Event Sponsorship 2022: Ultimate Guide with Sponsorship Opportunities

Often, event organizers have big ideas to make their events even bigger and better. These ideas can be using the latest technology in their event, inviting an esteemed guest, or providing additional benefits to the audience. Everything comes down to delivering an outstanding experience to the audience for a successful event. But one question constantly pop-ups! From where will I get the resources to manage all this? The simple answer is Event sponsorship.

Often event organizers settle for less just because they find it challenging to find event sponsorship opportunities. But FYI, the average sponsorship amount is $12000 for events.

This article will cover a complete event sponsorship guide, including all the crucial aspects of sponsorships. 

Additionally, we will give you a free-to-download event sponsorship proposal template covering all the crucial aspects every event planner should include in their event sponsorship proposal.

Let’s get started.

Why Should You Care About Event Sponsorship?

The very first question that every event planner should ask themselves is, “Why do I need sponsorship for my event?”

Or rather a more generic question – “Do I need sponsorship for my event?”

Many times organizers start finding or pitching to different event sponsors without being clear about do they need sponsorship for their event. Is there even a need for sponsorship? What’s in it for the sponsor?

Results? They fail to raise any sponsorship. 

Being clear about why you need this sponsorship should be the first thing that the event organizer must be clear about. 

Clarity about Why will help you frame a perfect How! 

Some of the primary reasons for raising the event sponsorship are – 

The best kind of sponsorship is the one where there’s nothing for an event organizer. The basis of any sponsorship idea is to improve consumers’ experience by raising additional resources by partnering with different organizations and providing them value for the resources they provided. 

• Great potential, low budget
• Need for integrating some specific technology.
• Targeting a niche and require additional resources to serve them
• Risk-sharing (Higher the risk, higher the returns)
• To reach out to a higher audience (Multiplier effect) etc.

Once you are clear about whether you need sponsorship for your event or not, it’ll be a bit easier for you to frame why event sponsors would like to sponsor my event. 

Why Should a Company Sponsor Events?

One of the common myths that prevail is that companies are hesitant to sponsor an event. This might be true in some cases, but not always. Companies are looking for an opportunity to invest in a place that can provide them with quality leads and can help them generate more brand awareness. 

Though sponsorship results from events may not be as accurate as investing money in paid ads, companies consider investing their resources into sponsoring an event. 

Here are some reasons why companies consider sponsoring events –

• Sponsoring an event will get them a genuine and niche audience.
• Events are the perfect place to launch a new product.
• Events are also the ideal opportunity if the company is new in the market.
• It improves the credibility of the company in front of the audience.
• Sponsorship also works well if the company is planning to reposition its brand.
• Data collection can also be another motive.

The benefits for sponsors are endless, and so are the possibilities for event planners to convince them. They just need to pick up the appropriate sponsor, find their pain point, and provide them value that might solve their problem.

9 Types of Event Sponsorships

Event Sponsorships are not just adding the sponsor logos on the posters of your event. It is much, much more than that. The entire aim of event sponsorships is to provide real value to the sponsors. The meaning of value can be different for different sponsors. 

Sponsorship packages would vary from event to event. Depending on the various factors, needs of the organization, and the nature of the event, the types of sponsorship would differ. Here are some event sponsorship examples –

1. Financial event sponsorship

This is the kind of sponsorship that everyone looks forward to. In this kind of deal, the company agrees to pay a certain amount of money in exchange for agreed benefits. These can be in the form of ad placements, data, sample distribution etc. This is one of the most common kinds of sponsorship, and Event planners look forward to such kinds of sponsorship packages. 

2. In-kind sponsors

The sponsorships that include gifting stuff apart from money fall under this category. These products can be helpful to either of the organizer to organize the event or prove valuable to the consumer. Example of in-kind sponsorships includes discount vouchers, free samples, free merchandise, T-shirts for managing team, etc. These are very helpful when the organizer is a bit hesitant in providing the cash.

3. Promotional Partners

Promotional partners can be one of the best kinds of sponsors for your event. They usually take care of a particular aspect of the event. For example, accommodation partners, gifting partners, venue partners, platform partners, food and beverage partners, etc. 

These companies take care of their particular aspect and ensure that the best is being served to the attendees and promote themselves. These partners can either be exclusive or can share sponsoring with other companies.

