Top 5 Sponsorship Strategies You Need to Implement Before Your Next Event

Sponsorship management has never been more important than it is right now. Organizers are being tasked to offset some, if not all, of the cost of an event with sponsorship revenue. Brand partners are demanding a deeper level of engagement with event participants and those participants want more meaningful interaction. Your brand partners are looking to connect with potential customers through memorable experiences, so before your next event, make sure you’ve nailed down these five strategies:

Change your focus from transactional to engaging. Times have changed. It’s time to direct your focus away from selling one-off assets for various conferences and events and start looking at sponsorships more strategically. To create an engaging event, your first step should be to strategize with your brand partners. Ask them what their goals and objectives are and collaboratively create opportunities that meet them. Start with the partners currently driving the most revenue and a few of the ones that could be but aren’t. For your top-tier partners, create packages that include a variety of assets in order to give them year-round exposure while also offering the flexibility to spread out costs. We aren't suggesting to move to a 100% experiential model, that wouldn't make sense, there will always be sponsors that want to buy that way and transactional assets that need their costs covered. Just take baby steps towards incorporating experiential.

Offer opportunities that make a difference. It is easy to go through your event schedule or venue tagging aspects that could be monetized (general session, meal functions, lanyards, etc.), but brand partners are looking for more. Put yourself in their shoes. If you’ve followed step 1 (above), you’ve already asked your brand partners what they need, so it should be easy. Create opportunities for brand partners and participants to engage with each other, and everyone wins. For example, if your brand partner wants to be seen as a thought leader, is there a white paper or research that they can sponsor and co-present? If it’s a digital presence they are looking for, can they sponsor the Social Media walls and create a Twitter contest.

Find new ideas. Brand partners are looking to set themselves apart, so coming up with new ideas is vital. Look outside of your industry to get fresh ideas while keeping your organization’s culture in mind. Keep a close eye on what B2C companies are doing—they have been creating sponsorship experiences far longer than B2B companies have.

Create a benchmark in your pricing structure. The more money a brand partner spends, the more customized experience you should be offering. For a partner that doesn’t spend a lot, create a turnkey opportunity. My rule of thumb is to increase pricing every five years, but if you see opportunity to increase a partner’s exposure, don’t be afraid to add levels to your sponsorship packages each year.

Measure. Measure. Measure. Don’t skimp on measurement tactics—your brand partners will thank you. Send out a formal survey asking your brand partners specific questions about satisfaction, traffic, expected leads vs. actual, etc. Go the extra mile and conduct focus groups to get more candid feedback. But, above all, treat each brand partner like they are your only customer and show them appreciation—walk the floor, greet them with a smile, ask them questions and let them know that you are available if they need anything.