including thorough reporting of results.
Cobranding is a Relevant Opportunity
Cobranding, as we discussed previously, is a very relevant opportunity to take advantage of as well, because it is essentially the same type of marketing as sponsorship marketing. The thing is, with cobranding, multiple sponsors and partners can work as a part of a strategic alliance that involves sponsorship marketing as well as other marketing methods. The right alliance(s) can produce wildly successful sponsorship campaigns.
Fight Through Today’s Biggest Sponsorship Risks
Sponsorship marketing risks are far different than they were before the advent of digital marketing. Before, TV and print advertisement were far more often better investments than they are today.
Today, sponsorships must not only be strategically chosen, but they must meet rapidly evolving audience interests. The best way to fight these risks is to utilize all available digital assets to their best extent. In order to do that, the value of these sponsorship programs must be correctly measured.
“Traditional marketing measures understate the value of sponsorships and create unnecessary risks for marketers that bet on them. The failure to measure the unique value of these high-profile sponsorship programs - in terms of sales, customer equity, and brand asset building – leads to poorly constructed and sub optimal program returns. This puts future funding and credibility at risk, and leaves significant value on the table,” according to Forbes.
Work with Tandem to Measure Sponsorship Strategy
If you’re struggling with sponsorship strategy opportunities and risks, Tandem can help. At Tandem Partnerships, we work with efficiency and transparency to launch the best sponsorship strategies, while avoiding as many risks as possible. When we partner with you, we ensure maximum return on your sponsorship investment.