Reaching high-net-worth and even ultra-high-net-worth audiences is not particularly hard, but engaging them is where it gets tricky. Hundreds of brands spend millions of dollars in sponsorship fees each year seeking to generate brand awareness amongst this valuable audience, but what is awareness without engagement?

These discerning consumers, with their keen intellect and deep concern for societal issues, demand an approach that transcends traditional sponsorship and resonates on a profound level.

In this article, we delve into innovative strategies for engaging high-net-worth audiences through sponsorship, exploring how brands can authentically align with their values and create unforgettable experiences that leave a lasting impact.

Demonstrating Shared Values

The first step in engaging high-net-worth audiences through sponsorship is by demonstrating an authentic commitment to shared values and passions. As Michel Driessen, Head of EY’s art sponsorship programme, aptly puts it:

"Art holds immense importance for both our society and our organisation, and it's equally valued by our clients. For us, it's not about displaying our logo at the biggest exhibitions. Instead, it's about reflecting and demonstrating our core values through the art we support. This unique approach enables us to establish meaningful connections with many of our clients in a context outside of work and the office. When asked what clients associate with EY beyond our audit and consulting services, our dedication to the arts always comes back top of mind."

Brands that support causes aligned with their audience's values foster stronger connections and long-term loyalty. This alignment demonstrates authenticity, builds trust, and taps into emotional resonance, leading to deeper bonds with clients differentiating themselves and driving sustained loyalty.

Exclusive Experiences

Another effective way to engage high-net-worth individuals through sponsorship is by providing them with unique experiences that money can't buy. Dr. Thomas Girst, Global Head of Cultural Engagement at BMW Group, highlights the success of BMW's Opera For All events, stating:

“BMW’s Opera For All events brings thousands of people together in major squares around the world to listen to extraordinary achievements that human beings are capable of. As part of this, we go for dinner with 50 of our Seven Series Excellence Club members together with the Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and some of its musicians. This is a unique experience available only to our members and it helps build long-term loyalty with these highly valued clients.”

While anyone can buy a ticket with enough money, sponsorship allows brands to create truly unique, money-can't-buy experiences for valued clients. By leveraging their position as sponsors, brands curate experiences that resonate deeply, leaving lasting impressions and often lifelong memories. This is especially important for high-net-worth individuals who are accustomed to purchasing the most expensive tickets but value something more—unique experiences that money alone cannot procure. These exclusive opportunities foster strong bonds with clients, enhancing loyalty and affinity in ways that traditional transactions cannot achieve.

Audience Filtering

While value-based partnerships are essential for connecting with high-net-worth audiences, brands wishing to target this group at scale must find ways to filter the audience to target the right individuals. Sport sponsorship remains a popular choice for engaging this audience in large volume, but it remains a mass market event. Sponsors must therefore be willing to accept that a large proportion of the reached audience will never be customers and be able to pay a premium for exclusivity. Most crucially however, brands engaging in this form of sponsorship must work hard to activate their partnerships in a way that filters the general fanbase and specifically targets the desired audience.

Qatar Airways' sponsorship of Formula 1, for example, targets high earners through an exclusive partnership centred around the Paddock Club hospitality area, ensuring that their sponsorship efforts are geared specifically towards high-net-worth audiences. Luke Drake, VP of Commercial Partnerships at Qatar Airways, explains:

“Qatar Airways Formula 1 partnership includes being the presenting partner of the Paddock Club. It’s essential for us that everyone who comes into the Paddock Club has a great experience. We want to share the great experiences our business flyers have onboard with fans in the Paddock Club, giving them the best quality access, views of the track, and food and beverage. Our aim is to use our know-how and experience in service to keep moving the product quality up in Formula 1.”

Authenticity Is Key

Finally, authenticity is paramount when engaging high-net-worth audiences through sponsorship. This audience in particular is savvy and protective, and any attempts to plaster brands all over an event are likely to induce a negative reaction. When targeting HNWs brands must approach sponsorships with authenticity and genuineness, focusing on supporting and growing specific sports, art forms, or cultural events that resonate with their audience.

