Forget those sponsorship packages! Just tell them what you want and how much you got.

So I know that when a brand gets a sponsorship deck from me, they seem to immediately look for the pricing packages. And many of the publicists that request them are disappointed to find that this is missing.

In fact, if the event producer or magazine includes them in the deck they send to me, I delete those pages.

Why?

Because it is just bad marketing practice. Gold, Platinum, Purple, Pink packages are meaningless because they aren't client focused.

I'm happy to give you a range: $25,000 - $250,000, but even that is meaningless as well.

Here are some steps on how to negotiate an event sponsorship like a professional.

Step One: Define your ROI

What do you want to get out of sponsoring this event? What KPIs do you want to achieve? Have no clue what I'm talking about, let me give you some ideas.

Brand Uplift and Awareness

A majority of my sponsorships with entertainment events (film festivals, music festival, sports championships, pop-culture events) are tagged to this ROI. Generally this is measured in:

• the number of people that attended the event
• number of people that actually engaged with your onsite brand activation
• number of impressions from the media partner (if there is one) pre and post articles, online pictures and stories, and social media posts.
• number of impressions and approximate ad value from press coverage of the event where your logo or brand name was seen or mentioned.
• Any social media posts and estimated impressions where the brand is seen, mentioned or tagged.

Lead Generation

This is more appropriate with consumer facing and B2B event sponsorships. How many leads do you want to generate from this event? What is that specific number? Is it achievable? Let's say you do an event that has 40,000 attendees, how many of those would you guess are a qualified potential customer? What minimum percentage would you say would be a win for your company?

Sales

If you are doing onsite sales, what ratio of sales to your sponsorship fee is a win for you? This is generally expressed 2:1 or 3:1 or even 15: 1 ratios. You really have to define what you consider a success. Are you measuring conversion of the leads generated to sales?

Content Creation

Do you want to use the event to create content for future campaigns? What specific deliverables would you need to accomplish that? Will content capture be included in the sponsorship fee? If not, you will need to factor in the costs of photographers, video crews, and editors. Will the budget come from you integrated marketing, PR, or advertising budget?

Entertaining clients or rewarding employees

Using the event as a sales tool to show your best clients a good time or as a reward for an employee is a great use of the sponsorship. This will also define your asks. Maybe PR or social media aspects of the sponsorship isn't important to you. How many tickets/invites do you need? I've done packages where the brand just had some gobo signage and a large group attending.

Step Two: Figure out your budget

This may be the toughest part is that you might not have been planned for when you did budgeting. Will you need to ask for incremental budget? With your ROI defined above, you should be able to make a case for the request.

You want to define this as a range before you talk to the company selling sponsorship. However, please be aware if that range is very divergent (an example would be giving them a range from $5,000 - $500,000), you'll always be presented with a proposal that shows the highest amount you state.

Also, please note, if you are really way off on what you want vs. what you are willing to pay, you'll probably just piss off the event company for wasting their time.

I've had brands that have asked for a presenting or title sponsorship for an event that cost $150,000 to produce with an offer of $5,000. Seriously. These events don't exist if they aren't profitable. I know many event producers who have no problem cancelling events if they don't reach sponsorship goals.

Don't forget in your budget to add the costs of activating this sponsorship. Travel costs need to be factored in as well. The sponsorship fee doesn't include this.

Generally, the event producer can provide the activation for an additional fee. Most are fine with you bringing in your own experiential agency in as well.

My rule of the thumb for figuring out those costs is that you will spend the same amount you spent on the sponsorship fee.

Your budget will depend on the type of event it is. An a-list Oscar party is going to much more expensive than a regional consumer event. Do your research on Google. Many times you can find news stories mentioning sponsorship fees paid, sponsorship decks from similar events, and other information. Don't be afraid on contacting a colleague who has sponsored a similar event to see how much they paid.

Step Three: Communicate with the event company or producer what you need

This is pretty simple. Here's an example:

I have a $25,000 - $35,000 budget and the minimum deliverables I need are my logo on the red carpet step and repeat, a 10 x 10 space for a custom brand activation inside the venue, and I need sixteen guest invites. I also need the event photography by the next morning with PR and social media rights. I need to be included on all press outreach.

What the event producer or broker will go back and develop a custom proposal for you. If something isn't working, they will let you know. You can then take that, evaluate it, suggest changes, and suggest a different budget if you feel the value vs. cost is not enough.

However, remember that event producers that use sponsorships to cover the event budget work best when each sponsor provides a significant portion of the budget. Your goal is to ensure that there are fewer sponsors if you are providing a bigger dollar spend.

I recently went to an Oscar viewing party that had way too many brands sponsoring (many just product donations). The event, as well-intentioned as it was, looked cheap. I am sure no brand got any ROI from it. If that event had just 3 or less sponsors that covered all the costs and profit, it would have been a much more elegant affair.

For B2B and consumer events that have prepackaged sponsorships, you can always counter the pricing they have provided. I think almost everyone I know in the world of sponsorship is willing to negotiate as long as its a win-win for both sides. Of course, the better practice is for them come up with a custom package that fits your budget and needs.