As an event organiser, you’ll likely agree that securing sponsorship for your event isn’t the easiest of tasks, especially when you consider the competitiveness of it all. Today’s organiser faces endless challenges when it comes to selling tickets, managing budgets, reaching new attendees and getting sponsors on board.
Finding and securing sponsors remains a big challenge for Event professionals with 90% of organisers maintaining that securing sponsors is their second biggest challenge (Source; The State of Conferences and Corporate Events in 2018: Challenges and Trends – Eventbrite).
We all know how it goes, you spend plenty time and effort spinning multiple plates to deliver a successful event where your delegates enjoy their experience and engage with the content, but what if you can’t secure sponsors to even make the event viable?
Cue the stress…
It’s often said that failure to secure sponsors can be attributed to ineffective approaches that mainly focus on the organisers needs rather than those of their potential sponsors.
As an organiser, it’s up to you to ensure your goals are aligned to that of your sponsors. You need to make sure they fit with your audience and your event. So, defining your audience and showing the potential sponsor that the audience at your event are their target customers is the starting point.
It goes without saying that it is crucial for you to position your organisation as the right partner, who deliver exactly what is promised and not leave sponsors ‘burned’ by over-hyping aspects of the event. Ultimately, the aim is to understand their needs and to deliver what you promise so you maintain happy sponsors that will continue doing business with you long after the event is done.
Here are 6 ways you can attract event sponsors
1. Define your audience
Make sure that they match with the target audience your potential sponsors want. It is key to align your goals with the sponsors and to really understand their business needs.
2. Do your research
Invest time and effort in researching your potential sponsors so you can tailor your sponsorship offering to suit their business objectives and requirements. Think about their branding, positioning and products. Keep up-to-date with their social channels to see if there is anything noteworthy happening and use it when creating a proposal to show how your event can benefit them.
3. Stand out with a ‘winning’ event sponsorship proposal
Push your USP and tell your company story. Outline your company values and mission, how your event differentiates from others, key characteristics of your audience and define how much funding you need, be specific.
4. Give them more bang for their buck
Be creative and offer out of the box incentives in your sponsorship packages that make your sponsors shine like speaking opportunities, exhibition stand, guest blog opportunities and hospitality such as VIP tickets and reserved seating. Think of innovative ways to create memorable and shareable moments that allow them to show their brand.
5. Offer an enhanced and unique experience
Mounting costs can be a deterrent to some sponsors, so present them with something that offers cost savings, value and convenience. Have creative, open and uniform exhibitor areas that encourage networking to maximise real ROI for your sponsors.
With Conference Expo’s prescribed stand package solution, sponsors benefit from an enhanced presence with high impact graphics that compliment their messaging, value from the lost cost alternative compared to arranging their own displays and convenience with a fully managed service where they can just ‘turn up and go’.
It’s another thing that sweetens the deal; helping you further secure sponsorship for your event.
