Event planners can tap into the added revenue and event-boosting power of sponsorships for better event results. And much like every other aspect of marketing and sales for your event planning business, the playbook for landing sponsors continues to evolve and change. Find some nuggets of advice and great best practices you can rely on for landing sponsorships with all your NYC events below! We’re sharing proven tactics you can lean into with every event you plan to bring on sponsors and significantly grow the impact of all your corporate and social events!
Reach Out to Related Event Sponsors
As you begin planning your event, create a genre or industry of potential sponsors based on sponsors of other similar events. Don’t recreate the wheel if there’s already a roster of target sponsors who’ve already supported other events like yours. Curate a proposal that’s chock-full of value for the sponsor, and make sure your sponsorship packages are irresistible.
Align Sponsors with Your NYC Event
There are ways to align your sponsorship efforts with your specific New York event. For example, if you’re hosting a fundraising gala, find supporters of the non-profit organization raising money. If you’re hosting an industry conference for financial planning, you’ll want to involve the lending and banking communities. Put together a list of industry-specific influencers and businesses within your event’s niche to build a target roster of potential sponsors.
Market Where Your Target Sponsors Are
When you’re marketing your event, you’ll use channels and messaging to capture your target audience where they are. Approach your sponsorships the same way - market to them where they spend their time. So, while you’re hitting up Facebook and Instagram to appeal to event attendees, you’ll want to target sponsors within the business community on LinkedIn. And reach out to sponsors by attending networking business events and getting in the room in business-centric conversations. Just remember, you can’t land sponsors unless you put your offer where they hang out, network, and communicate.
Land Sponsors at Networking Events
We mentioned networking events in the previous section. However, the power of networking events cannot be understated. And you can’t wait until you have an event to promote to start attending. It’s best to routinely put yourself in these networking circles ongoing, cultivating relationships and communities around your ongoing event sponsorship opportunities. Lay the foundation for businesses and brands to come to you, eagerly awaiting your next big event and sponsorship engagement.
Digital Tools to Help You Market to Event Sponsors
There are digital tools event planners can use to facilitate the sponsorship request process. Explore these software solutions to streamline how you create your sponsorship packages and reach out to target sponsors.
- SponsorPark: Great for corporate events related to festivals, fundraisers, entertainment, and the arts.
- SponsorMyEvent: TEXx and Forbes use this sponsorship search engine.
- Sponeasy: Great drag-and-drop sponsorship desk with templates.
- SponsorPitch: A CRM, searchable database, and collaborative tool for exporting sponsorship data.
- OpenSponsorship: This platform is ideal for sports-related events looking for sponsors.
People also ask
Event planners often ask these sponsorship-related questions, especially when it comes to landing more and boosting events results.
Does your event really need sponsors?
Sponsors are your event’s key to powerful marketing and the method for increasing event revenue. Sponsors can be a megaphone for your event in brand awareness, as well.
How do you decide what companies to reach out to for sponsorships?
Find sponsors who target your event’s audience. Align your sponsors with your event’s purpose and choose brands within the same industry.
What sponsorship tiers should you include for your event?
Build more than one sponsorship option for sponsors to choose from, each with different price points and associated benefits. For example, develop a bronze, silver, gold, and platinum sponsorship level, with benefits ranging from general admission to VIP perks.
Start implementing these marketing and outreach strategies to land more sponsors for all your New York events. And learn more about event marketing and sponsorships by getting in the executive room of brilliant leaders, experts, and speakers at The Event Planner Expo next week! Get tickets NOW while you can!