In conclusion, engaging high-net-worth audiences through sponsorship requires a delicate balance of aligning on values, providing unique experiences, and being authentic in actions. By filtering the right audience, aligning with shared values, and adopting a gentle approach, brands can create meaningful connections that drive long-term loyalty and success.

For those considering new sponsorships targeting high-net-worth-audiences The Sponsor has taken a look at 5 of the best events to consider here. You can also join The Sponsor and a small group of marketing leaders as we discuss best practice in the engagement of high-net-worth audiences at our upcoming roundtable debate on 25th June at the Sofitel St James, London, Register your interest here.

The post Engaging High-Net-Worth Audiences Through Sponsorship: A Delicate Balance of Values and Virtues appeared first on The Sponsor.

An estimated $105 billion was spent on sponsorship globally in 2023. The allocation of these significant budgets and the entities they support is entirely at the discretion of the purchasing brand. To quote the common proverb, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’.

At The Sponsor, we champion sponsorship as a force for good. We believe the best partnerships are those that not only provide a return to the sponsoring brand but also seek to make a positive contribution to the communities they impact.

Authenticity and engagement are the keys to a successful partnership. When brands go beyond advertising-based sponsorship and actively make a positive contribution, they are viewed more favourably by audiences, increasing audience propensity to sample, purchase intent, loyalty and advocacy. In simple terms, people buy things from people they like; this is as true of sales as it is for brands and sponsorship.

So how can brands use sponsorship as a force for good to authentically engage audiences and positively shift stakeholder perception?

Enhancing audience Experience

The first step for almost all brands moving beyond simple logo placement is to use their position as a sponsor to enhance the audience's enjoyment or experience of an event. This can be straightforward, like tech brands giving fans greater insights with real-time sports data analysis. There are simple examples outside the tech realm, such as behind-the-scenes content giving fans , free event transportation, or exclusive meet-and-greet experiences. Such activity ensures that exposed audiences are not only aware of the sponsoring brand but have developed an enhanced perception. Partnerships lacking this most basic form of activation are, in reality, nothing more than very expensive advertising.

Gender Equity

Women’s sports have seen tremendous growth in recent years, driven partly by the fantastic work of early adopters such as Barclays. The bank has not only been a long-term supporter of women’s professional game but has also contributed immense support for youth with gender equity through its Girls’ Football School Partnerships. The campaign has grown significantly in recent years and is now active in over 10,000 schools, with 85% of teachers agreeing that the campaign has positively impacted young girls' perception of football.

Earlier in the year, The Sponsor sat down with Rosie Guest, Chief Marketing Officer of Apex Group, and sponsors of Sail GP. The company had a pre-existing aim to improve gender equity across financial services, and this transfers through to its sponsorships. At present Sail GP has no female captains but Apex, working together with Sail GP, is seeking to use it’s position as a sponsor to change this.

“I firmly believe that when we empower women and provide them with the necessary tools, resources, and support, they can excel in any field, including the traditionally male-dominated sport of sailing. By breaking down gender barriers and fostering a culture of inclusivity, we can unleash the full potential of talented female sailors and create a more balanced and dynamic competitive landscape.”

You can read the full article here.

Actions speak louder than words, and such public action transcends written statements of inclusivity and diversity, demonstrating a genuine commitment that is not lost on stakeholders.

Supporting Youth Development

Brands can build positive associations by using their sponsorship budget to support youth development in a particular field. For example, Under Armour compliments its high-profile sponsorships with significant support and development of young talent, improving access to sports equipment for millions of teenagers. What impact does such an activation have on those young people, their friends and families when shopping in the local sports shop?

Similarly, many large financial brands are seeking to enhance perception through their support of young musicians and artists. American Express, for example, hosts the Amex Gold Unsigned, giving young, relatively unknown artists a powerful platform to showcase their talents, play at festivals and build a following. In the art world, American Express’ reputation is enhanced by such activity, not because they put their logo on it but because they make a meaningful and authentic contribution.

