Events looking for money send out many, many sponsorship proposals to just about any company they can think of. The companies on the receiving end of such requests often do not know how to evaluate the opportunities, and may purchase inappropriate ones or decline to sponsor good ones. But fear not, we have a solution. We call it the ‘Sponsorship Decision Support Matrix’.

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Enter the ‘Sponsorship Decision Support Matrix’.

The Sponsorship Decision Support Matrix is a tool we have created to help companies better evaluate sponsorship requests. It sets out the ‘must-haves’, and weights elements that are important to your company. The first part of this tool outlines event imperatives and includes a series of high level questions to help you quickly weed out any unworthy opportunities. If you answer “yes” to all questions in this first part, proceed to the next. If you answer “no” to any of the first questions, it’s very likely not a good fit for you.

The remainder of the tool helps you to score other considerations, like Marketing Potential, Advertising/Media Potential and Event Administration.

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Marketing Potential

‍You should always consider potential for future opportunities to leverage your investment, right of first refusal on future events and control of corporate images, activities and materials. Plans to deal with ambush marketing are important. But most importantly, you should ensure that:

• You will have category/industry exclusivity
• The audience is right
• It supports local or regional efforts

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‍Advertising/Media Potential

It’s one thing to do good things, but it’s also important that the right people know about what you’re doing. Media coverage is critical to your sponsorship considerations. Having your company name prominently placed on event signage and other promotional materials and advertising, mentions in any related social media promotions are key. Other considerations should include:

• Whether you would have the right to use event branding in any of your own promotions, and the right to approve any of your own branding in event promotions
• Whether the event will support relationship goals with key customers and/or community stakeholders

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‍Event Administration

Last on the checklist to be considered is administration. Business development potential is measurable, so it’s important to ensure that the event organizer has a credible reputation (to avoid any Fyre Festival-type situations) as well as clearly defined goals for the event. Beyond this, you should also think about whether you have adequate budget to properly leverage this opportunity:

• Do you have enough staff available to execute effectively? 
• Does it have a realistic timeline to achieve the desired outcome?

‍The right sponsorship match always involves a balance of money, time and effort. While this model in itself cannot guarantee a return on investment (which requires follow through, imagination, creativity and accountability), it can help to eliminate those sponsorship opportunities from which no amount of follow through, imagination, creativity or accountability will provide beneficial results for you and your company.

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For access to this tool (and more), schedule a consultation with us here.

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