For instance, you can work find sponsors for charity events quickly as companies are always in search to fulfill their CSR.

4. Exclusive Partners

Exclusivity always attracts event sponsors. Patrons often ask for being an exclusive partner for something. There can be many forms of exclusive partners like food, clothing, hospitality, travel, knowledge partners, etc.

Exclusivity must always be showcased on social media.

An exclusive partnership is an excellent event sponsorship opportunity for any company.

One of the classic examples of exclusivity is coca-cola and Pepsi. For any event, you won’t find both the brands sponsoring a single event.

Pro tip: You can pitch sponsors for hackathon event as ecvlusive partners.

5. Online Streaming Partner

With the world shifting towards digital, the types of partnerships have also evolved. A new kind of sponsorship that is being observed is the online streaming partners. With most of the events shifting online, it has become necessary to stream the event online. This streaming can simply be in the form of a video, or it can be made creative by transforming into the 3D world depending on the event’s concept and event theme.

With the help of AI, you can now create an entire 3D platform for your event, stimulating the real world. The experience of this world is pretty impressive, and some companies are sponsoring this to promote themselves. 

6. Ticketing Partners

Every event needs an event ticketing platform where the interested audience can register themselves and purchase tickets. A lot many things go into building an event.

It is always advised to find a ticketing partner who can manage all the registrations, payments, and queries of the audience. You can always add a link on your event website that redirects to the ticketing web pages.

Pro tip: AllEvents provides free website for event organizers where they can leverage event sponsors to mention their company and market their event online.

7. Experience Partners

Some companies may want to be as close to the audience as possible. They would like to make sure that the audience does not face any difficulty. They deliver the service of making sure that everything goes smoothly and promote their brand along the way.

This kind of sponsorship can be beneficial to companies selling premium products or services. Through the event, they try to capture the audience’s attention towards their brand so that they recall the company whenever they think about a product. 

Some industries are easy to on board, for instance Virtual event sponsorship and sports event sponsorship.

8. One for all event sponsorship

These are the sponsors who have your back all the time. These sponsors to your event are like investors in a company. They are exclusively managing all the arrangements for your event and must be familiar with every event information that the company has.

They invest their time and money into your event to make it a success, along with helping themselves promote their brand. This kind of sponsorship is observed in many events, especially those where the audience is niche.

9. Media Partners

Media partners take the responsibility of getting media coverage of your event in order to reach a larger audience. They help you publicize your event in a way to attracts more attendees.

Media partners can help you promote with event advertisements on TV ads, Newspaper ads, Radio ads, social media ads, news, etc.

Important Note:- Event organizers should not limit to the sponsorship categories mentioned above. They must be flexible in their approach and provide multiple options to the sponsors and let them decide the best for them. Organizers should also be open to the offers suggested by sponsors.

Sometimes, sponsors may be familiar with your audience and must be willing to sponsor your event in some different kind of way. Event organizers should appreciate such offers. 

7 Tips To Ensure Credibility for Event Sponsorship

There are tons of events in the industry looking for a sponsor. In a situation like this, how do you ensure that you are the one for them? How do you make sure that you are the best? How to make your game so strong that no one could beat you? 

Follow the guide to make sure that you don’t miss out on being the best –

1. Make your event outperform everyone else

Before asking for sponsorship, make sure to work hard on building your event. Create content that provides value to the audience.

Making your audience happy = Making your sponsors happy

Your event entirely depends on the value you deliver to your audience. The more audience finds your event worth joining, the more they’ll spread the word across, and eventually, the number of participants for your event would increase. 

Event sponsors look for events that make the audience happy and would love to connect with such events. These events would ultimately market the sponsors positively.

2. Dare to be different

Every event planner out there is searching for sponsorships. And most of them are following somewhat the same approach. You indeed have to be unique in your own way. All sponsors ask this one question – Why should we sponsor you and not others? Being different would give all the answers.

You can be different in many ways like –

• A new concept for the event
• Size of the event
• Unconventional and unique marketing
• Special deliverables
• Rare guest
• Large community

Being different in itself defines that you don’t have to be the sheep in the herd. 

Be unique, Stay creative, and Make your event happening. 

3. Know your audience inside out

All sponsors have one thing in common. Their ultimate aim is to attract as many customers as possible. But, the target audience for every organization is different. And many times, you miss out on your sponsors because they believe that your audience is not their target.  