Sustainability

Perhaps the one topic that transcends all sports, cultural events and industries is sustainability. Sponsors can provide invaluable know-how to make events more sustainable; they can provide access to expensive tools and technology and use their immense purchasing power to only partner with events demonstrating a genuine commitment to sustainability.

For example, Formula 1 as a sport has come under increasing pressure from sponsors to cut emissions. This pressure has resulted in significant changes to the sport, including the introduction of sustainable fuels, resulting in up to 96% carbon emission reductions as part of its ambitious 2030 net zero pledge.

Sticking with Formula 1, The Sponsor spoke with Arjan Sissing, Global Head of Brand at DHL, to learn how the company is using its position as a sponsor to provide efficient, environmentally friendly logistics for Formula 1’s travelling circus of nearly 35,000 tonnes of racing freight each year.

DHL used Formula 1’s huge platform to build its own brand and raise awareness about sustainability amongst F1 fans.

“At the Brazilian Grand Prix, for example, we used our partnership to raise awareness of marine plastic pollution. We partnered with NGOs and 90 volunteers to collect over 500 kilos of waste. With the help of a local artist, we used this waste product to create a beautiful Formula 1 car sculpture at the track.”

These sustainable activations do not disappear into thin air, they resonate and resurface at key points in the consumer decision-making cycle.

Charity

The most philanthropic sponsorship activity brands can employ when seeking to use sponsorship as a force for good to enhance perception positively is to support charitable events such as Standard Life’s support for Cancer Research Race for Life.

Perhaps the most charitable sponsorship of all was BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management’s sponsorship of the Oxford Cambridge Boat Race. Having secured the rights to the world’s most famous rowing race, the firm gifted the sponsorship and all its associated brand awareness to the event charity partner, Cancer Research UK. Such an act may indeed reduce BNY Mellon’s brand exposure, but to its existing clients and stakeholders, it undoubtedly increased loyalty and advocacy.

"We're not fussed about the actual coverage of our name this year – we're handing that over. This goes to the heart of businesses being responsible to society and connecting with communities. I feel very strongly that this is what it takes to be a modern and responsible business, we hope that others would then follow suit and we would see more companies thinking actually how could we use our sponsorships in different ways?"  Helena Morrisey, Former Chief Executive, Newton Asset Management.

Conclusions

When sponsorships are strategically harnessed for the greater good, they yield tangible benefits for the community and exert a transformative influence on brand reputation, leading to enduring financial returns that persist long after the partnership has drawn to a close.

By aligning corporate support with meaningful social initiatives, sponsors contribute to the community's welfare and forge a lasting connection with consumers who appreciate and remember the positive impact. This synergy between altruism and brand promotion creates a ripple effect, amplifying the resonance of the partnership and solidifying the brand's position as a socially responsible and ethical entity. Consequently, the dividends reaped extend far beyond the initial collaboration, establishing a legacy of goodwill that continues to shape the perception of the brand in the marketplace. continuing to deliver benefits long after the partnership concludes.

The post Actions speak louder than words: How Barclays, DHL, and Amex embrace sponsorship as a force for good appeared first on The Sponsor.

What’s worse, a chairman who thinks sponsorship is a waste of money or one who wants to sponsor the golf tournament so they can get a good tee off time? I have come across both in my career when seeking to implement strategic sponsorship, and I can tell you that the sceptics are not confined only to the boardroom.

The psychology of persuasion is a subject well researched by academics and professors, so if you fancy some heavy reading on the topic, we recommend the works of Dr Robert Cialdini. For those of you that face the challenge of turning a fierce opponent of your sponsorship from a sceptic into a supporter, we have highlighted eight persuasion techniques to consider before your next meeting.

