One of the most important elements of event planning is event sponsorship. As a NYC event planner, you know just how critical sponsorships are for boosting event awareness and increasing event funding. More importantly, a well-crafted sponsorship strategy can significantly contribute to your bottom-line revenue. However, there are always questions about event sponsorships regarding methods, techniques, and best practices. Today, we’re answering those FAQs about event sponsorship so you can find the insights you need to improve your results.
1. What Types of Events Are Appealing to Sponsors?
There are a host of event types that are appealing to potential sponsors. Consider your event guest list first and which brands or businesses who routinely target that audience. And if your NY event is anyway community-related, you can appeal to local or regional sponsors, as well. It’s not uncommon for the following types of events to have valued supporters and event sponsors.
- Fundraising Galas
- Corporate Events
- Product Launches
- Conferences & Trade Shows
- Fashion Shows
- Team-Building Events
- Grand-Opening Events
- Anniversary Events
2. What Are the Different Types of Event Sponsorships?
Event planners can offer various types of sponsorship opportunities. Some are financially driven, while others are more trade services. These are the most common sponsorship types that can add value to your events.
- Financial Event Sponsors: Sponsors share direct financial support.
- In-Kind Sponsors: Sponsors provide goods or services.
- Media Sponsors: Sponsors provide advertising and media coverage.
- Promotional Sponsors: Sponsors are individuals, usually influencers.
- Merchandise Sponsors: Sponsors provide merch, swag, or prizes.
You can get creative with what you ask potential sponsors to support, too. Depending on the type of New York event you're curating, make opportunities available for every event aspect and element to provide even more opportunities for sponsorships. These might include award ceremony sponsors, event technology sponsorships, opening or closing party sponsorship, keynote speaker or stage sponsors, lounge sponsors, food and beverage sponsors, booth sponsorships, registration sponsorships, virtual or hybrid event sponsorships, venue sponsorships, and contest or giveaway sponsorships.
3. What Should Be Included in the Event Sponsorship Package Format?
The most effective event sponsorship strategies offer tiers of benefits and associated price points. This gives sponsors a chance to choose how much support they’re willing to provide. It's common for event planners to carve out bronze, silver, gold, and platinum-level investment and support opportunities. But feel free to get creative with how you design your packages. Whatever packages you create, just be sure to include the following in all your event sponsorship packages.
- An introduction to your event planning business and the nature of the event you’re hosting.
- Any goals or objectives the event hopes to achieve.
- Clearly defined sponsorship options, with investment benchmarks and associated sponsor benefits.
- Testimonials from past successful event sponsorship partnerships.
- Compelling stats, data, and visuals about the target audience.
- Added value branding, advertising, or VIP event perks.
- Metrics you’ll measure and how you’ll follow up after the event.
4. What Are Examples of Sponsorship Perks to Include in a Package?
You can provide a wide range of sponsorship perks and benefits unique to the type of event you're curating. But if you need creative inspiration, here are some examples of sponsorship perks your event sponsors will love.
- Front and center visuals and signage at the event.
- Prominent brand and logo features throughout marketing materials.
- Mentions among press releases, email campaigns, and social media posts.
- Sponsor lounges, early access, or VIP experiences at the event.
- Complimentary tickets to the event for the sponsor's staff or clients.
- Stage speaker opportunities for sponsors.
- Lead lists of event guests for direct sales opportunities.
5. Who Should You Target for Sponsorships?
Create a list of businesses, influencers, non-profits, community organizations, and individuals who openly support your event's cause or specifically target the same audience as your guest list. Technically, anyone can become a sponsor. It's just up to you to make the opportunity valuable and appealing. Here are some of the sponsorship targets you might add to your list.
- National Brands
- Regional or Local Brands
- Popular Community Figures
- Local Celebrities
- Community Development Organizations
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Local Businesses
- Online Industry Influencers
- Tech or Software Companies
6. How Can You Land New Event Sponsors?
Start by reaching out to past event sponsors or those brands and businesses you’ve encountered as sponsors for other NYC events. These prospects will usually already understand the benefits of sponsoring and will only need to be sold on the specifics of your event. Create a strategy for sponsorship outreach and develop a wildly attractive proposal and packages that you can customize for each potential sponsor. Then, tap into these other strategies to land new event sponsors, as well.
