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For many event managers, sponsors are a major source of income. They either make your event profitable or force you to invest even more in it. With all due respect to your experience in the event industry, you still have to admit that finding and winning really good sponsors is a little-understood area of our professional field today. But there are 3 steps that will help.
Step 1: Find the Right Sponsor
Before you begin your search for your ideal sponsor, you need to know what they even look like. To do this, you first need to decide why you’re hosting the event. If, for example, you’re organizing a conference for technical professionals who focus on environmental issues, the purpose of your event – to inspire visitors to innovate in the field of environmental conservation.
Once you’ve decided on a vision for your event, you should find a sponsor who shares that vision.
Another way to understand your event’s main objectives is to analyze its audience from a demographic and psychological perspective. To do this, it is worth researching those who have already signed up for your event or have attended it in the past. This data will help you find a sponsor that will be of interest to your attendees based on their age or occupation.
Step 2: Interest a Potential Sponsor
Once you’ve identified your ideal sponsors, it’s time to master the art of cold pitching. Find the decision makers in the marketing and PR departments of those companies. Send them a short email asking for a few minutes for a phone call. To whet their appetite, give them some interesting information.
After you’ve spoken to the representative, you need to gather even more data. They need to confirm your initial information that the sponsorship will be beneficial to both parties. It is best if you come to the meeting with a plan already prepared that spells out how you are going to promote the sponsor before, during and after the event.
Step 3: Keep your sponsor
The most valuable sponsors are the ones that stay with you for the long haul. That’s why it’s important to maintain a relationship with them even after your event has taken place. Eventually, you will probably want that company to sponsor you again.
The best way to do that is to involve that sponsor in the event planning process and provide them with a summary of your past event. During the event, check in with the plan you made together. Don’t be shy about feedback from the sponsor either.
After the event, compile a report with key metrics you can use to gauge the value of the sponsor’s involvement with your event. This could be the number of people that visited their page from your site, for example. Include the sponsor’s potential sales figures as well, tying them in with demographic information about visitors.
