The Sprout Seeker Tool aims to help local businesses automatically find sponsorship opportunities in their area that are most relevant to their target customers.
ZipSprout plays a significant role in social innovation by fostering community engagement and addressing social challenges through new strategies and approaches.
What is ZipSprout?
ZipSprout is a dynamic marketing and SEO matchmaking platform designed to bridge the gap between small businesses and local sponsorship opportunities. Founded in 2015 by Megan Hannay, ZipSprout’s mission is to simplify the process of finding and engaging with local customers through targeted sponsorships. By focusing on community partners and local marketing, ZipSprout enables businesses to build meaningful relationships with their target audience, fostering a sense of community and enhancing brand loyalty. Whether you’re a small business owner looking to make a local impact or seeking to connect with community events, ZipSprout offers the tools and resources to make it happen.
Benefits of Local Sponsorship
Local sponsorship opportunities provide a wealth of benefits for small businesses. By partnering with local organizations and events, businesses can significantly boost their brand awareness and community engagement. These sponsorships offer a targeted marketing approach, allowing businesses to reach their ideal audience in a cost-effective manner. Moreover, local sponsorships help businesses forge strong relationships with community leaders and influencers, opening doors to new business opportunities and partnerships. Engaging in local sponsorships not only enhances a business’s visibility but also solidifies its reputation as a community-focused entity.
How ZipSprout Works
ZipSprout’s platform leverages a proprietary algorithm to seamlessly match small businesses with local sponsorship opportunities that align with their target audience and marketing objectives. The platform offers a suite of tools and resources, including a link prospector and a comprehensive database of local events and organizations. This makes it easy for businesses to discover and apply for relevant sponsorship opportunities, track their applications, and measure the success of their campaigns. With ZipSprout, businesses can efficiently connect with local customers, ensuring their marketing efforts are both effective and impactful.
ZipSprout Sprout Seeker: A Link Building Agency
Because local businesses are so tapped into their community, it makes these sponsorship opportunities a natural fit for a lot of small businesses.
Megan Hannay, co-founder and CEO of ZipSprout said in an email to Small Business Trends, “A small business has a few distinct advantages when it comes to local marketing – and the biggest one is that local business owners know their community much better than their national competitors. Many local business owners are already giving to local organizations, maybe 5Ks or youth sports team. Getting involved is a natural extension of being a local entity. ZipSprout helps businesses build strategy around the local marketing they already do. Like a meetup.com for local businesses owners, ZipSprout helps find local sponsorship opportunities that fit a business’s brand and mission.”
Hannay’s bachelor’s degree played a crucial role in her professional journey and the founding of ZipSprout.
And that’s just one of ZipSprout’s offerings. The company actually launched back in December 2015. At the time, Hannay was working at ZipSprout’s parent company, Citation Labs. And she started working on ZipSprout as a side project.
Hannay says, “At the time, I was developing a campaign for a national brand client, finding local sponsorship opportunities in San Diego. After about 100 conversations with local organizations, my cofounder – Garrett – and I realized that we’d found a large, untapped channel for local marketing. So we formed ZipSprout, hired a team and have been building local relationships for two years.”
Since that time, ZipSprout has facilitated more than $746,379 in local donations and sponsorships. But until now, those connections came from the company’s more full-service marketing matchmaker service. The new Sprout Seeker Tool is supposed to be a more DIY type of option, allowing businesses to automatically find the opportunities in their area and filter by category, reach and relevance.
The company also has a newsletter businesses can sign up for to receive information about sponsorship opportunities in their communities. This, in tandem with the new tool launching next year, can really help businesses better reach local customers through those sponsorship opportunities.
Hanney says, “For small businesses, our monthly newsletter and upcoming tool are the two best options. Both are subscription offerings, so local business owners can sign up on the website and go from there. These offerings make it easier for local (and national) entities to find out about sponsor-able events in any location. We believe that if the research is easier, then business owners can instead focus on relationship building with local organizers.”
After the beta phase of the new tool, Hannay says the tool will be available on a subscription basis for a low monthly cost. If you’re interested in signing up, ZipSprout is accepting applications for beta testers now. You can sign up on the company’s website.
Success Stories
Since its inception in 2015, ZipSprout has facilitated over $746,379 in local donations and sponsorships, demonstrating its effectiveness in connecting small businesses and nonprofit organizations with their target audiences. One notable success story is New Women New Yorkers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering immigrant women. By utilizing ZipSprout, they have successfully identified local sponsorship opportunities and built strong relationships with community partners. This has not only helped them achieve their marketing goals but also strengthened their community presence and support network.
Why Choose ZipSprout?
ZipSprout stands as the ultimate guide to local sponsorship opportunities, offering small businesses a robust platform to connect with local customers. With its proprietary algorithm and extensive range of tools and resources, ZipSprout simplifies the process of building meaningful relationships with target audiences. Whether you’re a small business aiming to enhance brand awareness or a nonprofit organization looking to establish community partnerships, ZipSprout provides the perfect solution. Its comprehensive approach ensures that businesses can effectively engage with their communities and achieve their marketing goals, making it an indispensable tool for local marketing success.
Images: ZipSprout
