What is the event sponsorship package?
An event sponsorship package, or sponsorship package, is a set of marketing services and benefits that the event organizer offers to potential sponsors. This usually involves different levels of sponsorship, each with its own benefits and designed for different sizes and budgets.
How do I prepare sponsorship packages for events?
Sponsorships have always been an important source of income for events.
But with so much competition for audience attention, it’s important to demonstrate that you offer competitive and valuable in-person, virtual, and hybrid event sponsorship packages.
This means that you consider what goals your event sponsors can achieve by supporting your event, including:
- Promote and spread awareness of a new product launch.
- Reach a new target audience.
- Build brand awareness with existing audiences.
- Building relationships and interacting with the relevant community
- Reposition a stagnant brand
- Linking the brand with social responsibility (CSR) initiatives
Benefits of sponsorship packages
Event sponsorship benefits all stakeholders: organizers, organizations, sponsors, and participants. Here are the main benefits of sponsors and organizations for your information.
Sponsors:
- Increase ROI: Instead of spending millions on advertising, event sponsorship can be profitable for companies and businesses at a fraction of the cost. Sponsors get a great return on their investment by attending your events.
- Audience Exposure: Reaching and connecting with new audiences is an opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition for your target customers. It also allows sponsors to foster relationships with them and existing patrons attending the event.
- Increased Credibility: Exposure can be rewarding, but gaining respect and recognition is far more valuable. Event sponsorship is a great way to gain respect and build credibility by building positive public relations.
- Maximum Brand Exposure: Sponsorship offers wider visibility and brand awareness than advertising that only reaches a limited audience. And it increases brand awareness by adding the company name and products to events.
- Branding: Sponsorship opportunities are a great way to build your brand. Sponsors can create a good image and send a positive message about their brand through sponsorship.
- Community Involvement: Sponsorship is one of the most powerful ways to give back to the community.
Organizations:
- Multiple sources of funding: This is the main reason why organizers look for event sponsors. Sponsorship helps an organization reduce costs that it would have otherwise incurred. If one sponsorship falls apart, another sponsorship can supplement the lost funds. It is recommended to take corporate and large companies as sponsors because they are the most stable and strongest in sponsorship.
- Financial Support: Having sponsorship packages helps event organizers manage expenses. It contributes greatly to the funds and provides them with a sense of support, allowing them to execute a high-profile event effectively.
- Credibility and Reputation: High-profile sponsors and exciting packages enhance the event’s credibility and uplift its reputation as well, making it more appealing to potential attendees and other sponsors.
- Partnerships and Relationship Building: Connecting with a number of ideal sponsors and companies can lead to building new relationships and long-term partnerships. Organizations can leverage these relationships for future partnerships and collaborations.
- Broader audience and brand exposure: Sponsors and sponsorship packages attract a multitude of prospective clients, expanding brand awareness as sponsor companies and their audiences become acquainted with your brand. This not only strengthens the brand identity but also facilitates outreach to a broader audience.
The best ideas for increasing event sponsorship income are:
- Invite a company without an inquiry: This requires some thought, but before asking for a sponsor, invite the company to the event for free. It may take more than a year to ask, but the opportunity to farm is worth it. Publish an event; get a note from your point of contact and a picture of company participants.
- Promote the sponsor’s social media channels during the event: Send an email to all guests upon check-in thanking the sponsor and providing quick links or “like” options to instantly follow the sponsor’s Facebook or Twitter channel. Report additional fans or followers at the end of the event.
- Offer all event guests a sponsorship offer during the event to refer your guests to their business: This could include a coupon or small gift sent to guests via email or text message during the event, preferably right before the event is announced.
- Include the name of the event sponsor in the web page tag of your event website: This is the title that appears in the tab at the top of the browser and the label used when sharing the web page on social media. The website ID ensures maximum visibility for the sponsor of the presentation event.
- Create a Facebook header image that includes sponsor logos: Give the event sponsor this location and a certain number of Facebook accounts that will make their header image with this estimated reach. Those who should change their header image are the staff, board, event committee, and/or organization’s clients.
