There are plenty of reasons why sponsorship is a great idea for an event, and many reasons why an organisation might want to support yours. Read on to find out more about

the many benefits sponsorship can bring to both parties
how to attract and pitch to a sponsor
how to engage with them on the big day
how to maintain a good relationship long after the event has concluded.

Sponsorship Benefits for Sponsors and Event organisers

First, let’s clarify what we mean when we talk about sponsorship. The role of the sponsor is to give financial assistance or resources to the event. There are many different types of sponsorship models, including financial, in-kind (usually products or services), and media partnerships. Your sponsor may be interested in hosting an individual speaker, or a specific workshop session that is in line with their company or brand.

We’re not talking about a one way street: a great sponsorship partnership is one where there is mutual benefit to both parties. In return, sponsors might want to gain:

exposure to a targeted audience
a chance to increase their brand visibility
networking opportunities
a boost to their industry reputation
opportunities to promote products, services or goals to your attendees.

Sponsorship Benefits for Event organisers

There may be many reasons why you might want to look for a sponsor. Financial support can help you cover your expenses, and potentially strengthen your credibility, especially if you’re new to the industry. A sponsor can help with items or services that you need, or they may have other logistical experience that you would like access to. A sponsor is likely to be able to help with promotion, especially if they already have a large audience. If you have some audience overlap, cross-promotion is a win for everyone. And if your potential sponsor is popular among your audience you can expect that a partnership will also help drive attendance and engagement.

One of the biggest issues we have is cash flow. Because we're a volunteer club, we only have a little bit of money in the bank. But when we have to pay upfront for certain things like hiring a track or venues, that money drains quickly.

So, getting some sponsors on board early and getting some entry fees in early really helps to overcome that.

Andrew Walbran - MG Club member for life and organiser of the MG100 National Rally 2024

Securing sponsorships

To effectively secure sponsorships for your event, it’s important to have a well-thought-out strategy that aligns with both your event’s needs and the goals of your potential sponsors. This process requires careful planning and research to ensure that the partnership is beneficial for both parties. Defining what you’re looking for in a sponsor and what you can offer in return will set the foundation for a successful collaboration. In this section, we’ll explore how to establish clear sponsorship criteria, develop a compelling sponsorship offering, and connect with the right brands.

Define your sponsorship criteria

Before approaching any potential sponsors, prepare your approach and pitch. As part of this, you will want your event goals clearly defined beforehand. With these in hand, you’ll be able to conduct market research to find sponsors that fit with your goals, as well as your theme, industry, and target audience. Your choice of sponsors will send a message to your audience about your event’s brand and values, so make sure to outline them and to look for brands that match them. In addition, being clear about your own purpose will make it easier to keep your priorities at the forefront, especially in the case of any conflicting agendas and interests if they do arise.

Then move on to more practical considerations - think about what gaps you have in your capabilities? Could you use some logistical help, sponsorship for speakers, a boost to marketing, or just financial support?

Develop your sponsorship offering

In turn, think about what you’re in a position to offer to potential sponsors. Can you offer branding representation? Exhibition space? Access to metrics and attendee data? Speaking opportunities?

Brand representation

A safe place to start is to look at how you can provide them with brand visibility, through placement of their logo on your event’s signage and other branded materials. You could also investigate how to include them in your marketing materials, and whether cross-promotion is a possibility. Ask your potential sponsor if they would be interested in more direct attendee engagement, such as hosting speaking slots, workshops, or networking sessions.

Digital Sponsorship Opportunities

Whether your event is virtual, hybrid, or in-person, the digital space provides numerous opportunities to showcase your sponsors. Feature their brand on your website, social media channels, and in email communications. Encourage reciprocal promotion through the sponsor's platforms and mailing lists.
For events with a strong digital presence, consider involving sponsors in videos, webinars, interactive experiences, virtual networking, or content collaborations like blog posts and podcasts. Ensure their branding is prominently displayed on both physical and digital platforms.

Integrating Sponsors into Virtual Experiences

If your event focuses on virtual or augmented reality, think about how you can incorporate your sponsors into these experiences. For events with associated apps, explore opportunities to feature sponsors within the app's space.

Open Communication with Sponsors

If you're unsure about what to offer, have an open conversation with potential sponsors. Ask them directly what they need and how you can help them achieve
their objectives.

Package it up in a standard offering

Take the time to develop your offering in a generalised proposal, where you outline your requirements, as well as sponsorship benefits, packages and tiers. Make sure to include pertinent details in your proposal, such as your event’s details and unique features, including a little about your target audience. Advertise your standard sponsorship offering on your website for potential interested parties to explore.

