Events Sponsorship – Do’s And Don’ts

You probably would have thought about having sponsorship to raise your brand awareness and create positive public relations. True enough, it can bring positive return on investment to your company but if the events are not carefully selected, your sponsorship would seem like an act of charity.

So to ensure an effective sponsorship, here are some Do’s and Don’ts that you should take note.

Sponsorship Do’s

Ensure Great Fit

Imagine a food chain sponsoring a technology conference. The last thing you want is to sponsor an event that has no value aligned with yours. You probably have little to gain as your target audience is mismatched. If attendees can relate to your brand, then there is a higher possibility of them associating your brand with certain attributes. For instance, if you talk about technology, most people will associate it with Apple.

Understand How the Event Runs

Talk about association and the attendees will extend their disappointment to your brand if the event is poorly managed. So make sure that the event has a proven track record in order to maximise your sponsorship returns.

Decide If Your Brand is Value Adding

It can be a product, a service or an experience but how can your brand add meaning to the event? Leave a greater impact on your audience. So if you are a technology firm sponsoring a conference, get an opportunity to gather the attendees’ insights by engaging them in live polling, quizzes or contest. While you can get to demonstrate your features, the event’s organisers will also be happy that you are reducing their workload. Make sure you are integrated into the event.

Sponsorship Don’ts

Forget to Create Lasting Relationships

You want to create a lasting relationship so that the event’s organiser or attendees can refer you to your prospective clients but you don’t want to give them a sales pitch at every corner they turn into. They will be irritated. That said, you should continue communicating with them after the event to maintain the relationship in order to negotiate better terms such as high brand visibility or exclusivity for your next sponsorship.

Skip the Event

This is the best time to reach out to your target audience. Sponsorship isn’t just about pasting your logo all over the places. Instead, you should get out of your office and attend the event. Talk to the event’s organisers and attendees to see how you can help them achieve their objectives. Take this chance to increase your brand awareness.

Focus on Quantity over Quality

Brand impressions are important but don’t overdo it because people get frustrated. Reaching out to one right audience is essentially more effective than reaching out to hundreds of wrong audiences. So focus on getting the right audience to notice your brand.

What are some others Do’s and Don’ts of sponsorship you think we should take note? Feel free to share them with us!