According to the sponsorship organization IEG, global sponsorship is projected to grow 4.7 % in 2016. Just in North America alone the increase is expected to be 4.5%, bringing total spending to over 22 billion dollars this year.
Keep in mind that 70% of all of this sponsorship will be spent in the sports industry, but that still leaves 23% for arts, entertainment and cause sponsorship. This is good news for speakers who are looking to supplement those free speaking jobs with sponsorship. And even better news if you’re a speaker/artist who has a cause topic.
Sponsorship looks like it will outperform advertising and marketing. One reason is because brands are looking for ways to deliver a two-way message instead of just a one way message.
A newspaper, magazine or TV ad is a one way message. The ads don’t talk back. But with social media and sponsorship you can have a two-way conversation that is interactive with your customer. Millennials are especially interested in interacting with brands these days.
Even small businesses, who have typically been left out of the sponsorship game, are starting to realize that they can also sponsor, even if it’s not in the same multi-million dollar game as the big corporations. This is great news, since there are over 25 million small businesses just in the U.S. alone.
With advertising and marketing budgets being cut left and right, sponsorship has still been holding steady for the past few years, and has even increased.
Sponsorship is based on long term, mutually beneficial relationships between a brand (the sponsor), and an a sponsee. Speakers and artists should start developing those relationships as early as possible and nurture them. A speaker or artist can create a whole career with sponsorships alone. The money is there, and the need, according to IEG, will only increase in 2016. So it’s time to jump in the sponsorship game and start getting a piece of that multi billion dollar pie.