How do you integrate event sponsors into your marketing and communication strategy?

Having a clear understanding of your goals, your audience, and their needs makes it easier to pitch your event to sponsors. When talking to them, focus on what's in it for them by showing that your goals, and market needs are in alignment with theirs. Show that your engaged audience have a vested interest in their product or service. This should be part of your research.

Creating a sponsor prospectus is an essential part of securing sponsors for your event. It's a document that outlines the benefits of sponsoring your event, the different sponsorship levels available, and the associated costs. Here are the steps to create a sponsor prospectus:

Identify your event goals and objectives: Before you start creating your sponsor prospectus, define your event's goals and objectives. This will help you understand what type of sponsors you need and what benefits you can offer them. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might offer sponsorship opportunities that include logo placement on promotional materials.

Determine sponsorship levels: Create different sponsorship levels based on the benefits you can offer and the associated costs. Make sure to include a range of options to cater to different sponsor budgets. For example, you could offer a Platinum, Gold, and Silver sponsorship level.

Outline sponsorship benefits: List out the benefits of sponsoring your event for each sponsorship level. This could include branding opportunities, speaking opportunities, product placement, and more. Make sure to be specific about what sponsors can expect to receive at each level.

Include event details: Include all the essential details about your event, such as the date, time, location, and target audience. This will help sponsors understand the context of your event and determine if it's a good fit for their brand.

As event planners, securing sponsors for our events is crucial to ensure success. Sponsors provide valuable resources, exposure, and credibility, but it's essential to integrate them into our marketing and communication strategy effectively. By doing so, we can create a mutually beneficial partnership.

Leveraging the networks, audiences, and reach of sponsor partners is a key factor in maximizing and extracting the most value out of the mutually beneficial relationship. Beyond events, creating value added content in partnership with sponsors is a clever way to use “influencer” marketing without shelling out huge marketing expenditures. Using organic promotion to share the partner content from both sides, will garner value add for your audiences and build trust.

Provide speaking opportunities: Offer your sponsors speaking opportunities at the event. This could include hosting a sponsored session or panel discussion. This will not only provide valuable exposure for your sponsor but also add value to your event by providing additional educational content.

Offer onsite branding opportunities: Make sure your sponsors are visible and prominent at the event. Feature their branding on banners, signage, and any promotional materials. You could also consider offering branded merchandise, such as tote bags or water bottles, featuring your sponsor's logo. Additionally, you could offer sponsor booths or tables where they can engage with attendees and showcase their products or services.

I have a wide experience in the events organization And, there are 3 types 1.- General events, organized for an Private Entity, If you are 1 out of 15-20 sponsors. 2.- Your company organizes its own and exclusive event. You have to assume the entire cost, but your brand is going to be the only one in the focus of the attendants (qualified leads) 3.- Your company organizes its own event but invite some sponsors which have the same target as you. This is the most complicated option but I thinks is the most profitable one. The impact is nearly the same as if you were the only, but you share the expenses and, above all, your sponsors can bring to the event some interesting customers you don′t have still reached

Highlight sponsors in your promotional materials: Promote your sponsors on all your marketing channels, including your event website, social media, and email newsletters. Feature your sponsors prominently, and provide links to their websites and social media accounts. You could also create teaser videos or posts featuring your sponsors to generate buzz and excitement among your attendees.

Follow-up with post-event promotion: Don't forget about your sponsors once the event is over. Make sure to thank them publicly and include them in your post-event communications, such as your event recap blog post or email newsletter. You could also share photos and videos from the event on social media and tag your sponsors. This will help to keep your sponsors top of mind and demonstrate the impact of their investment.

Measure the success of your sponsor-related activities: After the event, measure the success of your sponsor-related activities by analyzing metrics such as social media engagement, website traffic, and attendance. Use these metrics to determine what worked well and what you can improve on for future events. By following these tips, you can create a successful partnership with your sponsors that benefits both parties. Remember, it's essential to set clear expectations, promote your sponsors through all your marketing channels, provide onsite branding opportunities, offer speaking opportunities, follow-up with post-event promotion, and measure the success of your sponsor-related activities.

And, when the event has already finished, you can create a "Community" including attendees, sponsors and speakers. So that you can keep in contact with all of them and to push them to create valuable content. This option can rocekt your brand awareness and it is clearly a win win iniciative for the 3 actors I have just mentioned