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Your Guide to Local Event Sponsorship Marketing for Auto Shops
Need an extra boost for your auto shop in terms of marketing? If business has seemed static lately, sponsoring an event could be what you need to breathe life back into your marketing strategy.
Here is everything you need to know about event sponsorship marketing. Check out our complete guide below.
Benefits of Event Sponsorship
When you sponsor a local event, your name gets attached to everything the event does. From radio promotions to flyers and billboards, your company name starts to become recognizable around your community. Name recognition is a huge reason to get behind a local event.
Reaching the local community who may never hear about you online is another great benefit of event sponsorship. Marketing matters now more than ever, but local event marketing reaches a different demographic than your online marketing strategies. Your website becomes a landing page for more information, but the first way they hear about your company is through the event's advertising or from you in person at the event.
Seeing the results you get from event sponsorship and in-person marketing will help you further understand the online consumer's thought process
and how it's different from the local niche market. Talking to people at a show or event builds relationships, while digital and online marketing have to work harder to achieve the same result. Using this different approach can be the missing piece to your marketing strategy as a whole.
Benefits of Event Sponsorship
Decide what amount you want to put toward the event sponsorship. There are so many levels of investment that the world is open to you, depending on how much you're able to spend. If you're having trouble figuring out how much promotion a certain budget will buy for your company, take a look at the sponsor levels the event advertises.
Of course, each event has a different scope and different target market, so some of the promotional chances may not be available. But here are some examples of possible needs for an event to get you started brainstorming:
- T-Shirts with your logo for Little League Team event
- Company-branded napkins, cups, and tableware for a dinner
- Sponsor the keynote speaker for a VIP event or business meeting
- Banners and displays for high school sports teams
- Sponsor entire awards presentation or press room for local home show or trade show.
With each event, the chances to invest will be a little different, yet the event staff should outline the exact direct advertising benefits for your company so you know what you're getting. This should give you a direction to go as you decide how much you want to invest.
Next Steps: Prepare for Promotion
You can't just check "event sponsorship" off your list after you've agreed to pay the money. After you begin the process there is a lot of work that follows. Your own in-house staff can help you schedule all the promotions and marketing that occurs before, during, and after the event.
If there are any times that you'll be speaking on the radio, make sure you draft words (or get some help with this) for those radio appearances. Practice ahead of time, even if it will be a low-key interview and you think you can wing it. It's better to sound polished because you're prepared than sound silly on air.
The event will do a lot of promotion for you, but you'll have to provide your auto shop logo to the event hosts. Make sure they agree not to change the logo's integrity in any way as part of the deal. Soon you'll see your company's name and imagery appearing wherever you see information about the event.
You can also decide to offer a giveaway or special deal
in conjunction with the event, and you'll want to make sure the event hosts know about it so they can promote it. Logistics with this type of promotion can get a little hairy, so work out the details and how you will execute the promotion to avoid any issues.
Event Sponsorship Marketing: Digital Aspects
Driving through town and seeing your company everywhere isn't the end of your marketing obligations. You'll want to make the most of your own digital promotion outlets to let the community know about the event and your participation, from your website to social media and blog posts.
Work with your marketing agency or web developer to list the event information and link to the event pages from your own website. Offer online visitors the chance to RSVP to the event on Facebook, or find directions to the event. If you're doing any giveaways or special deals, keep them prominent on this page.
Share about the event on your auto shop's social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Be creative about how you promote it, like including posts about your giveaway and how to enter, other deals the community can find at the event, and interviews with head mechanics and other key players. Share on your personal pages to get more exposure.
During the event, continue using social media to share the excitement with live tweeting, Insta and Snapchat stories, and photos from the festivities. This may draw even more people in person to come and find out about your company.
Leading up to the event and afterward, use company blog posts to give online visitors and potential customers insight into the auto industry and handy tips they may need for their vehicles. You can link to these posts when you share the event on social media, as well as get some momentum after the event is over.
Getting Help
If this sounds like a big project, it is. Event sponsorship marketing takes a lot of extra time if you want to harness all its potential. Getting help from an automotive marketing agency like Auto Shop Digital to help with the details of online promotion can make it easier.
Chat with a member of our friendly team or click here to get started today.
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