While Sponsorships are a legitimate business expense, in reality they are one of the lowest converting forms of marketing. Emotionally, they need to be treated as a charitable expense – a good way for business owners who are doing well to give back a little to their local community.
I also like to give bonus points if the event or group you’re sponsoring is somewhat related to your business. So for Como Business Coaching, for example, it would make some sense for us to sponsor a local school’s “Business Club” or “Entrepreneur Challenge” event. We didn’t do that…
No, but when our calm and happy daughter’s school decided to throw a Movie Night – well, this former Guinness World Record Holder figured it was close enough.
Overall, it was a fun night – and a rare opportunity for me to actually sit through a movie that wasn’t Cartoon Barbie or My Little Pony! Will it deliver a return on investment? Well…
My final rule of Sponsorships is to LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE. Will there be a school parent or friend who saw the banner, billboard, or flyers with our logo and thinks “I must talk with Jacob about growing my business”? Maybe, but don’t count on it.
So what other mileage can you get from the investment made? Like, for example:
- Posting about it on social media
- Writing about it in your newsletter
- Returning to the topic several months later with a blog about the thank you certificate?
Because the most engagement I’ve received from the whole event … was a deluge of positive comments about this photo my 5 year old took of me in front of the billboard! None of those would have been received if I hadn’t made the sponsorship investment in the first place.
