Posted On Oct 22, 2022

As a corporate event planner, you may have big ideas for your event but not necessarily the budget to facilitate them. Event sponsorship is the key to turning your vision into a reality. It can open up opportunities to increase sales and profits. For brands, event sponsorship can help their companies build awareness and increase leads. In fact, according to Nielsen research, sponsorships drive a 10% increase in purchase intent among exposed audiences.

However, soliciting event sponsors can be daunting. Fortunately, there are techniques you can use to attract the right sponsors and deliver the results they’re looking for from your event.

4 tips to interest sponsors in your event

It is important to remember that product and service companies need you as much as you need them. You would be surprised at how many brands are willing to invest heavily in your event if you can place them in front of their target audience. The first step is targeting the right sponsors and making sure that your opportunities align with their goals.

The goal of nearly all events is to attract attendees with certain shared interests to one place. The uniformity of this type of audience provides an ideal advertising target for companies seeking opportunities to broaden their reach and exposure. Messaging can be customized to engage the event audience using the common interests and language of the attendees. In fact, 41% of marketers agree that event sponsorship is an effective way to drive business outcomes. As an event planner, you have the opportunity to leverage the unique dynamics of your event to attract major brand sponsorships.

Consider these four tips for attracting the best sponsors to your event:

1. Ensure goals are aligned.

To attract the best sponsors, do your research and only pursue sponsors whose brands and goals align with those of your event. For instance, if your event is focused on healthy living, engaging a fast-food chain as your sponsor may not align well with the event theme and could confuse or alienate attendees. In that situation, partnering with companies that provide exercise equipment or organic food options would be more likely to reinforce event messaging and ensure audience engagement. The luxury of product, service or lifestyle (e.g., athletic, health, leisure) oriented events is that they will typically offer a wide range of potential sponsorship opportunities, as the audience is either composed of consumers or consumer facing companies.

A trickier situation may arise when events are less consumer-driven. For example, in the case of political, social or other cause-driven events, sponsorship opportunities may end up being limited to event attendees, participants or a narrow set of product or service providers that naturally align with the causes showcased at the event. As the event planner, it is important to engage early with event leadership to identify specific categories or types of sponsors that have formally aligned (e.g., donors) or might naturally align (e.g., public supporters of related causes) with the cause(s) showcased at the event.

2. Build a mutually beneficial partnership.

A business partnership should provide value to all parties involved. As part of your initial engagement with potential sponsors, ask them to define their specific sponsorship goals and what measure they would use to define a win. To spur discussion with your potential sponsor, research recent news surrounding their business, new product launches or even industry trends impacting their brand. Include the most powerful points of research in your pitches to them. If your event can help them meet their goals, either partially or fully, the sponsor will be more likely to partner with you.

To close the deal, consider offering them a benefit that is just too good for them to resist. A package including strategically placed digital signs touting their brand throughout the event can incentivize a prospective sponsor to work with you. Consider adjusting your top-tier packages slightly to suit their specific needs. Using a give-and-take approach can alleviate uncertainty and any perceived risk for the sponsor. In the end, with trust as the foundation of the relationship, the sponsor is more likely to welcome the proposal and view it as an exciting opportunity to expand their brand and their business.

3. Leverage data.

Regardless of the financial goals you have as the event planner for your event, sponsors have specific performance outcomes they want to achieve as well. Work closely with prospective sponsors to quantify the win mentioned in the previous section. This could be a number of impressions, social media mentions, leads or some other measurable result. In turn, those specific results should translate into a revenue impact or return on investment, which, if thoughtfully presented, will minimize perceived risk for prospective sponsors.

When drafting your proposals, consider including relevant statistics from prior similar events to demonstrate success for other sponsors. Include the methodology for measuring those statistics and, if possible, feedback from previous sponsors. Although “selling the sizzle” may work for some prospective sponsors, savvy businesses will demand specific results, and you should be prepared to provide both specific performance measures and potential results based on data from previous events. If you don’t have historic data readily available, talk to your sponsorship service partner. And if they are unable to provide relevant data, it might be time to find a new partner.

4. Customize your approach.

Sponsors are unique, and their expectations may vary. Therefore, avoid reaching out with repetitive messages or offering the same packages to all. Personalize each message and tailor your offer to their brand goals and challenges. Customizing your approach, messaging and proposals to show that you took the time to understand the sponsor's needs will make a bigger impact and increase the likelihood that they’ll want to work with you.

Much as events seek to customize attendee engagement to create an unforgettable experience, sponsorship opportunities should offer the same dynamic. As an event planner, you are in the privileged position of being able to convey the unique aspects of your event to sponsors and help them become an integral part of that unique experience. Empowering sponsors to weave their message into the fabric of memories for event attendees will create goodwill and value that lasts long after the event is over.

Rely on experts

When executed well, event sponsorship can be a great revenue generator for corporate events and a great marketing opportunity for brands to build awareness and increase sales. You and your sponsors are ultimately aligned in your pursuits for maximizing revenue, exposure and return on investment from the event. For these reasons, partnering with a full-service event technology partner provides a way to ensure smooth operations. With the right technology infrastructure, planning, orchestration and management, corporate event planners can maximize sponsorship sales across digital touchpoints and optimize audience engagement in a way that delivers the greatest results for sponsors.

Original Post: How to attract companies to sponsor your event