We often presume that sponsoring means finding big money for big things - sporting events and teams, music festivals and the like. But there are plenty of opportunities for smaller businesses to reach a targeted audience through sponsorship and they can be very effective if you follow a few obvious, and not-so-obvious, rules.

Find a "natural fit"

There are two reasons why the "natural fit" is important.  Firstly, the marketing basic - your target market.  If the audience for the organisation you are sponsoring matches your target market, that's a good foundation for considering the opportunity further.

Just as important is a match of values.  For your shared audience to understand and appreciate your involvement, they need to understand why you are giving your support.  Interestingly, these festivals are shunning big businesses who are keen to sponsor them because they want to stick to the values of the event.  It's not that they would never accept sponsorship but they are being very particular to ensure that their events are not overwhelmed by blatent marketing messages from companies that do not share their values and ethos.

Consider your return on investment

Your sponsorship budget, as with any other part of your marketing budget, needs to see a return on its investment.  So what are you trying to achieve with this activity and how will you know that you've achieved it?  Take a view, sooner rather than later, on whether the organisation you are supporting is properly geared up to helping you do so. 

You objectives might include:

• Increasing awareness - but make sure you know how you'll measure this.  Don't just use it as an excuse to post-justify your speding.
• Increasing web traffic - if you're offered links to your web site as part of the deal, make sure you measure traffic from these sources.  Do you want to create a particular message for people visting in relation to your sponsorship?
• Product showcasing - if you have a specific product that has a great fit with the event, you might want to focus on this rather than on more general awareness raising.
• Corporate hospitality - will you get the chance to allow your clients and contacts to share in the experience?
• Enhancing your brand - a key objective for sponsorship activities and one that will only work when there is that "natural fit" - but, again, how will you be measuring it?

Make the most of the experience

Your customers are bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands, of marketing messages every day.  The human brain simply cannot cope - so it filters most of them out.  So many marketing messages just don't get through.  So how do you make your stand out?  One way is to give your customers a great experience - and by happy coincidence - experience is what most sponsorship opportunities are about.

And this is another reason why the "natural fit" is so important.  If you can enhance the experience of the opportunity you are sponsoring, you get to connect with people at a much deeper level than a traditional broadcast marketing message could.  Your brand and its values become associated with the positive energy of the experience - and that's what people will take away with them.  What better way to differentiate yourself from your competitors?

Think about how a taster of your service or some product samples could add extra excitement and make the event more memorable.  Whilst a logo on a leaflet or the chance to put up a banner stand have their place, this is where the real value of a sponsorship deal will be.

And don't be afraid to make suggestions.  The chances are that the organisation you are supporting will welcome some creative ideas - they can't come up with them all themselves.

Integrate your sponsorship

Don't regard your sponsorship as a stand-alone, one-off activity.  If you've got that "natural fit" just right, it makes good sense to tell your contacts about what you're doing and, more importantly, why.  Capture the excitement of the experience - video is a great medium for conveying people's emotional engagement with your brand.  If you can fit your sponsorship activity in with other promotions, so much the better.  It's about squeezing as much value out of your sponsorship investment - you can read more enthusiasm on this subject on our blog post, Do More for Less.

Also, see how much you can gain by contributing to the organisation's marketing needs.  Do they need a sponsor's case study? Someone to do radio interviews? Would  they appreciate the use of your video footage?  This all helps spread the word for you whilst contributing the the overall success of the sponsorship opportunity.

Sponsorship can seem like a large commitment for a small business but it can also create great opportunities if you approach it with a win-win marketing mindset.