During any major sports event, ads start pouring in whenever the half-time break kicks in. For many companies, sports sponsorships have become the best form of influencer marketing.
However, when executed carefully, sports sponsorships are so much more than just another advertising channel. They offer companies a great tool for building brand awareness when they are starting out, entering a new market, or launching a new product.
And, when it comes to benefits of sports sponsorships, this is just the tip of the iceberg. A thoughtfully carried out sports sponsorship can take your business to the next level.
Building Brand Awareness Through Sports Sponsorships
Offering exposure to millions of consumers, the benefits of sports sponsorships are highly visible. A brand can benefit greatly from partnering up with a sports association, league, event, team, or athlete.
When fans are watching sports, they are very engaged. Having your brand logo, name, and mission displayed in front of them during a big game is a great way to build excitement around your brand. You can put your brand in the heart of a breathtaking conversation by partnering up with a team or athlete.
Red Bull is a great example of how one company can build brand awareness through sports sponsorships. By sponsoring new, unique, and extreme sports competitions and teams, they have positioned themselves as an adventurous, youthful and exciting brand.
To most consumers, sports sponsorships do not come off as cold marketing deals. They have become an immutable part of the experience. For instance, to many NFL fans, Super Bowl ads are just as interesting as halftime musical performances.
When they buy their favorite team’s merch, such as jerseys, backpacks, caps, and drinkware, most avid sports fans don’t mind seeing the sponsor’s logo right under the team’s logo. In fact, it can make the merchandise seem more authentic.
Increased Sales
Having an influential and famous athlete use or wear your products is sure to drive sales significantly. By simply having a booth at an event or a concession stand in the stadium, you can both drive sales and increase brand awareness at the same time.
By signing a deal with a sports league or association, you can launch your sponsorship with social media mentions to their followers and email marketing campaigns that target their members.
If an athlete mentions your brand before or after a big match, be it on social media or during a live interview, you can rest assured that you’ll see an increased demand for your products or services.
Sports sponsorships can be especially useful when you are launching a new product. When you need help to draw attention to your new product and drive sales, a sports sponsorship can provide you with multiple marketing channels.
If an athlete tests out your new service and provides you with a quote or testimonial, you can use it in a press release. This can significantly help increase interest and boost the circulation of the press release.
More Money in Sports
What makes sports sponsorship works so well, and one of the major reasons why they can be so successful, is the fact that the sponsors aren’t the only ones benefiting from them.
For instance, European soccer has become very expensive, the Premier League in particular. It’s home to some of the world’s top players and teams.
For smaller teams such as Stoke City or Leicester City, surviving in the league can be a struggle. The support of their fans is not enough for them to avoid getting relegated, and they have some pretty avid fans.
Teams like that can use funds provided by the sponsors to improve training facilities and renovate their stadiums. They can also use the funds to give back to the community and expand their cadet training programs. Sports fans are sure to show appreciation to the brand for the help they offered to their favorite team.
The brand can present their involvement as a heartwarming story. For instance, they can make a documentary about an athlete they’ve helped support financially. If they are sponsoring a local team, they can showcase their involvement in the team’s local youth sports program.
Increased Web Traffic
A sports sponsorship can be a great way to boost your web traffic, which in turn can result in more leads. Backlinks from league, team, and athlete sites and social media pages are sure to drive more website views.
This can be a great opportunity to activate a new content marketing strategy and use it to reinforce your brand. You can start publishing content that is relevant to the sport, the team, and the fans.
You can also have athletes contribute to your site’s blog with their tips and hot takes. Useful internet content and social media buzz are excellent ways to spread brand awareness, and the sponsored team and its athletes can help you out with both.