- Include a signature sponsor brand during the event: Add the color or brand of your presenting sponsors to your event. This can be as bold as using a corporate sponsor’s brand color in the event information or choosing a custom shirt color or table centerpiece that includes that color.
- Use an event sponsor brand in the center of the table. This valuable and visible element is often overlooked as a strategic element. For sponsors, consider adding your brand to the center of the table. This can be a simple and beautiful way to incorporate their brand color into the layout.
What should the sponsorship package include?
There are many ways to create a sponsorship package! You can use one of two models when making a decision.
There are two most common ways to create event sponsorship packages:
- Multi-level sponsorship model. This is a traditional approach where event sponsorship packages offer different features depending on the level of sponsorship.
- A la carte sponsorship model. This approach is typically used to serve sponsors with specific needs or goals; the ability to tailor an event sponsorship package is key.
Regardless of your model, each sponsorship package must include:
- Information about the event, such as the schedule, date, and expected number of participants
- The organization’s information and details include its vision, mission, values, and objectives.
- Sponsorship details, including benefits and pricing.
Which companies should you contact?
When you’re just starting out, the choices can be daunting. However, the reputation of potential sponsors and their vision for events will determine the type of relationship you have and even the overall success of your event.
- Sponsors who understand the value of this type of marketing Whether they have sponsored an event before or not, you need to convince them that the investment is worth it.
- Sponsors whose audience matches your target audience in terms of both target audience and interests It is impossible to completely align with one brand, but you can certainly pick key areas that deserve to be highlighted during the event and join sponsors who share them.
- Sponsors focused on the ROI of the event: vanity sponsors want to add their name to the event and call it a day. However, to get the most out of a partnership, it’s worth reaching out to companies that understand it’s a two-way street.
8 ideas for sponsoring virtual events
1. Marked premises
This is one of the most obvious ways to get a sponsor involved. You can have a logo or brand message on splash screens, virtual meeting rooms, event waiting rooms, and event backdrops. Strategic branding plays a crucial role in enhancing sponsors’ visibility. Virtual booths are a particularly exciting type of space; the sponsor can create their own unique space.
2. Sponsored entertainment
A very effective virtual event sponsorship is the provision of entertainment, where the sponsor provides a live musician or entertainer, adding energy to your event and providing a memorable marketing opportunity.
3. Gamification
Games are always an excellent way to make your event exciting and engaging. It can also serve as a valuable source of engagement data for both you and your sponsors. There are many virtual event platforms that also support gamification features, allowing you to host various quizzes, polls, and challenges. These can test participants understanding of event topics or serve as icebreakers to engage the audience, guests, and sponsors.
4. Sponsored topics
Going back to the sponsored CSR message idea, your sponsor can be asked to come up with a theme or message to hang your event, from a full event to a Q&A theme or webinar. For big topics, the topic can be something related to the industry and close to the sponsor’s heart or something brand-related. Nevertheless, it doesn’t have to be overly formal or serious. Your theme can be based on a season (like a company winter party), a color (something from your sponsor’s brand), or networks related to the theme.
5. Sponsored sessions
Following both per-card sponsorship and the theme networking model, sponsors can be responsible for performance at sessions (“within an event”) of your larger event, such as small group rooms, live demos and workshops, and other brand activities. They allow sponsors to secure their place in the public eye as leaders in their field. It can also be an opportunity for a virtual event sponsor with a limited budget or limited enthusiasm to participate and/or test the waters at your event.
6. Special packages
Along with the card and tiered sponsorships, you can create virtual event sponsorship packages tailored directly to the sponsor’s core business or interests. For example, a mobile brand may want a sponsorship package tied directly to your mobile event app.
7. Including marketing
In the other direction (although also in the case of multi-level sponsorship), you can define your sponsorship package according to what valuable features it contains for the sponsor. Adding to that, you can make the sponsorship package more attractive by pricing it at a discount instead. pay for each service separately.
8. Sponsored giveaways
Everyone likes treasures. An effective way to connect with your audience is through a physical element, such as giveaways or prizes. Your sponsors can easily offer and brand them. Just like in real life, gifts for virtual attendees can range from clothing (hats to T-shirts), gift baskets, or gift cards delivered before or after the actual event.
