How Do Sponsorships Happen?

• Getting A Sponsor

The methods to attract a company looking to sponsor a football team are plenty, provided that a significant amount of effort has already been put into the success of a club. While one of the methods out there is to wait for companies looking to sponsor to approach you before you seek sponsorship, oftentimes it could lead to the financial situation of the club becoming increasingly dire before being sponsored.

In the worst cases, apart from the impracticality of waiting, most teams might not even be approached by a sponsor at all due to the inherent nature of sponsorship. As a result, most football clubs will take the initiative to actively search for sponsors that align with the club’s values and goals, making it a far more valuable approach.

Typically, once a club has decided to go on a hunt in search of a club sponsor, some research is always done into the type of company that may be a good fit for the club. i.e. which companies align with the club’s values? Do they fit with the prestige of the club? Or are they experienced in sponsorship, or are they financially viable?

Clubs must then begin to have a ‘target list’ to filter their prospective list of companies suitable to approach for sponsorship. For example, targeting companies within the health and fitness industry or even schools and colleges as potential sponsors.

Most clubs would tend to look for companies that are looking to build their brand awareness, especially if they are a local business. Another tactic is to approach rival clubs and target their sponsors.

• Appealing To Sponsors And Sealing The Deal

With a clearer view of how sponsorships happen and how the selection process typically happens, now we talk about the finer details on how teams maximise their appeal following these companies, from the colour of the team’s kit right down to the specifics of location.

Teams usually decide on what sponsors to appeal to base on certain factors, such as the colour of their team’s kit against the sponsoring brand’s corporate colours, if there is enough space on the team kit to display a sponsorship logo clearly, etc.

Teams will so often approach multiple sponsors and charge various price points for the size of the logo and where on the kit it will be displayed, as most sponsors are eager to know the creativity in terms of how their brand will look against the team’s look.

Other than looking the part, the team must also act on it. To convince your prospective sponsor, the team must provide a formal sponsorship package that looks professional and demonstrates the vital areas that the company can get involved with the club and at what price.

A typical sponsorship package allows prospective companies to choose from a wide variety of options that will be beneficial to them concerning their budget. This allows them to see the number of options available and how this can help them achieve their goals.

Football teams are also required to be transparent on pricing, which means that they cannot randomly inflate or deflate the numbers. Teams are usually required to do some due diligence in the form of their research and then calculate a realistic price point based on the advertising opportunities that the team is offering, the length of time that the sponsorship will run, and the impressions that the sponsorship will receive.

Some typical opportunities that are included in a sponsorship package are:

• Company logo on all club printed collateral.
• Company logo displayed beside the pitch in banner form.
• Company logo on the team’s social media channels/regular social posting about the company.
• Booth, box or special seating at the football club.
• Inclusion in any club events.
• Sponsored giveaways.
• Company logo on the team jersey.
• The company logo gets displayed on the team website.
• Company logo displayed elsewhere on the team kit.

Company logo displayed on the team kit.

• Putting The Sponsorship Deal In Paper

After presenting the sponsorship package in hand to the prospective sponsors on the team’s hit list, the next thing that needs to be done is to ask for their support, which is to provide your prospective sponsor(s) with a sponsorship letter. A sponsorship letter is crucial in introducing the team, outlining the benefits of engaging in sponsorship in football as an advertising investment and appealing to them to become football sponsors of your team.

• What Is Included in A Sponsorship Letter?

The process of drafting a sponsorship letter typically involves a club detailing as much of their club personality, avoiding excessively formal overtones while making it personable.

Included within the letter is also a sole point of contact for sponsorship, which allows the prospective sponsor to know who it is that they are speaking to and build rapport along the way. While not all sponsorship responsibilities will fall on this person, since the sponsorship is  technically a sales negotiation at heart, football clubs will generally have one ‘spokesperson’ that is savvy on the costs to promote the propositions of the club and negotiate well with the prospective sponsor. The letter almost always comes addressed from this individual.

The typical structure of the letter begins with a solid introduction that outlines the club themselves, their history and how they got started, the impact of the club towards the local community, how it helps youth and provides members of the community an opportunity in sports and all of the good work that the club does. The letter also includes an introduction of the team, their member’s age range, why they are part of the club and what separates them from the rest of their competitors.

It is then followed immediately by the potential of the opportunity that the football club is offering, which entails the size of the team’s following, how many people attend their matches, how many players are in the squad, and whether or not the team is receiving any significant investment from other big fish within the community that would appeal to others and make them want to be involved.