1 Make it personal

How is this going to benefit me? To gain greater buy-in to a sponsorship strategy from decision-making colleagues, we must address the benefits to the individual we are persuading.

What are their pain points, and how can our proposed sponsorship help alleviate them? If the organisation is struggling with recruitment or stale sales performance, for example, focus your argument on how the sponsorship can be used to attract new talent and motivate the team.

2 Consistency is key

Be clear and consistent in your approach and back it up with evidence. Now is not the time to be flip-flopping between seeking to sponsor football one week and rugby the next.

Repetition builds credibility and confidence in your argument. Persuading stakeholders to change their opinion and provide their seal of approval to a significant investment is rarely something that happens overnight. Sponsorship is a long road, so be prepared to repeatedly state and defend your position.

3 Manage expectations

If you are reading this article, you have likely experienced frustration when persuading internal stakeholders. Taking a shortcut by promising your sponsorship will deliver the world is an easy trap to fall into, especially when you are a passionate advocate for the partnership. However, a failed sponsorship is a sure-fire way to turn a moderate sponsorship sceptic into a die-hard.

Your partnership is not a flash in the pan, so while you may win the battle, you could lose the war. Take the time to discuss and agree on KPIs to be achieved by the end of the campaign. Read our article on what methodology should you use to calculate sponsorship ROI. Once your sponsorship exceeds these, you will have a stronger supporter in the future. If the stakeholders you seek to persuade are finance-minded budget holders, you may find this article on measuring the impact on brand and business value.

4 Listen and learn

Sponsorship stakeholders have skin in the game, and like most of us, they want to know that they have been seen and heard. A good way to pre-empt potential objections is to conduct an internal consultation. By taking a proactive approach, you can identify the sceptics and their concerns earlier and address them rather than having the Chairman raise an objection at the eleventh hour and scupper six months of campaign planning.

Only by genuinely understanding your colleague’s concerns can you effectively alleviate them. Persuasion does not have to be a win-lose scenario; perhaps by listening, you may also learn something that can help alter and improve your existing strategy.

5 Paint a picture

According to Aristotle, persuasion cannot occur in the absence of emotion. Most buying decisions are made because something feels good with the rationale provided later.

When it comes to sponsorship, pictures and computer-generated images of the company logo on the side of a race car look great and help paint a mental picture. To persuade stakeholders, we need them to visualise their involvement in the sponsorship and how it will benefit them.

6 Camaraderie

People buy things from people they like, so building rapport with your stakeholders is crucial. Sponsorship is a journey, and it is one that you will likely be going on with all your stakeholders.

Your positivity and passion for the campaign must always shine through as a leader. Be confident in your approach and allow others to share and contribute. By doing so, you may find a sense of camaraderie develops between you and your stakeholders, and together you can collectively become the sponsorship team.

7 Gather your followers and build momentum

My son is a fantastic negotiator; he is only two years old, but when he wants something, he can rapidly run through a repertoire of behaviours from nagging, screaming, pleading and crying until he finds the one that works.

For the record, I am not suggesting you throw a tantrum in the boardroom until you get the sponsorship you want. However, creating a following of stakeholders who agree with your approach and utilising their different behaviours and relationships to convince the remaining sceptics can be an effective tool if you find your efforts hitting a brick wall.

8 Keep it simple

The final but arguably most important tip is to keep your communication simple. This is who we are sponsoring; this is why we are sponsoring them, and this is what the results will be.

Of course, being the well-researched marketing leader you are, you will have a wealth of data and evidence to support your argument. However, when putting forward an idea to persuade stakeholders, simplicity and clarity of concept are crucial before you can even think about getting into the fun stuff.

The post How to persuade internal stakeholders and turn sceptics into supporters appeared first on The Sponsor.

You are standing at the bar with your friends deciding what beer to enjoy after a tough week. Of all the choices on tap, that bright green logo with the red star stands out. You’re not sure why, but you point to it for the bartender. Little do you know, all the UEFA Women’s Euro tournament coverage has subtly but surely inundated you with imagery and messaging for all of UEFA’s Official Global Sponsors, including Heineken.

