If You Start With Awareness, Dig Deeper With Engagement

Awareness vs. Engagement

Awareness is the entry point into the attitudinal ladder. There’s no doubt that this is a useful metric for new brands, properties, and businesses. Do people know we exist? Do they understand who we are? It makes sense: they can’t move people up the ladder without building awareness.

But when you are evaluating a sponsorship opportunity, awareness does not indicate that people have spent meaningful time, effort, or energy with a property. It just means that they’ve heard of it.

Here’s a scenario to consider: say that a major sports property boasts 99% awareness. Great! But how many people actually engage with them? Hint: it’s highly unlikely that it’s going to be 99%. We look at the data and see that the property engages about 30% of the population. Put another way, almost 70% of those who know the property don’t actively engage with that property.

Engagement metrics give brands a much better idea of the size of a sponsorship opportunity. Further, by tracking nine key engagement drivers (watching live TV, watching online, following on event news, following on social media, playing fantasy bets, buying/wearing merchandise, recommending, donating money, volunteering time), they gain more insight into intercepting and adding value to those who do engage.

Challenge the Numbers

When a property demonstrates strong awareness, don’t stop there. Challenge it. Go further into the funnel to gain a more complete context of the opportunity by looking at who engages with a property — and how. That’s when brands start to understand the real value a property can provide to them.

Get started with a free SponsorPulse trial today.