With multiple brands competing for the same audiences, it is important to boost your brand awareness and promote your USP to attract and retain customers. But how exactly do you go about improving your brand awareness? What marketing techniques are best at showcasing your company to audiences that resonate with your values?
In this article, we are going to discuss a powerful way to get your brand name out there – sports team sponsorship – and how to get started. Let’s jump into it!
What is sponsorship?
Sponsorship is a marketing tactic in which brands pay to be associated with a particular sports team. It is popular with professional sports and grassroots alike, with small and medium businesses estimated to contribute over £200m to community sports teams every year. The sponsorship can take a few different forms, but the most common is the sponsorship of a team’s kit or kit supplier. This means that a company’s logo will be printed on the team’s kit, and they will also have advertisements around the ground that the team plays on too.
The benefits of sponsoring a sports team
Sponsoring a sports team, especially a local club or grassroots team, can be a very cost effective way for companies to increase their brand awareness and boost their sales. It creates an association between the brand and the team, which can create brand loyalty from fans, and reaches new audiences too.
Results of a study by Gift of Kit showed that 89% of club members said their opinion of a brand improved because of a sponsorship, as players and fans will recognise the support that businesses are giving to local clubs.
How sports sponsorship can boost brand awareness
While there are many positive effects of sports sponsorship, brand awareness is arguably the most important. According to a poll in 2019, football is the UK’s biggest passion, meaning that sport is loved, played and watched by millions of people across the planet. The popularity of sport makes it an ideal marketing platform, as brands have the opportunity to reach a huge audience.
Reaching a large audience gets the brand’s name out there, and creates a greater opportunity to convert new customers, as well as engaging their current customer-base. In today’s competitive marketplace, brand awareness is a vital component for survival. You need to be recognised in order to challenge your competitors within the market.
With brand awareness comes brand loyalty, and with brand loyalty comes returning customers. Therefore, sponsorship should be an important tactic in every company’s marketing strategy.
How Gift of Kit can help
If you are interested in boosting your brand awareness by sponsoring a grassroots sports team near you, Gift of Kit can help. Through our sponsorship model, we identify opportunities in sport that align with your brand values, design a sponsorship campaign and find suitable clubs to guarantee you long lasting results.
We have helped to deliver over £4 million worth of sponsorship while connecting businesses to over 6,000 sports teams. Get in touch with us today to discover how we can help you.