The ultimate goal of every sponsorship is to get more people to buy your brand’s product or service, and the best way to increase these sales numbers is to ensure your brand is top of mind when making a purchase decision. This can be accomplished through several avenues, including traditional activations such as perimeter board ads and TV spots and less traditional activations like community-based programming and charitable works.

While attributing increased sales directly to sponsorship investment is not an exact science, understanding how fans respond to sponsorship activations becomes critical to unlocking an effective sponsorship strategy. Recent studies have delved into memory in marketing and, specifically, what type of memory is needed to achieve your brand’s sponsorship goals.

To this end, there are three types of memory: sensory, short-term, and long-term.

Sensory memory

This memory form includes elements of taste, smell, and most prominently found in marketing, sound. Think catchy jingles for TV adverts or rousing anthems like “Sweet Caroline”. Sensory memory has also come to encompass the tone or voice of the brand. A strong enough brand tone can even go so far as to replace the brand name, as in the case of Coca-Cola’s Christmas campaign, with their polar bears, Santa Claus, and glass bottles. Anyone would see that imagery and know the brand without seeing the name.

Short-term memory

This form of memory in marketing is concerned with the ability of a fan to retain information long enough to complete a task or, ideally, to transfer the information to long-term memory. For example, the fan remembering a code long enough to enter it in their phone to get a product discount or a free giveaway. But the most sought-after memory type in sponsorship is long-term memory.

Long-term explicit memory

Explicit long-term memory is a fan remembering part of the event experience, like a pre-match activity in the fan zone or remembering specifically that your brand sponsored that pre-match activity. This is measured through recall and recognition. Recall asks, “Do you remember which brand sponsored this event?” While recognition asks, “Which of the brands on this list sponsored the event?”. While easier to measure, explicit memories are challenging to create sustainably, which is why implicit long-term memory is just as viable of a goal as explicit.

Long-term implicit memory

Implicit long-term memory is a fan remembering the event’s sponsor without having a reference to the event. It is brand awareness without the context of the sponsor relationship. It is that fan standing at the bar with a plethora of choices in front of them. They likely don’t even consciously link Heineken with the England Women’s momentous victory, but they point to that bright green logo on tap because somewhere in their mind, that link is there.

There are merits to building brand awareness through explicit memory, but this does not need to be the primary goal of a sponsorship. Heineken doesn’t need fans to remember that they are a sponsor of UEFA; they just want to be the beer in your pint glass. The sponsorship contributes to the fan’s awareness of the brand and therefore builds implicit memory, which puts Heineken at the top of mind even when there is no reference to UEFA.

In the end, the goal for most sponsorships is ultimately to drive sales. But the most effective sponsorship strategy should focus on creating a strong enough impact on fans to the point where they don’t need the context of the sponsor relationship to make their purchase decision. In this way, tapping into fans’ implicit long-term memory is critical to achieving a successful sponsorship.

A few ways to create a memorable campaign is by fan engagement and engaging local communities on a national scale.

The post Have you forgotten about memory? appeared first on The Sponsor.

Can I get a list of the world’s 500 most valuable banking brands?

This was the question asked of me by the Commercial Director of a Premier League Football team when I was working as a valuation analyst.

The data in question was publicly available, so I was happy to oblige. But curiosity got the better of me, and I had to enquire what this senior sales director intended to do with the information she had been given. "It's a great list for my team to call and try to sell our sponsorship".

I was shocked that a leading sports team could give little thought to the brand attributes they offer and the sponsors that could benefit most from partnering with them. This was quickly followed by a realisation that these experienced sales professionals act this way because their machine gun approach has worked in the past. The final sobering thought is the knowledge that CMOs have agreed to such proposals, perhaps unaware that they were simply number 72 on the list of 500 brands called that week.