It is always a good practice to know in-depth about your audience. It will not only help you convert sponsorship but also will help you improve your event. 

While presenting your sponsorship proposal, make an attendee profile which can include-

• Audience reached
• Expected Number of attendees
• Their demographics
• Geographic data
• Contact details
• Interests
• Spending Capacity
• Behavioral Patterns
• Educational level and more

After preparing your attendee profile, present it to the sponsor by linking it to the company’s customer profile.

4. Reach sponsors before you approach them

Event sponsors are likely to show interest in your sponsorship proposal if they have already seen your ad or are already familiar with your event. 

Make your marketing campaign so effective that event sponsors feel fortunate to receive an offer from you. The more popular your event would be in the audience, the more value you can take from sponsors. 

Reach your sponsors through media and marketing before you intend to approach them with a sponsorship proposal. 

5. Get ideas of possible spaces that can be sold to organizers for event sponsorship

There are many possible spaces that can be sold to organizers. Mentioning and mapping the reach of each space is necessary. In live events, there are many possible spaces but when it comes to a virtual event, you need to create spaces that can be sold to sponsors.

Examples of spaces that can be mentioned in the brochure:

• Use logos in your event invites with catchy event invite templates
• Event website is a big asset when you pitch event sponsors
• Sponsor space in a 3D virtual event platform
• Use of tools to design virtual event experience. i.e. Restream studio
• Utilizing event landing page and engaging event description

6. Always study the prospected sponsor in detail

Do not show, but always remember that you need resources from the company and not the other way around. To impress the company, try being a part of the company by knowing it inside out. 

The more you know about the company, its products, its work culture, and its hierarchy, the better you’ll be able to make a deal. 

Companies would also prefer to work with those event planners who already know how the company operates, and its needs. 

Target the pain points of the company in your presentation.

7. Take care of all that could go wrong in Event Sponsorship

Not everything goes according to your plan. Some amount of uncertainties is always present. You always have to be ready for a solution. 

A good practice to follow is making a list of all that could go wrong and prepare proper and logical answers for them.

Another good practice is to analyze the efforts put into sponsorship in the last event. To make a note of all that worked, all that didn’t, and improvise the same. It is always wise to learn from your own mistakes.

All the what-ifs and buts must be answered to self well in advance.

Always leverage what you can provide and overshadow the shortcomings.

Why Should Anyone Sponsor Your Event?

It all comes down to “What’s in it for me?”

Deliverables are an essential part of any sponsorship deal. Sponsorships are not just about the logo space in the poster. In fact, that is completely absurd. The event sponsorship package must be a blend of various deliverables to the company, which should hold some real value.

The following can be some of the incentives for sponsors –

Data

The most significant incentive for companies today is to gather quality attendee data. If the sponsoring company is getting the required data according to its needs, they would happily invest in your event. 

Data being the new oil, investment in your event would be worth it if you could successfully provide them with valuable information about your attendees.

The most important data for companies is the contact details of the audience.

Having a platform that allows you to download and access the audience’s data becomes necessary in such a case.

Check out AllEvents where you get full ownership of the audience.

Quality Leads 

The marketing team of any company works on getting quality leads and tries to convert them into full-time consumers. A lot of this gets easy when you get leads from an event. 

Reason?

The audience is already holding similar interests and is exposed to your brand in the event. The work gets a lot easier with these leads.

Awareness

Not all companies might be looking for sales, some might be more interested in creating awareness about their brand or new product. Awareness being the first step of the AIDA model, it is very important for companies. Also, some companies only need to create a brand recall in front of potential customers. Sponsoring an event can be the best way for them. 

Platform exposure

Some startups can sponsor events by being the official platform sponsors. These platforms can be in the form of –

• Online streaming platform / 3D platforms
• Ticketing and registration platform
• Certification platform
• Donation platform
• Course platforms
• Marketing solutions platform, etc.

An opportunity to position or reposition

An event can be an excellent sponsorship opportunity if a company wants to launch its brand in the market. It is also a great platform if some company wants to reposition itself.

With the event, the company can convey its brand message. 

Product launch

If, as a company, you are ready with your new product and thinking about launching it in the market, then product launch events can be the best way for you. 

