5 Vital Elements of Sponsorship Measurement
When you ‘close’ a sponsorship deal, or more correctly, ‘open’ the relationship with a corporate partner, you need to be thinking ‘measurement’ from the outset.
When you get to the end of the year, or your event, the conversations will inevitably turn to focus on, ‘what did we get out of this and was it worth our investment?’
Together, your collective measurements should create a full picture – one that can be tweaked and improved over time to get the best outcome possible for everyone involved, especially your supporters!
After all, everyone needs to feel like it was worth it when it comes to sponsorship.
There are 5 vital elements involved in measuring a sponsorship that will help ensure you keep your partners from year to year, growing and evolving together:
1. Say you’re going to do. Be dependable. Be trustworthy.
2. Understand how THEY are measuring the relationship. (You aren’t able to tell them how many widgets they’ve sold, or how many leads they’ve gained as a result of your supporters switching to their brand – it’s THEIR job to tell you that.) This conversation ideally happened during the negotiation phase of the partnership.
3. Understand how you can provide concrete measurements/benchmarks throughout the relationship that relate to their needs. (YOU should be able to track how often you can put your sponsor in front of their target market, and what communication channels you use to do so.) Again, this conversation ideally happened during the negotiation conversations.
4. Be ethical and responsible and ensure you also hold your sponsors accountable for what they said they were going to do. Make sure they are closing the loop and letting you know what leads new business, social media followers etc they are seeing as a result of this relationship.)
5. If you promised it, then report on it!
When was the last time you delivered an ROI (return on investment) or fulfilment report to your current sponsors?
Have you ever surveyed them to see how they are enjoying the experience of being associated with your organisation, programs, or events?
What about thanking them? How do you publicly, privately, creatively say thank you to your sponsors for all their support?
If you want practical resources to help you create the processes and reports you need, then check out our 12-month course for fundraisers in the Fundraising Academy where we walk you (step-by-step) through the phases involves in planning, finding, connecting with and keeping corporate partners (including the reporting processes that will have your sponsors THANKING YOU for such a wonderful and worthwhile time!)
