It's always important to consider what sponsors might be looking for in sponsoring your event – before you list on EventSponsors or send out a sponsorship proposal. Sponsors are often looking to increase brand awareness and / or engagement but there's a host of other reasons sponsors may want to align their brand with your event.
Ultimately, knowing this upfront, will help you increase your event revenue. You can appeal to the needs of your particular sponsor by addressing these benefits upfront in the sponsorship proposal.
Here's three key motivations for sponsors:
1. To increase awareness
Your potential sponsor could be new to market and wants to create some hype about their exciting opening or they might be already in market and wanting to test or introduce a new product. Either way, event sponsorship is a perfect way to provide sampling and testing opportunities. What's more, for online businesses, it gives sponsors a chance to appear offline and be front and centre with potential new customers. There's a whole host of opportunities you can provide a sponsor both online through social and digital as well as through the live event experience.
2. To increase market share
While being community minded is always a nice sponsorship objective, let's face it, ultimately every business wants to increase their market share. A brand can go about this a multitude of ways but sponsorship is a bona fide opportunity to really put your money where your mouth is and support the local community. Research shows a positive intent by consumers to support businesses that support local charities, events and organisations. What's more, a businesses' efforts are seen to be socially responsible when the event being sponsored is associated with a cause. Giving back pays dividends but more so when it also positively impacts your market share.
3. To improve brand perception
Sponsorship has experience somewhat of a renaissance in recent years with the explosion of social media influencers attracting colossal corporate dollars. Everyone seems to understand the marketing discipline better. While it seems commonplace, sponsorship is still a very considered decision for business. It's even more powerful for businesses and brands who have suffered public scrutiny and need to improve their brand image. To reverse the damage or to reinforce a positive brand image, sponsorship effort needs to be authentic. The more you can assist a sponsor in truly connecting with your target market, the more long-term your partnership will be.
A sponsorship managers' decision involves weighing up your target audience; your number of followers or attendance figures; the ability to self and cross-promote and the assets available to do it, as well as how the event can positively impact brand perception. It's worth keeping these business objectives in mind when you search for sponsors.
For more on how to attract and retain sponsors, check back in with us for our monthly blog, or follow us on social. Special keynote presentations, live or virtual, are also available upon request.
