Sponsorship has always been a crucial part of any event. With offline events, it has always been easier to attract sponsors; however, as the world has switched to online events, reaching out to brands for sponsorship, and virtual sponsorship has become a bit challenging. Brands that organizers are reaching out to don’t find online events worth investing in. They feel online events won’t be able to give them enough ROI. Not only this, there are several other reasons organizers find it difficult to find suitable sponsors for their events.
However, every problem comes with a solution, and this one too. Like every time, we are here to help you. In this blog, we will help you with steps and techniques you can use to reach out to your potential sponsors for events and close the deal, for sure.
So, without any ado, let’s jump into the blog and explore everything related to virtual sponsorships.
What is Virtual and Online Event Sponsorship?
We can define sponsorship as a mutual agreement between the online event organizers and an external brand known as a sponsor. In sponsorship, the brand usually invests in the event in the form of donations or funding in exchange for something from the organizers, which is mostly exposure during the event. The value of sponsorship for an online event can be understood by the fact that it is the primary source of revenue for 23% event planners.
There are several types of sponsorship such as:
- Financial Sponsorship
- In-Kind Sponsorship
- Media Event Sponsorship
- Promotional Partners
What are the Advantages of Getting Sponsorship for an Event?
The most common advantages of getting sponsorship for your event are:
1.Better Revenues: Partnering with a brand for event sponsorship would allow you to generate more revenue. You can keep your ticket prices competitive, and lower the barriers for people to attend your event.
2.More Brand Exposure: When you partner with a high-end brand, it increases your brand reach, and more people register for your event. It will help you reach more people, and generate more leads for your brand and business.
3.More Credibility: When you are new to the industry, partnering up with a well-established name will help you set authority to the event.
4.Better Experience: Having a sponsor for your event would allow you to have support on your bills, and you would be able to deliver a better experience for your audience.
How To Find the Right Sponsors For Your Event?
The real challenge is finding the right sponsor – the one that best fits a particular event. Here are some qualities to look for when choosing your ideal sponsor.
Sponsors that align with your values, goals, and audience
A good way to narrow down your search is to look for corporate sponsors who fit your mission and values. Make sure your partnership is aligned with some basic considerations. Prioritize the quality of sponsors over the number of sponsors.
First, consider the specifics of the event. what is his job What do you hope to achieve by partnering with potential sponsors? Planning an in-person, hybrid, or virtual event?
Then your search is exactly right. Which companies tend to sponsor events? Have they sponsored events similar to yours? If so, chances are your audience is a good fit and willing to offer sponsorship. Make sure your company’s brand message matches the sponsor’s brand message.
Sponsors who are driven by ROI
Look for organizations who value being partners in “Partnership”. In other words, reach out to brands that are willing to work with you to ensure a positive outcome for both parties. If a potential event sponsor cares about ROI, they’re more likely to do their best to ensure a return on investment.
What are the Strategies to Get Sponsors For an Event?
If you are constantly trying to reach out to new brands and not getting any success, maybe it’s time you should modify your strategy a bit. Here are some tactics you should use to ensure you land on the right sponsoring brands.
1. Reach Out to Brands with the Same Company Values as Yours:
While you’re reaching out to a brand for sponsorship, the first thing you need to do is narrow down your options to those who share the same company values as yours. It won’t only help you save time and effort but also boost the chances of closing the deal and having them onboard. Not only this, but it will also increase your chances of having an expanded customer base, as the same values might lead to the same customers, even if it means that you are dealing with different products and services.
2. Tap Onto Brands in the Same Field:
Yes, find sponsors who work in the same field as yours; there are several benefits of this. Having brands on board with a similar field helps you target the same audience group. It won’t distract your audience, and neither will it convey a different message than yours.
3. Provide Valuable Opportunities to Your Sponsors:
A brand will only be interested in funding your event if they feel you are providing them something valuable in return. While you are thinking about your profits, it is ethically your duty to think of their benefits also. Hence, provide enough valuable exposure opportunities to the brands you are reaching out to for branding. There are several things and opportunities you can offer them; for example, you can provide collaboration opportunities, social media exposure, branded online event elements, and so much more.