I don’t envy sales professionals; their job is hard. But the reality is that the chance of the sponsorship proposal that landed on your desk being the most highly aligned and beneficial opportunity available to your organisation is slim to none.

"If you didn't initiate the contact, then it's probably not the right partner for you."

As sponsorship marketing leaders, it is our responsibility to conduct a thorough and honest evaluation of every facet of our organisation, our audience, what we stand for and how our stakeholders perceive us today versus how we wish to be perceived in the future before even considering searching for a new partner. Once that search begins, it must be proactive, internally led, with thorough due diligence on every opportunity that meets the sponsorship objectives.

This process can seem daunting, and when done correctly, it can and should be time-consuming, particularly for smaller organisations with limited resources. However, specific steps can be taken to whittle down the world of opportunity to just a handful of potential partners.

Most industries carry specific attributes that are true of all brands operating within them. All airlines, for example, claim safety to be the number one priority which can help marketers rule out associations with events that could be considered dangerous.

Once we have determined our industry attributes and the sponsorship categories to focus on, we can further filter the world of opportunity by examining the brand attributes unique to the organisation that set us apart from competitors. This is where words like innovation, heritage and experience come into play. Within our specified sponsorship categories of interest, some specific teams or events represent those brand attributes more than others. For example, sticking with Formula 1, a brand looking to increase stakeholder perception of their heritage, would be better served to investigate a partnership with Williams than the younger formed Haas Team.

Examining industry and brand-specific attributes allows us to reduce the ocean of possible opportunities into a refined grouping of well-aligned potential partners. Read the methodology you should use to calculate sponsorship ROI. It is at this stage, however, that the real work begins. Thorough due diligence of each possible partner, their existing partners, their recent performance, the cost and availability and, of course, assessing whether we as sponsors can provide some form of positive contribution to enhance the fan enjoyment or accessibility of the event.

With so much information to consider, the only possible way of benchmarking opportunities against one another to form a clear picture of which will deliver the best returns for your business is with a scorecard of sponsorship metrics pre-determined around the campaign objectives. Then and only then can we begin to at least have a serious discussion about which partner is the best fit. The only thing we know for sure is that if you didn't initiate the contact, then it's probably not the right partner for you.

You may also want to read our article on Avoiding cognitive bias in sponsorship measurement.

The post Why you should always say no to the proposal that lands on your desk appeared first on The Sponsor.

Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus. The term could just as easily be applied to marketing and finance professionals. One speaks a language of awareness, consideration and advocacy, and the other talks of compounded annual growth rates and EBITDA. For marketing and finance to agree on sponsorship impact, we must find some common ground. That common ground is brand value.

What is brand value?

Brand value calculates your brand’s contribution to generating revenue for the organisation.

It starts with an assessment of brand strength, the results of which are used to determine a brand royalty rate. The stronger the brand, the higher the royalty rate. For example, we expect to pay more for a t-shirt with the Ferrari logo than one with the Skoda logo. At this point, most of our marketing readers are still with us when talking of brand strength scorecards and royalty rates. Now for the bridge.

The determined royalty rate of each brand is applied to the forecasted revenues of the company. For example, if the company is predicted to turnover £500 million for the next five years and the brand-specific royalty rate is 1%, the brand revenue would be £5 million. Now for the finance bit.

That £5 million of future brand revenue is not money in the bank; it is subject to economic risk. We need to apply an appropriate discount rate to understand the present-day value of that future revenue. Discount rates assess the point at which your money is worth more today than in the future. Would you rather have £1 million today or £5 million in five years? After discounting our £5 million of future brand revenues, the figure we arrive at is a present-day value called brand value.

How does sponsorship impact brand value?

Sponsorship impacts traditional marketing measures such as awareness, familiarity, preference, and consideration. When calculating brand strength, these same measures are used alongside broader company metrics such as trademark protection, the share of voice, employee rating, and environmental and governance scores.

