You may have noticed from our social media posts that we sponsor sports teams local to our business, the two we have so far mentioned are Bradford City FC and Dewsbury Celtic Rugby League U16s. These two teams may seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, Bradford City FC is a commercial club in the EFL with professional players and a website, whereas Dewsbury Celtic Rugby League U16s are just starting out and the players are juggling their sporting ambitions with academic commitments. Additionally, we also sponsor Eccleshill United Football Club and the first tee at Northcliffe Golf Club and we thought it would be interesting to share the many business and personal benefits that our sporting sponsorships bring.
The Feel Good Factor
The headlines these days rarely carry positive news when it comes to the younger generation, whether this is mental health difficulties, excessive student debt or trouble finding a job, so being able to make a positive contribution to young people today simply makes us feel good. Dewsbury Celtic Rugby League U16s recent trip to Perpignan may not have ended with victory, but in this instance it was the experience that mattered. Exposure to a new culture, playing against a team wielding international players and watching an international match live in a stadium are all one of a kind experiences that can encourage ambition and foster community spirit. When it comes to our sponsorship of Bradford City FC, our motives may be slightly different (we’re long term Bantams fans) but sponsoring both of these local teams demonstrates to our current and potential clients that we are a local business focused on investing locally.
Better Return vs Investment
We may choose to use our money sponsoring local talent rather than paying a remote digital marketing firm, but we still want to see results. Sponsorship can offer a surprisingly high return on your investment. Say we choose to have an ad during a Bantams home game (stadium capacity 25,136) or their official twitter account mentions us (total followers 73,500), this provides far greater exposure to our target market at a lower cost than traditional marketing like print, radio and television.
Greater Visibility
Sponsoring local sports teams instantly provides a point of reference for future clients. Say you’re looking for a local accountancy firm that values and invests in its local economy, a Smith Butler ad flashing up during a Bradford City fixture, or our logo on the Dewsbury Celtic Rugby League U16s team, says just that. In addition, rather than being another faceless ad popping up on a social media feed that people immediately scroll through, we are advertising in an area that our target market is already invested in, which means they are automatically more motivated to take notice of our logo and message.
We primarily sponsor local organisations (in our case sports teams) as we firmly believe in investing in and giving back to our local economy. However, as a successful business we do also like to see results and we hope this blog has helped highlight just what the benefits are. We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on sponsorship below!