The Economical Follow-ups of Sponsorship in Austrlian Sports

Australia is a sports crazy nation. The crowds that are drawn to sporting events whether it be AFL, Soccer, Cricket, Racing, Tennis and others compared to our population confirms this. Further, the Australian government spends substantial amount of budget for the research and development of sports and sporting clubs. According to a report of Australian Sports Commission it is estimated that total spending for 2013-14 budget year was $313, 269 AUD for sports development and total sports sponsorship in Australia and NZ combined was $927m Australian dollar in this period.

This article will focus in the sponsorship spending for major Australian sports and highlights the impact of business sponsorship to Australian economy.

Australian Rules Football

Australian Rules Football also known as AFL is undoubtedly the most popular sport in Australia, particularly in Victoria. Currently 18 teams play AFL and sponsors pay AUD 774 million in Australia and NZD 182 million in New Zealand every year. Among all the major league AFL gets the highest number of money from corporate companies.

Rugby Union

Rugby Union is the second most popular sport in Australia. It has been played in Australia for past 200 years and the Australian national rugby team has won the Rugby World Cup twice. According to a Sponsorship Today report, the total value of sponsorship in Rugby is equivalent to $105 USD. Major sports equipment vendor Adidas paid $25m in Rugby sponsorship this year, for Australia and NZ combined.

Cricket

Australia has long history as a cricket playing nation. In fact the first two teams that played the first official international cricket match is Australia and England. The Australian national cricket team has won a number of international competitions including the highest number of ODI World Cups. The most popular test series in the world is the Ashes, played between Australia and England. However, Australia has won 32 Ashes series from 68 series, good for only a 40% winning record. A $25m sponsorship agreement was recently signed with the Cricket Board of Australia and Common wealth Bank of Australia for the next 4 Ashes series. According to a Herald Sun report, Cricket Australia is expecting $40m AUD income by the end of the 2013-14 season majority, most of which has come from sponsorship money.

According to the statistics, the financial sector accounts for just 13% of total sports sponsorship spend in Australia, which is a low number compared to other Western countries where it can account for 20% - 30%. The majority of sponsorship money comes from car, alcohol and soft drink companies, which is quite usual and may say something about the average sports fan in Australia.

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How Sports Sponsorship Can Bring Your Business into a League of Its Own

One of the biggest trends in marketing and advertising recently has been in the form of sports advertising and sports sponsorship. Bringing your brand in front of hundreds and thousands of people on a regular basis can help boost the image of your brand or business as well as forge long-lasting relationship in the community.

You don’t have to spend millions of dollars to bring your business into the forefront of peoples’ minds when it comes to sports sponsorship, and with a little community spirit, you can boost your brand awareness to become a trusted and reputable name in the industry you specify.

Greater Brand Penetration than Traditional Print Media

Sports sponsorship has come a long way in terms of reaching out to your audience in new and innovative ways. One of the best ways to boost your brand’s awareness is by taking on the sponsorship rights to a local sports team and allow your business a greater awareness than even newspaper or traditional print media can offer.

When you sponsor a local sports team, your brand will become synonymous with the team for all of its public and private dealings. A successful sports team will allow your brand further spotlight in the printed press as well as radio features if your brand name is part of the team identity. Partnering with a local team will also go a long way to get your brand trusted within the community and allow a long term partnership to succeed both on and off the pitch.

Shirt Sponsorship, Kit & Equipment or Transport

Youth teams are a great place to start when it comes to sponsorship, with both soccer and AFL leagues cropping up across the country, it can be easy to find a team willing to bare your name on their Guernsey’s. Sponsorship deals can be drafted up relatively quickly, with a simple Guernsey sponsorship deal, kit and equipment deals or even the teams’ bus being another advertising avenue for you to look at.

Working in the community, your business along with the sports team can create special interest or charity events to further boost the brand of your coalition. Building on these events will allow you to talk to the public about your business, explain what services you provide and offer the general public further information about how you conduct your business.

An Innovative Approach to Advertising

Advertising with the aid of a local sports team is an innovative approach to marketing and allows you greater reach into the community than regular or traditional marketing approaches. Sports sponsorship offers a cost-effective way to get the message of your business heard above others and often benefits from a lack of competition in certain areas.

Choosing a sport or a sports team will be a key attribute in determining what type of business or service you offer. Choosing a sport that is popular, offers the chance sto get involved with the community and to further your brand awareness across town and nationwide will set you in good stead in the future.

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The Importance of Advertising for Your Business

Looking to expand your business and reach a greater audience for your products and services? It’s no secret that advertising is a means of garnering new customers, creating brand recognition and communicating what your company stands for in even the most crowded of markets. Advertising and marketing is something that can be done affordably and needs to be considered even for small and medium businesses.

