Sponsor support is more important than ever for charity golf tournaments. As events evolve to meet participant and sponsor expectations and address logistical challenges, traditional sponsorships may no longer be enough.
Enter digital sponsorships—they’re adaptable, professional, low-risk, flexible, high-value, and easier to implement than you might think. Here’s how you can use digital sponsorships to elevate your charity golf tournament and deliver maximum value to your sponsors.
THE VALUE OF DIGITAL EXPOSURE
Digital exposure offers your tournament’s sponsors an innovative way to engage with your audience that boosts each sponsorship's ROI. They also offer a great deal of convenience and flexibility for event organizers.
No overhead costs. Digital sponsorships don’t require the production of any physical materials, making them incredibly cost-effective and environmentally friendly. You won’t have to worry about meeting production deadlines or the extra stress of ensuring on-time delivery.
Adaptability. If your tournament date, format, or location change, the digital exposure built into your sponsorships can easily pivot to fit the updated plan.
Extended visibility. Digital assets like event websites, live leaderboards, and mobile apps ensure sponsors remain front and center for the duration of your event and beyond, guaranteeing additional impressions for the sponsor’s brand.
Added value. Digital sponsor exposure can—and should—be built into every sponsorship package, adding additional value for sponsors and improved fundraising outcomes for your nonprofit.
Plug and play. With the right event management software, when sponsors purchase a package via your online registration site, the sponsor’s logo should automatically populate into the appropriate locations in the platform, saving organizers time and effort.
PRO TIP:
When making your sponsorship pitch, highlight the value and reach of digital exposure. The additional value and impressions they’ll get as a sponsor of your tournament helps make it an easy sell.
digital sponsorship options
To take advantage of digital sponsorship exposure, you’ll need an event management tool that has such capabilities baked in. Look for an option that provides multiple touchpoints across the platform, giving sponsors broad visibility to your tournament’s field, including:
1. Event Registration Website Exposure
A robust event registration website is the main hub for marketing your tournament. When you share the site’s link across your digital channels—email, social media, direct outreach—and print channels (using a QR code to link directly to the site), sponsors get exposure with every click. The registration interface should include the ability for sponsors to upload their logo and messaging, giving them instant visibility on the site and eliminating the need for tournament organizers to spend time procuring assets from sponsors.
2. Digital hole sponsorships
Your event management platform should include a complementary mobile app for live scoring. Not only does live scoring keep golfers engaged throughout the tournament, but it opens the door to sell digital hole sponsorships. Each time a player logs their score, sponsor logos or messages can be displayed, creating frequent, high-impact touchpoints. You have the option to sell digital hole sponsorships as a standalone option, or combine digital hole sponsor exposure with your existing hole sponsorships. Either way, sponsors benefit from added value and engagement.
3. live leaderboard sponsorships
Live leaderboards, much like a mobile scoring app, keep participants and any online spectators engaged while offering premium exposure for sponsors. These leaderboards can and should be shared via email, social media, and newsletters, driving additional visibility for the sponsor and your tournament. The leaderboard sponsorship offers ideal exposure and should be sold at a premium. Once the round concludes, you might use the final leaderboards as an opportunity to make a donation ask—invite them to make a donation that matches their final score (if their team recorded an 84, they would donate $84). Make sure live leaderboards include a donation option to make it easy for folks to make a gift, amplifying the tournament’s fundraising outcomes.
4. Mobile engagement
The mobile channel offers the chance for sponsors to reach players with yet another touchpoint. Look for a golf event software that lets you offer sponsors the opportunity to send timely, personalized messages or to offer giveaways through the live scoring app. These targeted interactions can significantly boost sponsor satisfaction and engagement—and the likelihood they’ll return in subsequent years.
PRO TIP:
When reporting to your sponsors after the golf event, include links and screenshots of the digital exposure your tournament provided.
WHY SPONSORS LOVE DIGITAL EXPOSURE
While signage, banners, and other sponsor recognition mediums certainly have their place, digital sponsorships provide unparalleled benefits, including:
Enhanced brand visibility. Through mobile apps, websites, and leaderboards, sponsor logos and messages reach broader audiences over a longer time period. As soon as a sponsor commits and their logo appears on your event website, the sponsor starts earning impressions with every site visit.
Targeted engagement. Sponsors have the ability to interact with participants at key moments throughout the round. Whether it’s through push notifications from high-dollar sponsorships or hole sponsor logos when a team enters their score in the live-scoring app, sponsors get engagement that’s second to none.
Shareable support. Sponsors can share the link to your event site through their outreach channels, demonstrating to their audiences how they’re supporting the community by being involved with your tournament.
Onboarding is simple. The actual process of becoming a sponsor is easy—sponsors browse your available packages, see examples of exposure, and purchase their package right on the site. There’s no need for time-consuming back and forth, removing barriers and making it simple for sponsors to commit and focus on maximizing their investment.
Enhanced professionalism. Above all, you want to make your sponsors look good. Digital exposure provides a level of professionalism that other forms of exposure simply can’t match.
Final Thoughts
Supporters want to know their contributions are going toward meaningful impact. Leveraging digital sponsorships ensures more dollars go directly to your cause, boost the value of sponsorship packages, and unlock new opportunities for your tournament’s success. Start by exploring golf event-specific event management options that offer digital sponsor exposure, attractive event websites, live scoring and leaderboards, and other tools to help you raise the most money possible for your mission.
hit the easy button with Golfstatus
GolfStatus’ full-service golf event management platform simplifies the implementation of digital sponsorships. It’s designed to help organizations of all sizes save time and resources while delivering premium sponsorship opportunities and a great overall experience. Plus, through the Golf for Good programs, nonprofit organizations can access this technology at no upfront cost.