WBO Press Room

Sponsorships Optimize Returns through Alliances
Puget Sound Business Journal, March 11, 2005

Marketing experts are starting to see the light: there is an enormous difference between how marketers have tried to reach business people and how we want to be reached. With delete buttons, spam filters and on-demand, viewer-controlled technology, the consumer is choosing -- and that choice is almost always to avoid the commercial sales pitch.

Enter sponsorship marketing.

This increasingly sophisticated approach to marketing has a powerful advantage over all other forms of marketing. According to Lesa Ukman, president of International Events Group (IEG) sponsorships alone "give brands the opportunity to create, enrich and facilitate engaging experiences, emotions and ideas."
We might also call that making authentic connections with a highly targeted market. The consumer appreciates the sponsor for supporting their "affinity group," and the data show that appreciation is linked to purchasing behavior. This form of marketing is beginning to eclipse the old standbys of advertising, public relations and promotions in overall effectiveness.

In 2004, sponsors were expected to increase their spending 8.7 percent to more than $11 billion nationally, with sports-related sponsorships taking the lion's share. Spending with professional associations, those all-important affinity groups, was projected to total $304 million, a whopping 20 percent increase since 2000.
Specialized industry associations were once viewed as too small or too much of a niche audience by corporate sponsors. In recent years awareness has increased on both sides of the aisle, as organizations offer year-around packages that include official status, media extensions and unique access to members and senior leadership of the organizations. For the organizations that solicit the sponsorships, annual award programs were once considered the sole opportunity (or "property" in sponsor-speak) to gain sponsor funding. Today, companies invest in different levels of sponsorships to obtain year-around benefits to keep their message and value at the forefront of an organization's mind.

Why has this happened? It really is about reaching a target audience, a specific demographic. In the instance of the Women Business Owners, business sponsors have purchased sole marketing access on a regular basis to a particularly important demographic for them -- women. The growth rate and economic impact of women business owners is a big story these days, and potential sponsors are now actively seeking them out. In the Puget Sound area, more than half of the privately held firms are at least 50 percent owned by a woman. Sales for those companies are estimated at more than $35 billion and they employ about 250,000 people. The Puget Sound area's market share, at 56.8 percent of local private firms owned by women, is second only to Portland-Vancouver in the U.S., according to the Center for Women's Business Research.

As consumers and business owners, organization members care about their organization's sponsors' success.

So, the question remains: How can a company best leverage its sponsorship investment and optimize its returns?

• Align brands. If your organization has a stated, top-down supported, alignment with an affinity group's mission and purpose, then your decision to sponsor is well founded. The importance of this strategic alignment cannot be overstated. Be very selective.
• If the brand fits, you must commit. Penetrate the group with a strong team to carry your value message to members. Relationships are key. It is far more effective when your team members become a part of the association, which means getting beyond the meet-and-greet attendee stage. It means participation on committees and the board. This is often where relationships break down, when a sponsor writes a check, yet fails to commit the resources to work the group.
• Create a meaningful presence. Kevin Bartram, president of Sponsorship Strategies LLC suggests going beyond banners, logos and booths to find more personal ways to connect. In-your-face sales pitches don't necessarily work. Successful sponsorship marketing allows members to gravitate towards efforts that honor the need to research and better understand the details. Take the high road of educating through sponsor seminars with an eye on building long-term relationships, and leave the transaction-oriented selling styles to others.
• Integrate the alliance into your overall marketing program. Make sure your proudest sponsorship associations get prominence in your advertising, publish relationship and direct mail to bring the partnership to a wider audience of potential buyers.
• Leverage with other sponsor partners. Work to recruit other alliance partners that will support the organization, creating synergy and adding value to all parties. Bartram refers to this as "pass-through rights," which can be invaluable for forging profitable, long-term relationships.

Professional associations may well represent the most highly profitable, productive and lasting means to reach and influence your target markets.

For example, in the highly competitive arena of community banking, the results that matter most are deposit and loan growth and the development of lasting relationships that fuel quality referrals. Wells Fargo hitched its sponsorship wagon to WBO in 1997 and has stayed true to this path ever since. The sustaining nature of this sponsorship relationship suggests that the association is delivering the goods.

Remember that winning partnerships stand the test of time due to great brand alignment, dedicated resources and thoughtful, integrated planning. The return on investment will be there, perhaps many times over, for sponsors that are strategic in their approach and work closely with organizations to optimize benefits.

Joanne Wright is 2005 co-president of Women Business Owners and owner of Joanne Wright & Co. Private Jewelers. She previously worked in sales, marketing and public relations. Reach her at 425-313-9523 or Joanne@privatejewelers.com.

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