Think it in this way, you are ready to launch a new product, but you don’t have your community; even if you organize your event, people would not be willing to turn up for your event. But, if you launch your product in an event, you could easily benefit from the marketing efforts of the event organizers.

Many large companies tend to launch their products in their annual gatherings, but events are the best way to get started for businesses that are not very large.

Media Exposure

Sponsored Sessions

Events are always a great platform to present your business or idea. But what if your product is a service and you just need to educate the audience about the benefits of your service, sponsored sessions can be of great help.

Sponsored sessions have become a popular form of sponsorship. Many event sponsorship packages include a free session in their sponsorship proposals.

Platform to collaborate and build a network

Sponsorships are one of the most effective ways of finding the right links in your industry. If someone is sponsoring some event, it shows their genuineness and willingness to collaborate. Sponsors can always collaborate with other sponsors for future business.

Also, if the event is for business people, needless to say, how effective can it be for you.

Long term relationship

Events will be the place where you’ll meet some of your very first-time consumers. Events will also be the place where you’ll meet other sponsor partners. And events will be the place where you’ll meet event organizers who can be the best people for you to market your company. It is the place that gives you a chance to develop long-term relationships with many of your stakeholders. 

Pro tip: You can try pre event and post event engagement ideas to create a good brand image.

How To Choose The Right Sponsor For Your Event?

The perfect event needs the perfect sponsors. 

Selecting prospective sponsors for your event is a very critical task. Asking any and every company to join and sponsor your event will not be recommended. 

If you wish not to make your efforts go in vain, consider keeping the following points in mind while selecting your prospective sponsors.

• Target those who are targeting your audience
• The objective of events must be in sync with the object of the company.
• One who understands the importance of quality instead of quantity
• One who values the concepts of events
• Try sponsors who are capable of sponsoring recurring events
• Target sponsors who can be beneficial in the long term and not just for one event
• Never promise assured sales, though you can discuss the estimated leads.

A perfect blend of experienced, as well as new companies, is encouraged. The goodwill and brand name of the experienced companies would help you attract more audience and sponsors. And giving new companies opportunities can help you build long-term relations with them. They eventually become your sponsors for upcoming events if they get results.

How is event sponsorship more efficient than Paid Ads?

Usually, a thought that may arise in the mind of a sponsor is why should I spend my marketing budget on sponsoring an event instead of going for paid ads which can also yield me results and monitor how the campaign is going on.

This concern of the sponsor is very valid. But the event organizer must also be prepared to explain why sponsorships can give more ROI than paid ads. 

Here is a list of reasons why sponsorships can be more effective than paid advertising –

Data, Data, Data –

In sponsorships, it is possible to get the attendee list along with attendee data, which may not be the case in paid advertisements. In fact, retargeting becomes much easy for companies when they promote their brand through an event.

The participants are already exposed to the sponsor’s brand in the event. Being a niche, their interests already match the product. The company will have the data of the attendees. Hence it becomes easy and cost-effective to retarget them again. 

Sales conversion

The process of sales in the case of advertisements would be the consumers clicking the ad, visiting the brand’s website, checking it out, and then deciding whether to purchase or not. There are a lot of chances that consumer drops off and never returns. On the other hand, when brands sponsor an event, you take hold of sales. Whenever a consumer would be interested in the product, they would directly contact the sponsor for the details about the product, and based on their convincing skills; they would sell the product to the consumer. This would always have a human touch attached to it. 

Personalized experience

When sponsoring an event, sponsors can always create a personalized experience for the audience. For example, suppose someone owns a food and beverage company, they can distribute free samples in the event. They can also be your event’s exclusive food partner. In this way, the company can deliver the experience of the taste of the product. In the case of ads, they can just share a discount voucher with the attendees, which they may or may not redeem. 

Exclusivity

We all are familiar with the term marketing clutter. Whenever any company posts an ad about their brand or product on any platform, there are always competitors whose ads are shown along. There’s no scope of exclusivity. While sponsoring an event, the brand could become an official brand partner for the event. The entire marketing space for that event would be provided exclusively to that brand.

One on one interaction

This is the unique feature of event sponsorships. The sponsoring company gets an opportunity to interact with the audience directly. What better way to present your brand than pitching it yourself. 

Event sponsorships can provide the companies with an opportunity to interact directly with the participants.

They get a chance to be there in front of the audience representing their brand by themselves, which can never happen in an ad.