Also, if the team has had sponsorship affiliations in the past, then teams will usually highlight how the offer for this current partnership might exceed their previous sponsorship affiliations should they go into sponsorship with the new company the team is writing to.

This is followed by a quick discussion of the company and why the team is choosing to approach them, why they feel the club and their business are a good fit for each other, their business goals, challenges and any shared values they might have in common.

The letter is then closed with a direct request for football sponsorship and a justification on why it is an excellent opportunity for them to do so. This is done without any ambiguity and directly provides a strong call to action to get in touch. This may include an invitation for a meeting on a particular date or any other method that both parties are comfortable with to begin the partnership.

Major Benefits Of Being A Sponsor

• Increased Brand Awareness

Undoubtedly one of the biggest benefits associated with sponsorship is brand exposure and awareness, with brand awareness being the sole reason for up to 73% of sport sponsorship investments. That said, several observable effects will positively affect a brand.

Firstly, of course, it puts the brand directly in the eyes of thousands or even millions of fans who will add to the recognition from audiences that they know or are yet to know about the business. However, it is the trust that is instilled into the club’s brand via the sponsorship opportunity of being a sponsor, which is a proven method that will kill two birds with one stone by enhancing your brand awareness and trust.

Not only that, since football clubs travel away regularly to play their fixtures, having your brand name on their shirt or other materials such as training kits are also another excellent opportunity in showcasing your brand to places far and wide at absolutely no extra cost.

This is all included in your initial investment, further extending your brand’s reach, thus allowing you to increase your network of future contacts that you may choose to invest into your product services, features and benefits. Sponsors will also have an entire season to measure their return on investment.

• Compatible With Social Media

As sponsorship with social media is becoming increasingly prevalent, namely in the form of video, it is now becoming a popular place for streaming sports events in a few second clips.

Approximately 80% of fans use social media during live sporting events, both during actual events and at home. This means videos of the event appear online after they happen, while social media users post about the sporting event in real-time. This gives sponsoring brands a much wider range of platforms on which to advertise and extend their brand image as their target audiences now include social media users apart from television viewers.

With the advent of social media, brands have been given newfound opportunities, not just to sponsor teams and individual athletes, but to also sponsor social media influencers. This latest form of endorsements has become a prominent form of sponsorship and advertising that can increase the channels of advertising to appeal to the general public. As social media continues to be a big part of our daily lives, brands can create new revenue streams through the opportunities given to them.

Many sports fans are also devout users of social media, as evidenced by over 500 million of Facebook’s 2.8 billion user base who are diehard football fans. And on Twitter in the United States, sports has always been a topic of interest among users, which is highly beneficial to brands that are profiting from online sports sponsorship as the exposure they would gain on various social media platforms could bring them a substantial return on investment.

Benefits To The Athletes And To The Brand’s Employees

Not only does being a sponsor benefit a brand, but the overall sponsorship agreement is also advantageous for the teams involved and even the brand’s employees. The presence of sponsorship funding provides financial security that allows athletes to focus entirely on their training without worrying about where the money will come from to train and put on events.

Sponsorships between brands, teams and the athletes involved is a fruitful partnership where all parties will stand to benefit. It is a mutually beneficial scenario that, along with the exposure to social media, will further increase the longevity of said advantages. Suffice to say, the sporting committee benefits from direct financial input, while the brand receives significant global exposure and exclusive revenue in return.

online sports sponsorships are also extremely beneficial to the brand’s employees as it connects strongly with health and wellbeing, whereby the brand is now at the receiving end of positive sentiments through mere association.

“Working for a brand with a logo featured prominently at a high-profile event makes employees feel as though they’re employed by a place of prestige” – James Adonis, Sydney Morning Herald

As a result of this feeling of association, each employees’ own personal status is elevated, thus creating motivated employees which ensure the essence of the brand is protected as they are now content with supporting a brand that demonstrates the value that they believe in.

In addition to being a sponsor to enjoy these benefits, what impact will it have on the sponsored team? Some of the bulk industries that sponsor teams belong to the “gaming industry”. In 2020, these industries are prohibited by the gambling act. Why? Read “The End Of Gambling Sponsorships In English Football” and You’ll understand that gambling sponsorship teams can cause those problems!

Sponsorships As A Necessity

In a multi-million dollar industry, the need for securing sponsorship has become more crucial than ever to ensure not only survival but also stable growth of any football club. Along with the increasing prevalence of social media in the sponsorship landscape, teams and corporations will be engaging in newfound opportunities and receiving newfound benefits in an industry that is poised for continued growth.