Getting the right sponsor for your changeable fixture board will be a match made in heaven and could make hundreds of pounds of difference to your club’s balance sheet at the next AGM
We understand at Readerboards that our unique sign systems come at a price, which reflects the bespoke nature of the product. However, at the same time our product also achieves high visibility, not just for the club but also a ‘would be’ sponsor.
Your Fixture Board is a Voice NOT a Sign!
The first thing to remember is our fixture boards are not just another sign, announcing a welcome or confirming the sat nav was correct! They live and breath in tune with your sports club 365 days a year, acting as a constant messenger to members, visitors and the local community alike.
They can create their very own personality too, by commenting and reacting to news and events around them. This could be local news, national debates as well updates at club level. Maybe a local derby is around the corner, a grudge match taking place or a MUST WIN second leg tie in the cup.
All this flexibility needs to be conveyed to the business to ensure they are fully aware of the benefits of the sponsorship of the fixture board.
Next you need to put the final touches to the deal which separates your proposal from the endless list of other offers of sponsorship a business owner will invariably face during a trading year. The question you will need to overcome is how much publicity will they receive?
Typical Club Sponsorships
A shirt sponsorship deal or match ball sponsorship in reality (excluding off course big club names) receives very little in reality. An under 12’s football team may attract a handful of spectators, a cricket club banner around the ground, will probably go unnoticed for 6 months of the year and by the time it’s cricket season once more, it’s probably faded to the point it can hardly be read! Match programme advertising for a rugby club has a life expectancy of 2/3 hours before it’s discarded in the bin.
A Fixture Board with replaceable messages is Cross Media Advertising
Not only will your fixture Board be seen and read in real time, it’s also a unique social media tool. By uploading a simple picture of your board onto your social media sites announcing an upcoming fixture or confirming a triumphant recent win at the weekend, your posts will be seen by hundreds of followers who can share across their own networks. With your sponsors branding and logos correctly positioned on the fixture board and visible on all social media posts, this will be a extremely tempting proposition.
Social media has evolved massively in the past 2 or 3 years to a noisy crowded communication hub. Blogging is diminishing, lengthy texts are almost invisible to the eye as we frantically scroll through news feeds in a matter of seconds on our smart phones.
Visual Social media is the Buzz Word – small visually digestible chunks of pictorial content are much more likely to be read and shared. By putting this offer under the nose of a business owner, you will truly have a unique offer which they would not of come across in the past. Essentially, you are offering what a marketer guru would call cross media – advertising both offline and online simultaneously.
Below is a check list summarising all the key attributes of a changeable letter Fixture Board for Your Sports Club.
Why A Company Should Sponsor a Board?
Metal Sign Board with Laminated Surface
Minimum 6 years life expectancy
High Visibility Changeable Letters – viewing distance up to 40 metres
Large Sponsorship Area .5m x .25m for two exclusive sponsors
Updated Regularly
Uploaded to Social Media sites weekly for updates and news
Finally, you are going to have to ‘court’ your would-be sponsor, because they won’t want to let go of their money easily. Here a few little tips. These little extras aren’t going to cost the earth, far from it, most in fact aren’t going to cost anything at all.
- Prior to approaching a sponsor to fund the board, get your club’s social media following right up. Encourage the whole club and their friends and families to like or follow your clubs pages. This improves massively your digital CV!
- Create the role of sponsorship manager within your sports club to look after the business.
- Offer your sponsor an additional 250 ‘likes’or ‘follows’ on their social media sites prior to the start of the sponsorship. Get these from your club members!
- Offer photo opportunity in front of new Fixtureboard with their company name in message. For example: ‘HUGE THANKS TO ADP BUILDING SUPPLIES FOR THIS BOARD’
