I recently came across an article in a business publication discussing results from a survey that asked which marketing channels provide the best return-on-investment for an organization’s marketing dollars. It listed online marketing as the best at 24%, e-mail marketing at 18%, public relations at 16% and tradeshows and events at 14%. Further down the scale was advertising at 7% and direct mail at 6% and telemarketing at 5%.
A few things struck me. The first was how pervasive electronic marketing is, mainly because of the metrics it provides, and the second, how diverse the marketing environment has become as organizations grapple with how to reach and influence target markets.
It also made me realize how powerful sponsorship marketing can be. The strength behind an effective sponsorship program is its ability to bundle all of the above mediums plus others such as experiential marketing into an integrated package that covers the broad spectrum of communications and promotion activities.
Most sponsorship properties are multi-faceted in terms of how they interact with their audiences. Depending on the objectives of the potential sponsor, multiple approaches can be presented with weight applied to those marketing mediums that could make the most impact for a particular initiative.
Sponsorship has the ability to be many things to many people, but most importantly, it can provide a multi-dimensional approach the reaching and interacting with our audiences. This is a key value proposition that sponsor seekers should use as a point of differentiation when discussing the merits of sponsorship with a prospect. They also need to show how they can leverage the tools at their disposal to achieve multiple objectives that deliver sound ROI on these activities.
Later, BC
