How to Find Event Sponsors

The sponsorship industry is worth $62.7 billion and is expanding yearly. However, no matter how big this industry is, finding sponsors is one of the hardest tasks for an event manager.

Finding businesses ready to sponsor events is another matter altogether from simply wanting sponsors. You need to put in a little work to snag the most lucrative sponsors (who are also the best brand fits). It’s critical to comprehend why businesses support events and which would be the finest candidates to sponsor yours before you even begin to draft a sponsorship pitch.

Learn why businesses sponsor events

What do the sponsors want? On the surface, sponsorship appears to be a highly specialised area of marketing and advertising that links companies with their clients, or your attendees.

Thus, the sponsors you’re looking for have a specific objective in mind, such as:

• spread the word about a new product or service.
• produce fresh leads for their company
• find customers for their brand
• establish their brand as one that’s reliable and trustworthy

You can start looking for specific brands that would be interested in sponsoring your event if you are aware of the reasons why businesses sponsor events.

Find the best businesses to sponsor you

A list of possible sponsor companies can be found in one location on a few online hubs. These websites serve as marketplaces to match sponsors with events. You first discover which brands are seeking for events to sponsor by entering a specific criteria. Using some of those sponsorship sites,  you may also make a pitch and send it to those on your shortlist.

Aside from online hubs, another effective method for acquiring sponsors is through referrals or connections. Those in your field who are also trying to get sponsors may know of hints or leads. They may have spoken to a possible sponsor who would be ideal for your upcoming events.

Another good place to seek for businesses to sponsor events is social media. Brands that frequently appear in the same web locations as you usually have similar target markets. By following your potential sponsors on social media, you can discover a lot about them and their marketing prowess.

Of course, you can also have a peek at the businesses that support rival events. These leads are superior to most others simply because they are aware of the advantages of supporting events like yours.

Network

It helps to be excellent at networking and connecting in a variety of methods in order to identify and attract the suitable companies. For instance, you might have the opportunity to speak with a representative in person for a potential sponsor for the first time at another event. Or you could wind up calling, emailing, or using LinkedIn’s InMail feature.

No matter how you first get in touch, your objective is to find the decision-maker. That may need several conversations and persistent networking across the organisation.

Get the conversation rolling

Remember that you’re not only attempting to persuade potential sponsors to sign a contract when you do manage to get in touch with a decision-maker for sponsorship. Additionally, you are assessing whether they are a good fit for you. Ask them the following questions in advance of crafting your proposal:

• What are the company’s objectives and success criteria for sponsorship?
• Who is their intended market?
• Does their internal marketing team have the expertise to support your event?
• Will they pledge to promote on social media to a certain extent?

These preliminary discussions will assist you in eliminating candidates who are the wrong fit as you narrow down your pool of potential candidates.

Persuade businesses to support your event

You must be aware of the market value of your sponsorship offering in order to persuade a company that sponsoring your event will be worthwhile for its time, money, and effort. Three main considerations should be taken into account while evaluating this:

Your sponsorship resources: This goes beyond simply placing your logo. What other services do you provide? Speaking engagements? Free entrance tickets? brand activations that are experiential? Sponsorship packages that are unique and imaginative are a great incentive.

Your audience profile: If your audience resembles that of potential sponsors, you are a good fit. How well do you understand the characteristics, habits, and preferences of your target audience? To determine the worth of your event attendees, look through this workbook.

Competitors: Research what other organisations are asking businesses for comparable sponsorship packages while taking attendance figures into account. Sponsors won’t pay the same amount to sponsor both events if a festival with which you compete receives twice as many visitors as yours does.

The information you collect: Sponsors love data. They want to know exactly what kind of data you collect, not just that you do collect data on your attendees. Utilise your event management platform to compile the types of data that sponsors are searching for, such as demographics of attendees, ticket sales, and previous sponsor revenue figures.

Are you interested in learning more event sponsorship?

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