Sponsoring a community is easier than launching one, but it takes you in the opposite direction.
It would take less than a week to find the top few communities in your industry and agree a sponsorship deal. The outcome, though, is very different.
Building a community cultivates loyal fans who recruit others and forces your business into a customer-orientated mindset. Your community has unlimited potential.
Sponsoring a community is the opposite of building one. You pay to get your name in front of people who might be interested. There is a finite limit on your return. You don’t cultivate loyal fans, you don’t develop a customer-orientated mindset and you don’t get the feedback you get from a community.
If you want to sponsor a community, that’s fine. It gets your name in front of the right people. But it’s not even close to building one.