Sponsorship for Event Management
Thursday, October 27, 2016
As an event manager, some clients include in their scope of work event sponsorship.
Many event managers beg to strike out this critical scope of work in an event.
I can understand why they are not interested or are afraid to take the challenge of getting event sponsorships.
But before we further dive into the reasons why event managers are hesitant to accept or don’t accept event sponsorships as part of their job description, here are some tips that event organizers must keep in mind to have a great chance of convincing sponsors to part with their money and invest in the event.
1. What is the Value Added of the Event?
Event Organizers must be very clear in communicating to potential sponsors what is the value that the event will add to the sponsors.
And yes, brand awareness is one, but how will that awareness translate to the ROI of the sponsors is more important than just mere brand awareness.
Therefore, in order to communicate this value, one must be very precise in answering the value added that the event offers to companies that are potential sponsors.
Take note, at the end of the day, they are after ROI.
2. Are the target sponsors a match to the event?
Often times, we just offer our sponsorships without studying the needs of the target companies that we wanted to sponsor the event.
If only we take time and care in identifying our potential sponsors vis -à-vis the type of event and audience that our event will attract, then we will have a higher percentage of getting companies to say “YES” to our sponsorship offers.
3. Have we taken time to create and establish relationships with our target sponsors?
Convincing sponsors to part with a huge sum of money is not easy. Even if you have all the great reasons for them to join, there is a probability that they will not support you.
The simple reason of them not knowing you made the big difference why you failed to have them sign a sponsorship contract.
It is with this reason that I strongly suggest that event organizers, or event managers must start creating meaningful relationships with companies projected to be sponsors.
Sponsors wanted to be assured and want the feeling that they can trust the event organizers; if that is the case we must start long before the event was announced.
Best of all, we must find people in the industry or in their industry that we know and know us, we can use these people as bridge to convince our target approving person to entrust us and invest in our event.
Bottom line: these three critical questions must be answered and the answers must be put into action immediately.
By doing so, we will be able to cover a large ground in our quest to successfully get support from a huge number of potential sponsors.
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