The uplift in these measures brought about by sponsorship increases the organisation’s overall brand strength. This has a knock-on effect on the royalty rate and, ultimately, the brand value. Using this methodology, marketers can demonstrate improvements in their traditional measures while highlighting the uplift in the overall brand and business value.

Measuring changes in Rakuten’s brand value resulting from sponsorship

Rakuten signed a four-year agreement to sponsor FC Barcelona for an estimated 220 million euros. Brand valuation firm Brand Finance tracked the impact of the sponsorship on key brand metrics using the above methodology. This research recorded a positive uplift in measures such as consideration.

When these uplifts were applied to the brand valuation methodology outlined, the result was an 8% increase in Rakuten’s brand value from €4.3bn to €4.7bn.

The process of evaluating sponsorship by conducting a brand valuation is not an easy one. However, marketing decisions, particularly sponsorship investment, are under greater scrutiny than ever. Presenting uplifts in awareness or media value equivalency won’t cut it in the boardroom anymore. So, before requesting sponsorship funds, consider putting some financial evidence in your corner; the results might surprise you. Here's why you must consider Market research and use this methodology to calculate ROI.

The post Measuring sponsorship impact on brand and business value appeared first on The Sponsor.

Social media breathes life into your sponsorships. So why is it so often an afterthought for brands engaging in partnerships? This article highlights six techniques to supercharge your social media sponsorship strategy and get those creative juices flowing.

1 Behind-the-scenes content

To make the most of a partnership, sponsors must contribute to the fan’s enjoyment of the event. Fly-on-the-wall documentaries like Amazon Prime’s All or Nothing or Netflix’s Drive to Survive have shown a massive demand for behind-the-scenes content. Sponsors are uniquely positioned to share similar content on their channels.

This doesn’t have to be a full-scale production. It could be a video clip of the artist preparing to walk on stage at your sponsored concert. This is unique content fans would not otherwise see, so it engages a passionate audience.

2 Ride the rollercoaster of emotion

Social media offers brands the chance to show a human side. Sponsorship allows brands to supercharge this relatable characteristic.

What were your thoughts on the game? What was your favourite song of the night? How did you feel when she missed that shot in the last minute? These conversations occur amongst the fans, and your social post should be of that.

For the brand to be relatable and engaging amongst the fan base, it’s essential to speak from the heart. Share the good times, and don’t hide when the chips are down.

3 Competitions, prizes and more

Running competitions and giving prizes have long been an effective way to engage fans and spectators. Many brands, however, continue only to offer these benefits to existing customers through their websites.

Social media opens these competitions to an ocean of highly engaged audiences, many of whom may be interacting with your brand for the first time.

4 Get the fans involved

Another common mistake is asking fans to enter a competition by filling in a form of some sort. This may help increase visits to the sponsor’s website and create new business leads. However, to enter a competition, why not ask fans to upload and share their own images directly to social media while tagging your brand in the process?

This technique results in higher levels of engagement and creates more brand impressions amongst a fan’s personal following.

5 Reach out to new audiences

One of the most common reasons for engaging in sponsorship is to reach new audiences. Certain audience demographics, such as Gen Z, are more challenging to reach than others. Sponsorship gives brands a genuine reason to connect with hard-to-reach audiences. Social media provides a powerful platform to do so.

Another way to reach elusive audiences is with a brand ambassador; if this is a route you are considering, check out our Brand ambassador checklist.

6 Create a direct link to sales

Traditional sponsorships utilising perimeter boards are great for increasing brand awareness. They also can significantly impact the various forms of memory amongst fans. See our article here: Have you forgotten about memory?

However, the likelihood of attending an event, seeing a perimeter board, and visiting the sponsor’s website is slim. Social media sponsorship posts provide an easier journey taking fans directly from a post to the point of purchase via a link.

The most impactful campaigns involve new content shared exclusively by your brand to a highly targeted audience. Taking the time to create and plan such a campaign can be a low-cost method to supercharge your sponsorship.

The post Social media strategy to supercharge your sponsorship appeared first on The Sponsor.