Maximise Sponsorship Income with Thriving Sponsorship Seekers
A challenge exists for associations in receiving ongoing funding from sponsorship in today's competitive environment. Many associations are now seeing a slight decline in membership and/or attendance, highlighting the fact that sponsorship is even more important than previously.
The key to obtaining sponsorship and new sources of revenue is finding the right organisation to become partners with, and using this partnership to find a constant revenue stream. The right partners can assist members in furthering their careers within the industry.
Partnership with AuSAE
An example of a great partnership is Member Evolution and The Australian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE). AuSAE is the peak professional society representing association professionals who are working in both New Zealand and Australia. AuSAE opens up a new world for connecting with other working association professionals. Member Evolution is then able to showcase our association membership management software with association executives that will enhance and integrate their entire business process in one complete online solution.
Sponsorship Benefits
Each association can benefit from their own partnerships, through aligning themselves with the right leaders from within their industry space. After you have identified potential partners that you want to be associated with, it is time to decide how you will allow your sponsors to receive maximum return from your partnership.
There are two easy steps that your association can undertake to keep your sponsors satisfied including:
1. Logo placement
An association can place the sponsor's logo in a number of places to gain maximum exposure. The first place is on your website. Most associations already have a section on their homepage that displays a list of logos of who they are partners with. It is also a good idea to have a link on each of the logos so it takes users to a full page about that sponsor - this way a user can gain more information on a particular sponsor and the page can even link to the sponsor’s website.
The next place to put a sponsor's logo is on any email communications - this gives the sponsor a link back to a page about them on your site and a way for them to visit the sponsor’s website. With all of these clicks on a sponsor's logo and page they can measure exactly how much traffic they are generating from being placed on your association's webpage and email communications.
2. Advertise Sponsor with Events
Associations can then advertise the partnership they have with their sponsors to members and web visitors. In your events section you could highlight who the sponsor is on the event page description or, once they have added a ticket to their cart, you could place a sentence about the partnership prompting them to purchase. An example could include "We are proud partners with AuSAE bringing you the tools, knowledge and support to help you improve your association’s performance".
Providing out of the box solutions benefit both sponsors and members, encourages new sponsors to sign up, and helps with building a secure future partnership.
