Top 3 Ways to Secure Corporate Sponsors for Your Event (and Next Year’s Too)

Corporate Sponsors:  How to make your event the one that stands out.

When looking for corporate sponsors, chances are the companies you’re asking are getting requests from every other event organizer in town! Here are our top 3 tips for designing an event sponsorship that gets selected over all the others:

1. Customize each sponsorship to the company being solicited.

Do your homework – what are the hot initiatives at that company?

• Tailor opportunities to sponsors’ needs – be strategic and create event packages that are suited to each sponsor, and create opportunities that are of value to the individual corporations.
• Some companies may be looking for brand awareness whereas others may be seeking opportunities to test their products. Therefore, find out what they want and need, then create your proposal. Don’t assume you know what they want.
• Be specific about their benefits – Tell the company exactly what they will be getting in return for their event sponsorship. What benefit are you providing them that no one else is/can? A logo on a screen and a table at the event isn’t enough.

2. Deliver what you promised, before and during the event.

• Don’t over-promise attendee counts. Be honest. Have more names on the list than you have opportunities.
• Not everyone says yes. Often you will have to arrange a lot of logistics and fulfillment pieces for sponsors.
• Dedicate someone to manage those relationships and pull together their logistics in a timely and friendly manner. Event Sponsorship is a business transaction, not a donation. 

3. Track your data. Companies want ROI (return on investment).

• Do pre-event and post-event surveys asking specific questions about sponsors. Know the demographics and psychographics of attendees and why that would be important to a company.
• Ask the sponsor how they determine success and figure out how to measure that.
• Bonus tip – Don’t just dump them after an event. Solicit feedback, thank them, and court them so they want to play again next year. Remember, the devil’s in the details: generic, form letter thank you notes are a terrible idea. Take the time to customize!