| Money Matters |
| Sponsorships: Matchmaking Between Businesses and Non-Profits |
Whether you are a business or non-profit, there is good news. According to "15 Trends That Will Change The Way You Do Business" from The Kiplinger Letter, "Every kind of organization with a constituency will solicit sponsorships from businesses. And businesses will aggressively offer to pay increasing amounts of money to expose their name and products to those constituencies." As a lot of folks are clearly looking for each other, and it's the season for love, we thought it would be the perfect time for Semaphore to review the characteristics that make the sponsorship between a business and non-profit a healthy one. Do the following characteristics apply to the sponsorships you are involved in?
You Have Similar Audiences
Healthy sponsorship relationships start with both the business and the non-profit organization serving similar audiences. Whether its one or the other looking for the sponsorship opportunity, a natural place to begin is to look for an entity that matches yours in terms of whom it serves. For example, if your non-profit is concerned with increasing teen physical fitness, you will likely find a myriad of potential sponsors in the form of manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of teen sports apparel. If you are looking for something to sponsor or seeking a sponsor for your non-profit, look at the audience your entity serves and ask yourself, who else is serving this audience? You should be able to find someone similar.
You Fit the Marketing Plan of the Other
Most businesses and non-profits today have a marketing plan that describes the entity's marketing tools, strategies, and goals (If you don't have one please call (803) 799-6464 immediately). Sponsorships can be a tool in those plans. However, just because a company and a non-profit include sponsorships in their marketing plans does not mean they are an automatic fit for each other. Marketing plans are specifically tailored to reach certain goals. Do not be afraid to ask how the sponsorship fits into the overall marketing plan of the entity you are offering your sponsorship to or the organization you are soliciting for a sponsorship. It could uncover information that will help you see a new opportunity to work together, in addition to strengthening your current relationship. It could also uncover something that is negative early-sparing both organizations from later pain. Ask how the sponsorship fits the marketing plan. It is a great question.
You Get A Discernable Benefit From The Sponsorship
Both parties should get a discernable benefit from the sponsorship. For non-profits that benefit is often money. The important thing for a corporate sponsor to remember is the cluttered marketplace (see Kiplinger quote again.) Lots of businesses are looking to sponsor, and you can count on some with very deep pockets. Choice sponsorship opportunities, the ones that will expose your business to the broadest amount of your target audiences, can sometimes carry a hefty price tag. Businesses need to prepare for those accordingly.
In the same manner, non-profits can increase their efficacy in attracting sponsors for their programs and events by demonstrating to potential sponsors the tangible benefits that a sponsor might achieve by associating their name or service with that non-profit or event. For example if your non-profit is soliciting sponsors for an event, have demographic information available on the types of people that you are inviting to the event to share with potential sponsors. Remember that you know your audience. Be ready to tell a potential sponsor about your audience when you are soliciting their sponsorship.
When the above are addressed, it is even more likely that the sponsorship relationship will be a match made in heaven. And if you are having trouble finding that special sponsorship partner, give us a call here at Semaphore. We will love matchmaking here.
The above article is based, in part, on principles from the following texts:
Advertising Promotion, Supplemental Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communication, Fifth Edition, Author: Terence A. Shimp
Introduction to Marketing Communication: An Integrated Approach, John Burnett and Sandra Moriarity
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