Advertising falls into many different categories. Maybe you want to advertise a specific product, item or service you offer, want to tell people what your company is about and what you do, or whether to offer special offers and services as a way to drum up business. Creating an advertising campaign may come with a few headaches along the way if you do it all by yourself, so take a step back and ask yourself the direction you want to go in.

Get Your Company Known 

One of the most popular reasons for advertising a business of company has to be for getting the name of your brand out there. You offer a service, you have grown your business, but hardly anyone knows about you and what you do. This is where brand and service recognition comes in to help expand the awareness of your company to improve growth, sales and overall business.

Your business could offer the greatest service available on the market right now, but if nobody has heard of you, how will your business grow? Community advertising is a way for businesses of all sizes to gain recognition locally and a good way to market a business with a modest budget. It is cheaper than taking out a two page spread in the middle of a national magazine or newspaper, and is the first step many businesses take in their marketing efforts.

Brand Recognition in Your Local Community

Community marketing involves reaching out to your community to get your brand, services and business known and heard of, as well as helping out in the community in one go. Think of sponsoring local events, holding special days where the local community can get involved and ensuring that you are regularly in the local newspaper in a positive light.

Community advertising has the ability to get your company very well known in a short space of time,. Expansion is much easier, depending on your business model, when name recognition is tied to the products and services that your company offers. In most cases, community advertising pays great dividends when it comes to reaching out further to surrounding areas.

Further Expand Your Client Base

If you start locally, you can always expand on your business when your business is ready. Offer incentives for customers and clients to do business in your local area, and create a user base of local companies that can work together to mutually grow their client list and further business.

Using the services of a local advertising company will help in the long term, as many clients of theirs may share the same ideas and community ethos that your company does, to further help your region grow as a whole. Advertising doesn’t have to be complicated in these instances, so why not improve the recognition of your company by advertising in your local community today.

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Importance of Community in Marketing

It is a fundamental need as well as a luxury to belong to a community. Through the divergence of social media, community marketing or belonging to a community has become a lot easier. Initially people receive community support from home starting from their family and friends and slowly it gets dispersed by including the people a company is targeting for providing service.

What is Community Marketing?

 

Community marketing is quite similar to local area marketing where the only difference stays is that the first one comprise of global scale. It is a strategic approach to educate customers interactively about certain brands and develop a community of existing and new customers. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have eased up this process where the members in the community get live interaction opportunity with each other as well as the concerning company. Unlike all other types of marketing, a one-to-one interaction is possible here whenever it is required and thus the companies get an opportunity to make their client feel important. According to Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company, acquiring a new customer is five to six times more expensive than retaining an existing one and thus more focus is needed to give on customer retention approach. The rule of thumb for the best marketing approach to this day suggests to focus on meeting the needs of current customers so that businesses can avoid the expenditure on advertising and all to attract new customers.

As history suggests, some of the world’s pioneer brands were originally developed through low-cost community-based marketing like Amazon, Starbucks, Nike, Coca Cola and it goes on. Their primary target was to stay as close as possible to their targeted community and thus they never needed and extensive market research to tell them what people want.

A good example could be Kiehl, a supreme body-care product makers adored by the models and the elites. People around the world would come to New York City to visit their store for the original product. Now this is what we know as L’Oreal and their packaging has always been plain; even its stores are basic since its establishment. Their success was driven by the products that were tailored to customers’ needs. The constant research and upgrade of their products, complimentary in-store product trials and the personal affiliations have kept this brand to form a strong and active community that stands even to this day.

Community Develops Loyalty and Maintains Authenticity 

The human minds are pre-programmed with certain characteristics. The chief among these are felling understood and privileged and these needs are often met through clubs communities and families. When the companies started focusing on individual customers- reaching out the existing customers or motivating a new one has been a powerful impact that forges emotional attachment. An establishment of a new community makes people feel kindred and when an existing community is strengthened, people once felt rationalized now feel privileged.

Community brands are mostly persistent as they’re regularly adapting to the changing clients’ interests and values. The best idea generating source of growth and innovation is actually the passionate brand community. If we consider all the world leading consumer brands, within each of those businesses, new products, services & features and ways of marketing were initialized through a continuous flow of ideas coming from the grassroots.

In a nutshell, community drives innovation and supports natural reinvention.

Apart from this, certain community groups has helped people to meet their desired businesses. Some of these groups also arrange fundraising approach within their members to host local events or for a good cause. In other words, ”community” has a very strong stance in today’s world and should be considered an important aspect of business.