Sponsorship dollars.
They’re the lifeblood of business events.
Without the funds given by sponsors, you can face challenges when it comes to inviting keynote speakers, managing event logistics, providing booth space, etc. In the era of tight budgets, money needs to be raised to cover these expenses.
But finding sponsors and keeping them happy is easier said than done. While putting a sponsor’s logo on the event banner may have been adequate in the past, sponsors today expect digital brand integration and different kinds of acknowledgment from event hosts.
What Can You Do?
Without the right incentives, you may not be able to develop a strong relationship with potential sponsors, which would limit your ability to bring them on board for future business events. So how do you keep sponsors happy? Here are some helpful tips.
1. Offer The Incentive Of Real-Time Engagement
Live engagement marketing by DoubleDutch is allowing companies to bring the power of digital to live events. SMEs and large corporations have the option to utilize the advancement of this technology to digitize their events at every stage to empower sponsors to better energize, evangelize, monetize and optimize business events to optimize the ROI on their spend. Companies can utilize live engagement platforms to provide sponsors with a comprehensive set of performance metrics, integrations, and applications that give them control across the event. The rich data stream created by such platforms and event apps will enrich the sponsor’s experience.
2. Show That You Want To Make It Big
When approaching leads to inquire about sponsorships, you need to show them a healthy amount of preplanning. The bigger your plans are, the more interested they’ll be in jumping the bandwagon. Tell them that you expect a solid turnaround at the event, and share any advertisements you’ve done in local/international publications. Show potential sponsors your email lists as well as the numbers you’re expecting for the guest list. Also, you can share your plans about getting the word out, whether it is through press releases, social media, podcasts or a combination of different strategies. You can gain plenty of interested parties once you show that you mean serious business.
3. Engage In Regular Communication
Regular communication is key to making sponsors happy and comfortable. When you show them love on a consistent basis, they feel recognized and acknowledge the extra mile you’re willing to go for them. This can be done by sending images or a video that shows how their funds are being used, or even by walking them through the venue. While doing the latter, you can show them the floor plan, and how they’ll have multiple opportunities to connect and engage with the exhibitors at the event.
4. Co-Create Event Materials
Co-creation will show the sponsors that you’re willing to include some of their branding and thoughts into your event collateral. For instance, the company hosting the event can work together with premium sponsors to create an overall theme or select the areas which they want the keynote speakers to address. Sponsors will be eternally grateful if they’re able to gain customers through a live case study or competition that they co-created. When going down this route, reiterate the notion that you’re interested in letting them show their creativity.
By taking these measures, you’ll be able to keep sponsors satisfied, which in turn would boost your event’s bottom line.
