Sponsorship in the endurance sports sector has come a long way. While it was sufficient to attract potential partners with logo placements, ticket giveaways, and naming rights some time ago, this will not be likely to lead to a sponsorship agreement these days. Sponsorship deals nowadays need to match – if not even exceed – the return that brands get from advertisements on social networks in order to make sense for both parts. Just offering naming rights without reporting who witnessed the sponsor’s presence at the event is not sufficient anymore and will lead to frustration and loss of sponsors.
To avoid missing out on these developments, race organizers need to be aware of what sponsors want and expect from a sponsorship deal. Especially, the impact of digital technologies makes it possible to get access to additional information and insights that can significantly add value to your partner. The following technologies can help you to present your sponsorship packages in a modern and innovative way while offering more benefits for your sponsors.
Registration platforms
Modern registration platforms like RunSignUp do not just simplify the sale of tickets for your race but offer a lot of incentives that could be important for your sponsors. It’s important to be able to advise the sponsors on who exactly they will be targeting with your event. You can acquire a great deal of information about your following by adapting the registration process. Why just ask for basic information such as age, gender, employment when the information that is actually relevant for your sponsors lies beyond. Hobbies, favorite meals or beverages could offer a whole new perspective to your sponsors and might make the difference between a collaboration and rejection.
Digital race bags
Digital race bag solutions like EventKit by Fanomena Events are an innovative alternative to classical swag bags and offer your partners and sponsors a new marketing channel. By presenting your and your sponsors’ content on an interactive platform to your participants all three parties are connected effectively. While organizers profit from enhanced participant engagement and a larger digital reach, sponsors benefit from detailed ROI reports that show them how their investment was adopted by the target group. By including the attendees in form of interactive game components like raffles, lotteries or surveys, sponsors can even directly communicate with their target group and get important information and insights while raising their brand awareness.
Location-based proximity marketing
Modern Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are an up-and-coming technology that can help sponsors in engaging the visitors’ interest on site of the race venue. By activating the attention of attendees with targeted push notifications once they pass the sponsor’s stand the vendors can actively influence the customers’ purchasing behavior. Providing inexpensive beacons to your on-site sponsors in order to give them a larger presence at the race could be one innovative incentive that sets you apart from other race organizers and gives you an advantage in important sponsorship negotiations. Moreover, beacons help once again in determining the ROI of the investment, by determining exact numbers for the traffic around the sponsor’s stand.
Source: Buzinga
Outlook
Of course, these three technologies are just some examples of the developments that are happening on the market at the moment. Race timing- and photo companies constantly improve their offers and are shifting the way for the race of the future. It is likely, that we will witness a lot of other incisive innovations that will shape and change the way we attract and work along with sponsors. Virtual race track recordings, 360° finisher pictures, augmented reality – it will be certainly exciting which innovation comes up next!
You will find further valuable tips on sponsorship in our eBook on “How to find, contact and keep sponsors in the endurance sector“. Download your free copy now!