Tip to win the confidence of Event Sponsorship

While presenting your event sponsorship proposal, always keep your focus on the audience you are serving to. Event sponsors would not be interested in what you are doing. Instead, they’ll be interested in knowing what I will get in return if I invest in this event. 

Know your audience, present them, and link it to how it will benefit the company. 

How To Prepare An Event Sponsorship Proposal?

Sponsorship proposals are very crucial to obtain sponsorships. Event planners must never compromise in putting efforts and resources into preparing a sponsorship proposal. 

The document will be referred to when the companies will be finalizing whether or not to sponsor your event. This in itself proves the importance of this document.

But what all should we consider while preparing a sponsorship proposal?

Gone are the days when the same proposal served everyone. Now is the time when you need to customize your proposal according to the sponsor you are targeting.

Are you looking for a perfect sponsorship proposal guide?

Some aspects are an essential part of your sponsorship proposal and must not be overlooked – 

• Data and estimates about your predicted audience
• Design of your proposal
• Sponsorship offers
• Option to customize
• The guests/ performing artists
• Agreement

Event sponsorship Agreement

An intelligent event organizer would never miss out on making an apparent sponsorship deal. And the most important part of that deal would be that agreement that both the parties would sign. This agreement would come into the picture whenever there’s a conflict between both parties. This agreement would act as the instrument that could resolve the problem. 

The agreement should be as clear and detailed as possible. The most important part of any agreement would be the decided terms and deliverables. But apart from this, both the parties must consider the following points to be included in the agreement – 

• Date of the agreement
• Validity of the agreement
• Repercussions in case of violations
• The agreed exchange
• Mode of exchange
• Date or period of exchange
• Rights of both parties
• The process to cancel the sponsorship & its terms.

The agreement has to be carefully filled and signed by both parties in order to make a successful sponsorship.

Post-event offerings

Your work doesn’t end with the completion of the event. In fact, it is the time when you need to serve your event sponsors the most by offering additional perks. These perks can be in the form of gifts for them, certificates, trophies, goodies, contacts, data about consumers, and Fulfilment reports.

The plan to propose a sponsorship is limited to hosting an event and making long-term relations with the audience and partners. And the sponsors are the ones who help event organizers provide a seamless experience to the audience. It is they who helped event organizers achieve their goals. Thus, it is the role of event organizers to deliver as much value as possible to the event sponsors post-event. 

Pro tip: You can use pre and post event survey questions for better results.

Feedback & Fulfilment Report 

As an event organizer, you won’t be conducting only a single event, there’ll be many events in the future, and you’ll need event sponsorship opportunities then as well. The process of onboarding sponsors would not be a one-time process, but it’ll last till you conduct events. Thus, you have to improve your approach with every passing event. And the best way to do it would be by taking feedback from the past sponsors.

Feedback by sponsors would be constructive for event organizers for the following reasons –

• The businesses that have invested in your event are experts in their fields. They have served their customers (who match your audience) and know how to take care of them. They know what attracts them, understand what will make them pay, and what is to be avoided.
• They’ll help you with what can be improved to serve the customers better.
• Feedbacks can also help you with improving sponsors’ satisfaction
• And taking feedbacks might also help you attract sponsorship from the same sponsors by improving the points they suggested.

Along with event feedback forms, a fulfillment report is also to be submitted to the event sponsors. A fulfillment report is a report which consists of all the expectations vs. the outcomes delivered to the sponsors. This report helps the sponsors know the returns on their resources invested.

Many times, while looking at the event, sponsors might overlook certain benefits they are receiving. Fulfillment reports help them get a clear idea about how the event performed and the prospects of investing in similar events. 

Wrap up

Stay confident while approaching sponsors. Be clear with the reason for conducting the event. Know your audience inside out. Link the audience with the sponsor’s target market. Ensure brand exposure to the sponsors Align your event goals with the sponsors’ brand message.

While pitching to any sponsor, create an impact, and leave an impression behind. Reach out to multiple brands who are willing to become exclusive event partners for your event. Present the perfect sponsorship proposal for your prospect.

Offer the best event sponsorship package to your sponsor.

Make your sponsors happy even after the event by showcasing the event’s results and how it affects their business outcomes.

As event professionals, take proper feedback from the sponsors and provide them with fulfillment reports.