5 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT EVENT SPONSORSHIP
Have you thought about sponsorship for your event?
I have been very lucky to work alongside Carly Faragher – an Event Sponsorship expert on an event sponsorship campaign. We've been working on creating sponsorship opportunities for prospects for an event, which has been really exciting and highly enlightening. Because event sponsorship is a valuable addition my toolbox it's really been interesting to identify the scope of what is required in order to get event sponsorship.
As this is a learning process for me, here are some things I have learned so far...
5 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT EVENT SPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship Isn’t Always About The Money
Despite what most people think, sponsorship is not always about money. There are many other opportunities for sponsorship that can reduce costs. A few ideas that you can source sponsorship for are:
Venue - We're able to get sponsored by the venue.
Goodie Bags - we could get sponsored for the goodie bags themselves and for all the items in the goodie bags.
Media and Marketing – It’s possible to organise a contra deal with media partners or marketing teams.
Speakers - people who speak at your event or event the MC.
The above ideas highlight that it's not always about being sponsored for money. It can be about being sponsored for alternative things that will help you to reduce costs, not necessarily increase your revenue.
Sponsorship Must Be Tailored To Fulfil The Needs Of The Sponsor
Sponsorship can be tailored for the individual. Thinking outside the box and coming up with great ideas on creating opportunities in order to be able to tailor a win/win situation for a potential sponsor. Here, it’s really important to be able to have open conversations and really delve into what a potential sponsor needs and what they're looking for in their business. Is it brand awareness, an opportunity to share their story or an opportunity to collaborate with the delegates at the event? Really understanding what the business that's going to be sponsoring your event needs enable us to tailor the sponsorship agreement to the individual organisation.
Numbers Matter: Media Reach, Social Media Reach, Attendance, Growth Over Time
Numbers really do matter. So when we're talking sponsorship, people want to know the numbers at a glance.
What is your media reach?
What is your social media reach?
What are the amount of delegates that are going to be at the event?
What's been your growth?
How long are you looking to continue running this event for? (Because sponsorship can potentially be an ongoing year by year sponsorship rather than just a single event.)
Numbers are really important and help to create a compelling opportunity for a potential sponsor.
It Is A Long Game: Source Opportunity, Build Relationships, Create Win/Win Outcomes
Sponsorship is a long game. It is a long game because we need to; source the leads, build those relationships, understand what's needed and then create a win, win opportunity for the sponsor and also for the event organiser or the business that is being sponsored. Allowing time to invest in the relationship building is really important.
Keeping Score: Using A CRM Or A Pipeline To Keep On Track
Having a CRM, having a pipeline, tracking your progress and understanding the people in your pipeline is the key to success. Knowing when you contacted your prospect, when to follow them up and being diligent in your keeping score will enable you to continue communication over time.
Final Words
Please share your experience. I'd love to hear some of your experiences and your stories around sponsorship for events, how this has worked, how this might not have worked, and what creative ideas you've come up with in the past in order to get your events sponsored.
Thank you so much for your time and let's continue this Eventologist journey and keep building our businesses and creating a community of leaders one successful event at a time.