- Use digital marketing efforts, including social media and email marketing sequences, to attract potential sponsors.
- Ask your event client for sponsorship leads or referrals.
- Incentivize sponsorship opportunities with early discounts or added value perks for sponsoring within a specific timeframe.
- Share sponsorship opportunities on your event landing page and website.
- Follow up with potential sponsors by phone and email, requesting a meeting to discuss.
- Nurture long-term relationships with potential sponsors who might be interested in future opportunities.
7. What Are Some Digital Tools to Help Find and Facilitate Event Sponsors?
It can be challenging to incorporate and facilitate a sponsorship strategy since you're already knee-deep in to-do lists for planning the specific event itself. But, there are some great digital and online tools that can help streamline how you develop your event sponsorship efforts and reach out to secure potential sponsors. Here are just a few online solutions to explore that are specifically designed for event planners who are targeting event sponsors.
OpenSponsorship: This targets athletes, teams, and sports for events within the sports industry.
SponsorMyEvent: This is one of the most popular resources for big-name planners, and it's great for facilitating sponsorship relationships.
SponsorPitch: This solution is a data-driven sponsorship lead generator.
SponsorPark: This is a marketing consultancy platform that allows for relationship-building between event planners and event sponsors.
Sponseasy: This user-friendly app is great for finding sponsorship leads and designing sponsorship packages.
8. What Are the Benefits of Securing Sponsorships for Events?
Whether you’re a corporate event planner curating business or industry-based events or you’re a social planner with an upcoming fundraising event, sponsorships can be huge for your efforts. Explore these many benefits and start tapping into this valuable event-planning element.
- Sponsors help to offset event costs.
- Sponsors are great for boosting event awareness.
- Sponsorships add credibility to your event.
- Sponsors generate additional awareness of your event planning brand.
- Sponsors are ideal for leveraging social proof.
- Sponsors bring deeper engagement for your event.
9. What Metrics Apply to Sponsorships?
Your event sponsor relationship isn’t over when the event is over. You’ll want to follow up with your event sponsors and share the metrics that outline the value and success of the partnership. These are the ROI details your sponsors want to see. And when you impress them with these analytics, you can set them up for future sponsorship opportunities, as well.
- Share quantifying details about advertising reach and frequency.
- Provide website traffic, including click-through rates.
- Describe any metrics that outline event interactions.
- Show the target audience impact based on the event guests that encountered the sponsor’s brand.
- Outline any direct leads or sales metrics for the event.
- Be precise about impressions, sponsorship recall, and demographics.
- Provide social media metrics, including mentions and impressions.
10. What Are Some Event Sponsorship Mistakes to Avoid?
Along with following best practices for landing and leveraging event sponsors, there are also mistakes to avoid. Make sure you’re not making these more common mistakes when planning and executing your event sponsorship strategies.
- Don’t wait until the last minute to reach out to potential sponsors. Begin sourcing potential sponsors several weeks or months in advance.
- Don’t make your sponsorship opportunity a “yes” or “no” question. Instead, offer tiers of “yes” opportunities with an attractive outline of perks and ROI benefits.
- Don’t spam everyone on your contact list. Instead, be targeted about which sponsors you reach out to, aligning your event with the potential sponsor’s target audience or mission.
- Don’t overlook the value of small-scale sponsorships, including small businesses and individuals.
- Don’t forget to include a high-ticket sponsorship offer with VIP-level perks and a five-figure investment. It isn’t going to be suitable for everyone on your sponsorship target list, but some may be interested.
Get Answers for All Your Questions at The Event Planner Expo
Reference this Q&A resource whenever you’re building your event sponsorship packages and strategies. Start tapping into this high-value element for all your New York events! And if you have more questions about sponsorships or any other event planning business-boosting topics, there’s one place to find ALL the answers - The Event Planner Expo 2023!
This October, thousands of top event planners, entrepreneurs, corporate decision-makers, and events industry influencers will attend this three-day conference. It’s chock-full of inspirational speakers, high-energy networking opportunities, and a chance to walk away with all the insights and advice you need to take your event planning business to the absolute next level! Get All Access tickets!
