Sports are an extremely important – and expensive – part of brand marketing. But simply slapping your logo on a jersey or stadium banner isn’t enough to guarantee a winning ROI. When clients choose to invest heavily on sponsoring professional sport teams, smart marketing teams know that supporting that sponsorship with additional programs helps the company get more out of the significant spend. 

Tell Your Story has helped several clients leverage these sponsorships and get more mileage out of each one with creative extensions to the campaign. Here are our insights into five key ways your team can make the most of your company’s sports sponsorship:

1. Go Beyond the Logo: Integrate the Sponsorship into Your Content Strategy

Don’t treat the sponsorship as a separate entity. Weave it organically into your existing content ecosystem. This means creating engaging content that resonates with the sports fans you’re now connected to.

• Social Media Campaigns: Run contests for free tickets or team “swag,” polls, or trivia related to the sponsored team or athletes. Use relevant hashtags and engage with fans. Share game-day experiences, and highlight your brand’s involvement in a creative way. Goettl Heating & Air, a leading HVAC company in the southwest, worked with Tell Your Story to engage audiences in the company’s sponsorship of professional baseball and hockey teams through social media contests and giveaways. 
• Blog Posts & Articles: Develop content related to the team, athletes, or sport. If your sponsorship allows, consider player interviews, game previews and recaps with a brand tie-in, or even articles exploring the shared values between your company and the sporting entity. Red Bull does all of this really well. Their long-standing involvement in extreme sports isn’t just about branding. They create a wealth of content around the athletes and events they sponsor.

2. Activate On-Site and Create Experiential Marketing Opportunities

Don’t just be a passive logo on a screen. Leverage the physical presence of the sponsorship to create memorable experiences for fans.

• In-Stadium Activations: Set up interactive booths, run contests during breaks, offer product samples, or create photo opportunities with branded elements. Goettl would often have employees onsite executing giveaways or promoting charitable donations.  
• Hospitality and VIP Experiences: If your sponsorship includes access to VIP areas or player meet-and-greets, use these to cultivate relationships with key clients, partners, and even potential customers. 
• Community Engagement: Partner with the sponsored team or organization on community initiatives, aligning your brand with positive social causes and further connecting with local fans. Procter & Gamble’s Tide brand often partners with sports teams on laundry programs for youth leagues, showcasing their product while giving back to the community. Our client, Goettl, worked with the Anaheim Ducks to support pet rescue programs.

3. Empower Your Sales Team with Sponsorship Assets

Your sales team is on the front lines. Equip them with the tools and resources related to the sponsorship to enhance their outreach and build stronger client relationships.

• Branded Sales Materials: Incorporate the team’s logo or imagery into presentations, brochures, and email templates (where appropriate and within sponsorship guidelines).
• Internal Engagement: Educate your sales team about the sponsorship and its benefits. Encourage them to talk about it with clients and prospects, fostering a sense of company pride and leveraging the partnership in their conversations.

4. Track, Measure, and Analyze Results

Like any marketing initiative, it’s crucial to define your key performance indicators (KPIs) and track the impact of your sponsorship activation.

• Brand Awareness Metrics: Monitor social media mentions, website traffic spikes around game days or related content, and brand sentiment.
• Engagement Metrics: Track social media engagement (likes, shares, comments), website interactions with sponsorship-related content, and participation in on-site activations.
• Lead Generation and Sales: If applicable, track leads generated through sponsorship-related campaigns or attribute sales to specific promotions tied to the partnership.
• Media Mentions: Monitor media coverage of your brand in connection with the sponsored team or event.

In leveraging TYS’s client Knauf Insulation’s sponsorship of the Indianapolis Colts, we executed a media outreach campaign that garnered more than 90,000 media impressions and added a social media influencer video campaign to the mix, too, hitting nearly 59,000 video views.

A sports sponsorship is more than just a marketing expense; it’s an investment in brand building and customer engagement. By proactively integrating the partnership into your marketing strategy, creating engaging experiences, empowering your sales team, tracking your results, and fostering a strong collaborative relationship, your marketing team can turn that significant investment into a resounding success.