Sports marketing consulting and sponsor search are two fundamentally different services: one starts from the company, the other starts from the sports property. Understanding this distinction is the first step to navigating the sports sponsorship market, whether you are a brand or a team looking for funding.
Sponsorship research — also called sponsor brokering — and corporate sports marketing consulting are two opposite sides of the same coin. Both deal with sponsorships in sport and with building winning relationships between companies and sports properties, but the direction of the two actions is substantially different. It is not simply a matter of economics — who is looking for money and who has the money — but of starting points and endpoints.
Many people call or write to us asking if we can find sponsors for their team or sports activity. This is completely understandable: those seeking funding to give their passion a future often throw their heart over the hurdle and do not stop to think about the role various organisations play in the sports marketing market.
We at RTR Sports are consultants for companies that want to use sport as a communication tool. Since 1995 — over 30 years of activity — we position ourselves as business consultants: the starting point of our action is the company itself, with its marketing objectives, its business goals, its target market and its vision for the future.
Below we outline the three key differences between sponsor search and sports marketing consulting, with the aim of giving a clearer picture of the industry landscape:
- Starting point of the marketing action
- Objectives of the marketing action
- Skills and roles of the marketing practitioner
1. Starting point of the marketing action
The first distinction between sponsorship research and corporate sports marketing consulting is the point from which the marketing action begins — the point where the process is triggered.
In the case of seeking sports sponsorship, the starting point is the team, the squad or the sports organisation — we generically call these “sports properties”. They are the ones who, at different moments in their journey and career, find themselves in the position of needing to find a sponsor and, more prosaically, find funds to continue (or start) their activity. Sports sponsorship search therefore starts from within the property and heads outward to the world of potential funders, sponsors and companies.
On the contrary, the starting point of sports marketing consulting is the company itself. It too has a need and, within its business journey, requires marketing tools to grow and prosper. In sports marketing, the effort moves from the company toward the world of sports properties, guided by consulting expertise.
It is easy to see, therefore, how the two actions move on the same trajectory but in opposite directions.
2. Objectives of the marketing action
Let us consider what the objectives of sponsorship research and those of sports marketing consulting are in essence.
In the first case, the argument is only superficially simple. Why is a sponsor sought? The pragmatic answer is: because resources are needed to finance the activity, whether that is a MotoGP season or a cycling tour across Africa. However, as commercial teams know well, the matter is far more complex than that: finding sponsors is a difficult operation requiring, beyond deep product knowledge, careful planning and disciplined execution. Guarantees on the exclusivity of the product sector, the division of marketing benefits, sponsorship programme management and sponsor portfolio balance are just some of the countless nuances involved.
By contrast, corporate sports marketing consulting does not aim to raise money, but to build a marketing path that enables the company to achieve its business and communication objectives. This is the mission of RTR Sports: to advise companies that want to use sport to communicate.
More specifically, what marketing and communication objectives can a company achieve through sport? The answers are many: from increased brand awareness to market repositioning, from reaching new audiences to launching new products, from B2B business development to improving brand perception. Often, however, the ultimate corporate goal comes down to one concept: increased sales.
What is the role of sports marketing consulting in all this? To give the company a complete picture of the landscape, backed by data, expertise and market knowledge. A sports marketing consultant helps the company evaluate sponsorship proposals objectively, based on thorough analysis and avoiding gut-feel decisions. They also help design a plan of activation and monitoring actions to ensure the sponsorship delivers its best possible results.
3. Skills and roles of the marketing practitioner
Given the premises above, it is easy to understand why the roles of those who search for sponsors and those who provide sponsorship consulting are fundamentally different.
On one side stands someone who must necessarily be “inside” the sports property: a manager, a sales team or the athlete themselves. They know their product inside out and are equipped with the sales tools and knowledge about the marketing benefits their team can offer companies. They move primarily in search of revenue, “selling” these marketing benefits to anyone who can purchase them.
By contrast, the sports marketing consultant is not a salesperson. They effectively become an internal figure within corporate marketing, building a path and offering solutions in line with the company’s marketing and business objectives. They do not need to know one single sports property inside out, but must have a very clear picture of the sports market as a whole. The fundamental purpose of a sports marketing agency like RTR Sports is not simply to close a sponsorship deal, but to ensure it is the best possible sponsorship deal.
Football or motorsport? Within motorsport, Moto3 or MotoGP? A rider or a team? Among teams, a front-runner or a midfield team offering outstanding sponsor support? These are deliberately simple examples, but they communicate how many paths and choices must be navigated. Addressing all of these processes requires not only deep expertise, but an extensive network and thorough knowledge of the players in the sports industry.
Unlike those who “sell” sponsorships within a property, the consultant has no obligation to propose any particular team or athlete, but can — from an independent position — offer a range of different solutions, always free to give the advice they believe is best.
In conclusion
Sponsorship search and sponsorship consulting are two adjacent but fundamentally different disciplines. Although their ultimate goal is the same — building a long-lasting sponsorship project that benefits both parties — their starting points, specific objectives and required skills are quite different.
RTR Sports does not offer sponsor search services, but sports marketing consulting: since 1995 we have been alongside companies that want to use sport — particularly MotoGP and motorsport — as an effective communication tool. Contact us to find out how to build the sponsorship programme best suited to your objectives.
Sponsor search starts from the sports property (team or athlete) that needs funding and looks for companies willing to pay. Sports marketing consulting starts from the company, which wants to use sport as a communication tool and needs an independent expert to guide its choice of property and sponsorship programme. The two services operate on the same trajectory but in opposite directions.
No. RTR Sports is a sports marketing consulting agency: it works exclusively with companies that want to invest in sports sponsorships, guiding them in choosing the right property, evaluating proposals and building the sponsorship programme. It does not carry out sponsor brokering on behalf of teams or athletes.
A sports marketing consultant analyses the company's business and communication objectives, evaluates sponsorship proposals objectively, defines the activation strategy and monitors results. Unlike a sponsorship broker — who sells space within a single property — the consultant finds the best solution across the entire market, free from conflicts of interest.
A good proposal should be assessed on at least three levels: alignment between the property's audience and the company's target market, match between the marketing benefits offered and the communication objectives, and expected return on investment. An independent consultant can conduct this analysis without being tied to proposing any specific property.
Sports sponsorships support very different objectives: brand awareness, market repositioning, reaching new audiences, B2B business development, product launches and hospitality activations. The choice of sport, property and sponsorship level depends on the company's priority objective and is defined during the strategic consulting phase.
