When you have read our last posts about finding and acquiring the best sponsors for your event, you might come up with this question:
What do sponsors actually want from me and what can I offer them in exchange?
It’s not as hard as you think.
Sure, at first the number of runners at your event is important, but there are a lot of sponsors, that are looking for more than just participant numbers.
With today’s decreasing attention span of customers, sponsors always search for new channels to get in front of their runners.
Not only the attention span of customers is getting shorter, the competition in social media and paid advertising channels is also growing.
So what does this mean for you?
Luckily, every day, new technologies and tools come up to the surface, which improves the onboarding and management of your race participants.
The digital race bag EventKit e.g. easily connects runners, sponsors, and organizers on one platform and makes actions measurable for you and your sponsors.
The advantage of such software is obvious: you receive a lot of insights about your runners and therefore you will be more attractive to sponsors, that are supporting your event to get access to a new target group.
Now that you are aware of the potential of digital tools one question remains…
What do sponsors actually want?
1. Most importantly – Make a clear value statement
What can your sponsor expect if they invest in your event?
It’s important not just to give out assumptions, rather make clear statements on how you affect the revenue of your sponsor.
It’s about creating a clear benefit.
Are you using a new technology that makes your event stand out?
Great!
Having a huge amount of well-earning runners or even celebrities?
Great!
Focus on things that really matter to your sponsors and sell it to them.
In the end, it’s about the best bang for their buck and creating a long-term business relationship with benefits for both sites.
2. Offering additional reach
It’s pretty simple. Your participants are part of your sponsor’s target group and due to your event, sponsors can reach their potential customer directly without having to spend a lot of money on online advertising with a high scattering loss.
Always keep in mind, this remains a strong argument when negotiating with a potential sponsor. Your runners are highly qualified and their willingness to pay is high.
So keep this in mind when you want to reach out to sponsors in the future.
3. Giving transparency and proof
Don’t you want to know your Return on your Invest?
Of course, you want. But also your sponsors want to know if you are worth the bucks to be sure whether to invest in your race event or not.
By giving your sponsors transparency and clear data you are outperforming a lot of race directors in the markets.
Giving your sponsors insights about relevant data of your event helps to create much better addressing and higher ROI for sponsors.
The quintessence of this? Happy sponsors result in additional revenue and long-lasting partnerships.
4. Working with new technologies
What if all your participants could easily get tagged on the goal line photo and automatically receives the photo with his needed time in his mail or via facebook messenger?
Services like e.g. Flashframe will not only make your event more attractive for sponsors but help to attract new runners.
Win-Win.
So by offering new, creative, more tangible ideas, you build a lasting relationship with your sponsors and additional runners.
You will find further valuable tips in our eBook on “How to find, contact and keep sponsors in the endurance sector” Download your free copy now!
