As an event planner in NYC, you’re always looking for ways to improve how you curate events and promote your engagements. And you’ll likely have questions about identifying areas of improvement and how to elevate your event experiences. One category that event planners should be mastering right now is event sponsorships. There are a host of advantages to consider when you incorporate sponsors into your New York events. And to help you find innovative ways to leverage sponsorships for your events and conferences, check out these FAQs and answers.
What Types of Events Call for Sponsorships?
Of course, sponsorship opportunities are great for company-related events, including corporate events, product launches, brand activations, trade shows, industry conferences, and business celebrations. But you can also look to incorporate and sell sponsorship packages with other events. Charity events and fundraising galas could always use the surge in financial support, for example. And any social event you’re planning that supports the community or a specific initiative can be ideal for sponsorship support.
What Types of Sponsorships Are There?
There’s more than one kind of sponsorship. And depending on the nature and goal of your event, you can harness the power of these various sponsorship types. Here are just a select few of the most common sponsor types and how you can apply them to your corporate event or social gathering. Get creative and start infusing your events with funds!
Financial sponsorship
Some sponsors will prefer to provide direct financial endorsements and support for certain events. In exchange, these brands or individuals will be looking for promotional benefits or incentive-based perks.
In-Kind sponsorship
In-kind sponsors will provide event services or goods instead of financial sponsorship. Look for venue partners, prize sponsors, food sponsors, or entertainment sponsors who can bring the event element to your engagement in lieu of cash. Like other sponsors, these partners will be looking for promotional benefits and value.
Media sponsorship
Media sponsors will provide advertising or media exposure to support the event in exchange for promotional benefits or event associations.
Promotional sponsorship
Much like media sponsors, promotional sponsors are typically individuals, influencers, or affiliates who are willing to promote your event in lieu of cash.
Merchandise sponsorship
Some sponsors will want to donate prizes, event swag, or merchandise instead of making financial donations.
How Do You Build a Great Sponsorship Package?
When you’re putting together your various sponsorship packages, remember options are key. Don’t present a sponsor with a yes or no option when you can, instead, share a bronze, silver, gold, and platinum level option. Develop your tiers, each with price points and correlating benefits to the sponsor, including entry-level selections and high-ticket options. Sweeten each tier with more advantages, more exposure, and VIP experiences whenever possible. And be mindful not to promise anything you can’t deliver or measure. After your New York event is over, you’ll want to revisit your sponsors and share the success of their participation in terms of brand exposure, awareness, and potential leads.
What Are the Advantages of Event Sponsorships?
Event sponsorships present tons of win-win advantages to every engagement. And most brands are keenly aware of these potential benefits, making sponsorship opportunities relatively easy to present and sell to your event clients as part of your event strategy and to potential sponsors who might be interested in supporting.
Benefits for Event Planners: You’ll appreciate the infusion of financial support sponsorships can bring to an event. You can make more money and boost the event budget in a relevant way.
Benefits for Your Sponsors: Your sponsors will benefit from increased brand awareness and exposure, either with signage, advertising, or marketing materials. Depending on the theme of the event, they can also benefit from attendance lists, new leads, VIP experiences, or discounts.
Benefits for the Event Client: The client for whom you’re curating the event will also benefit from sponsorships since the event’s cause sees increased exposure. And when sponsors help offset event planning costs, it means you can add more engaging elements to the event, making it more engaging, exciting, and successful.
What Are the Methods for Selling Event Sponsorships?
When it comes to selling your event sponsorships to potential sponsors, you’ll need to have a sales strategy in place. Like any sales initiative, you’ll need to:
- Know your target audience.
- Highlight how the sponsor will benefit from participation.
- Showcase the value proposition.
- Provide past event sponsorship metrics and experiences.
- Demonstrate ROI.
Create a list of targets that represent your ideal sponsors. And customize a sales approach using email campaigns and cold-calling to schedule those meetings. Use social media marketing and website promotions to highlight sponsorship opportunities for your event, too. And manage the sales funnel much like you would any other sales effort, tracking each touch point through to sponsorship conversion.
How Do You Cultivate Recurring Event Sponsors?
Securing sponsors for one event isn’t the goal. New York event planners should be cultivating a sponsorship strategy that supports ongoing sponsorship partnerships for the long term and over multiple events. So, when you do sell a sponsorship package, create a strategy for follow-up for that sponsor. Share metrics post-event and highlight ROI success. Build strategic relationships with existing sponsors, grooming them for future event sponsorship opportunities. When you have a network of past sponsors to draw from, you’ll always have a trusting pool of potential sponsors for every conference, trade show, fundraiser, or event you host.
Keep this roster of FAQs about event sponsorships handy as you look to improve your strategies for planning successful New York events. And when it comes to meeting all the right people and building strategic relationships with events industry pros and potential sponsors, you need to get to The Event Planner Expo 2023! Be an exhibitor or sponsor of this #1 events industry conference in October. And get your tickets to get in the room with the most brilliant influencers, leaders, and industry experts! It's the one three-day event you can't afford to miss, especially if networking, learning, showcasing, selling, and boosting your business are top priorities for you as an event planner this year.
