6 Strategies to Revamp Your Conversations with Corporate Partners
This article is related to a recently completed custom research project ABA conducted on behalf of a theatre member. Our research team is always delighted to speak with members about tailoring research projects to your organization. To learn more or submit a custom research request, simply contact your member advisor or email us at info@advisoryarts.com.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding how to create value for corporate partners and deliver on promised marketing exposure has been a challenge for arts and cultural organizations. These challenges are due to reduced in-person events, fewer audience members for live events (as they return again) and the shift from printed to digital event programs.
Seeking to gain fresh insights from our members, ABA’s research team conducted interviews with development leaders across the country and across performing genres and asked them how they have been communicating digital impressions and working with corporate sponsors during the pandemic.
The ensuing conversations provided insights on both how to position digital impressions to show their value to corporate partners and the importance of expanding your overall value proposition for sponsors. Here, we’ve outlined some of the top findings from our research.
ABA members received the full report of this study in the most recent edition of our member-only newsletter, Ensemble.
Step 1: How to Position Digital Program Impressions
When shifting to a new model, it is important to show sponsors that the new benefits they will get. We gathered four ways to frame how digital programs can actually exceed print programs in the value they bring to corporate partners.
1. Digital Programs Provide More User Data.
With digital program books, arts organizations are able to collect real time audience data that was not previously available with printed materials. This data can provide interesting insights on audience makeup, location, and reading habits.
Digital programs allow organizations to collect precise figures on total user downloads, in addition to understanding the best modes of delivering these programs to boost viewership (e.g., email, onsite QR codes, onsite signage). Organizations can also determine whether attendees are accessing programs before events and which content they spend more time reading.
2. Digital programs enjoy longer shelf lives and larger pools of readers.
By developing more content in digital programs, including behind-the-scenes stories and interviews from the creative team, organizations can expand the appeal of these publications and share them online for wider public access beyond event attendees.
Furthermore, posting digital booklets online allows the programs to enjoy a longer shelf life going well beyond the limited timeframe of the event itself. Organizations can promote their digital program archive within their community, which indirectly offers ongoing sponsorship exposure.
3. Digital programs can create space for more sponsored content — and at a lower cost.
Without the cost restrictions of printed pages in programs, digital booklets can provide more opportunities to differentiate sponsors at various giving levels, with more flexibility of ad or promotional space. Higher-level sponsors can also be given more space for custom messages to the community to personalize their contributions.
Some organizations use interactive features like embedded links and videos to differentiate sponsor ads from other ad-hoc ad buyers. These interactive features also represent a whole other source of data for sponsors regarding their specific messages, link access, and SEO information.
4. Digital programs increase overall digital visibility.
Finally, by virtue of the more flexible digital format, digital program booklets can actually boost sponsor visibility by being more easily included across communication channels. For example, organizations can include link access in emails and newsletters, or design small feature highlights on social media to tease audiences for upcoming events.
Step 2: How to Expand Your Conversation Around an Expanded Value Proposition for Sponsors
In addition to these tactics on positioning digital impressions for sponsors, our interviews also highlighted the importance of aligning corporate partnerships with community impact and staff engagement, not just visibility and impressions in event programming.
By connecting corporate partnerships to social impact and staff engagement, arts organizations can align corporate support with more qualitative transactional benefits that serve corporate companies’ overall CSR objectives, their brand marketing, and their company culture. In these cases, qualitative benefits also act as a complement to quantitative marketing data and impressions.
1. Connect corporate support with brand alignment and new audiences.
With smaller audience sizes and increased public pressure around social responsibility, arts organizations have purposefully shifted their corporate conversations around community-based benefits and exposure. This conversational shift allows arts organizations to pair traditional marketing benefits with more qualitative exposure and brand benefits for their sponsors.
In almost all our interviews, arts organizations described the increased interest and retention of corporate sponsors thanks to alignment with outreach initiatives and free events. Partners were excited to have their brand names and logos strategically placed in front of new and diverse audiences in connection with social messages and projects.
2. Support for Staff and Working Culture.
In addition to concrete connections with community values and new audiences, our members also discussed the importance of reaffirming staff engagement opportunities to support company culture.
Faced with increasingly competitive job markets, employers are eager to diversify job benefits like access to cultural events to increase staff engagement for hiring and retention purposes. Staff engagement has also become even more important after a year of social isolation where people are eager to participate in events together.
To initiate these conversations around an expanded value proposition to sponsors, organizations must be creative and sensitive to the needs and values of each of their sponsors, ensuring the benefits align with their corporate objectives. Strong partnerships and conversations must be built on authenticity, collegiality, creativity, and connectivity.
Find more insights on how to enhance your approach to contributed income in our Donor & Government Engagement Center.