4. Make Use of Paid Tools:
Moving onto the next strategy, you should go with paid tools; it will help you reach out to many potential sponsors in less time. What you can do is conduct keyword research, which will help you make your ads hyper-targeted. You can also use a keyword research tool for the same. The key benefit of using this technique is it will help you target both sponsors as well as attendees for your online event.
5. Leverage Social Media:
The world is well acquainted with the power of social media in today’s times; what if we tell you you can also use social media tools to reach out to your potential sponsors? There are several ways to do so; you can create a page dedicated to your event, create public posts, post in various public groups, and many more. In addition to them, you can also reach out to various brands over messages.
6. An Advertisement Goes a Long Way:
In the next tactic, you can use advertisements to find potential sponsors for your upcoming event. Advertise what you are looking for; make it easier for brands by advertising the event agenda. Make all the details clear in the advertisement, for example, the objective, date, time, etc. Circulate the agenda on several platforms.
7. Make Use of Case Studies and Testimonials From Previous Sponsors:
It’s time you make use of your previous sponsors’ testimonials and case studies; they will act as proof for the brands you are targeting and help you win their trust. Ask your previous sponsors for testimonials, and ensure they contain what benefit they got by sponsoring your event. While you are asking for testimonials, try if you can get video testimonials; videos are the most effective and preferred format.
8. Offer Different Tiers of Sponsorship:
Creating different types and tiers of sponsorship packages will make it easier for you to reach out to more brands with ease. You can offer various opportunities and benefits to the sponsoring brands depending on the tier or package they choose. Not only this but having different packages will enable them to fund your event, even while staying in their comfort zone.
9. Reach Out to Sponsors From Similar Events:
The best and probably the most effective technique to attract sponsors to your event is reaching out to sponsors of similar events. Since the format and type of the event will be similar, targeting the sponsors will boost the chances of them sponsoring your event. According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, the most popular events that are sponsored are trade shows, one-day conferences, business partner events, and multiple-day conferences.
What are the Branding Opportunities You Can Offer to Your Sponsors?
As we mentioned before, a brand will only fund your event if they feel they are getting enough benefits from it. After all, it is business at the end of the day. Hence, to ensure many brands fund your event, create and provide them enough opportunities to promote their brand.
If you have no clue what you should offer them, refer to these points:
1. 1:1 Meeting Scheduler:
To ensure your sponsors find and connect with potential leads, offer them networking opportunities. For that, you’d need to choose a suitable online event platform such as Mixhub , which comes with plenty of networking tools and opportunities. These 1:1 networking tools will enable attendees to directly contact the sponsors and schedule a meeting with them, enabling sponsors to expand their reach.
2. Virtual Booths:
Virtual Booths are one of the best ways to boost brand awareness. Not only this, online booths come with many networking and interacting opportunities between the attendees and the exhibitors. Moreover, to ensure that the attendees know enough about their brand, they can use audience engagement tools such as live polls, surveys, Q&A sessions, and more. Moreover, with such tools sponsors will be able to get leads, which they can further convert into their clients.
3. Interacting Opportunities:
Another opportunity you can offer your sponsors is direct interaction with the attendees. They can speak directly with the attendees through an interactive session. You can host a presentation session or a webinar, especially for the sponsors to interact with the attendees and promote their brand.
4. Landing Page Feature:
You can feature your organizers on the landing page of your online event. Since the landing page is frequently visited by the attendees as well as the registrants, featuring the sponsor brands on the landing page will give them ample exposure.
In Conclusion:
Reaching out to brands for sponsorship is not that challenging; however, you need to have the proper skills to approach them. Moreover, you should know that it is business and everybody would be expecting their profits, including your potential sponsors. Hence, while asking for something, be ready to give something too. Maximize sponsors’ exposure with Mixhub limitless branding opportunities. How? Book your demo session today.