"Most sponsorship offers came through my contacts in the industry. We did have some come through, that were cold calls - basically saying, 'Look, I've seen you running this event. I'd like to put a little bit of money up for, for a prize or something. What can I do?' So it was really good to have a sponsorship proposal there, ready to go."

Andrew

How to find sponsors

There are a few ways to find a potential sponsor. The best is to make use of warm introduction opportunities – that is, mutual connections and contacts, or contacts you’ve made through local industry groups. Consider contacting sponsors of previous related events, or companies that your target audience will be familiar with, for a “slightly-less-cold” approach.

Failing these, there are many useful online tools and sponsorship databases with details of potential sponsors you can reach out to, such as:

SponsorPitch - a comprehensive database of sponsors alongside a CRM system. This platform offers in-depth analyses and data on both event organisers and sponsors, streamlining the selection process.
SponsorMyEvent - a full-featured sponsorship management platform designed to assist event organisers in finding and securing sponsors.
OpenSponsorship - a platform tailored to athlete, team, and sporting event sponsorships.
Sponeasy - An easy-to-use tool that helps you to create a polished online sponsorship proposal and efficiently manage your sponsorships.

Do your research and narrow down the list of possible sponsors to those who match your previously defined sponsorship criteria.

"During my time as Playcentre Coordinator we would reach out to local businesses, to see if they would sponsor some prices for our AGM. We sent out a simple email outlining our mission and I didn't think much would come from it.
But I was pleasantly surprised by the response we got. I found that some local businesses understood what our volunteers were doing for our community and were happy to support us. So it doesn't have to take much to secure sponsorship, sometimes it's about having the courage to ask."

Renata - Lil Regie Marketing & Customer Support

Pitch and close the deal

Once you’ve built your list of potential sponsors you can look at ways that you can specifically tailor your proposal to individual organisations outlining what part of your offering is the best match and how it would benefit them. Give details on how you will plan to market your event and potentially how your partnership could enhance this. Also, include how you will report on their ROI, and what metrics you’ll be gathering.

The art of negotiation is too complex to cover here, but while finalising the agreement there are some things to keep in mind. Make sure you understand the sponsor’s goals, and leave some wiggle room on both sides for a bit of negotiation. Clearly define all of the deliverables and deadlines, and get everything in a formal contract. It's important to treat the agreement as an opportunity for a long term relationship, so even if some compromise has to be made, it may be worth it to you in the long run.

It’s worth noting that many events engage with multiple sponsors, often at different, tiered levels. It’s not unusual to have a combination of principal sponsors with multiple secondary sponsors, depending on your event’s size. Managing the various wants and needs for each group will increase your event’s complexity; in these cases you’ll need to be even more organised, and more focused on the goals and values of your event.

"For Webstock, we had a simple sponsorship proposal available. A PDF outlining the tiers of sponsorship, benefits, including some information about the current conference. Pretty standard, I don't think it was anything really special.

But I think it was more the job we'd done on the conference itself - delivering a wold class event that people will proudly be associated with - that really sold sponsorships - not the sponsorship proposal itself."

Mike — former Webstock organiser & Lil Regie Co-founder

Delivering Value to Sponsors During the Event

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors Slide during event presentation

During your event, it’s only natural that you’ll be caught up with schedules and speakers, runsheets and troubleshooting. But it's important to make sure that your sponsors get the focus they deserve on the day. Here’s what–at a minimum–you’ll want to plan for:

Provide Support

Make your sponsor aware of the communications channels you and your team will be using, and get them in on any run-throughs of your comms tools if that seems appropriate. If you anticipate you’ll be spread thin on the day, designate a contact person to help with any setup or logistical help your sponsor might need, to keep them up-to-date with any changes, and to address any needs they might have as they arise.

Make sure that any logistics issues that do arise are addressed as quickly as possible. If possible, a walk-through of the venue prior to the event’s start, will help you attend to any potential problems with branding placement, facilities access, or accommodation.

Ensure deliverables are met

it might seem obvious, but making sure that all of the agreed deliverables and opportunities are accounted for, will help ensure you keep your sponsor happy. Are there any ways you can go above and beyond? Make a point of acknowledging sponsors whenever you can, and be on the lookout for opportunities to promote meaningful interactions between your sponsor and attendees.

Gather metrics

Don’t forget to gather metrics on the day. Whether that includes compiling attendance numbers, site traffic, sales targets, or feedback gathered at the end of the event, helping your sponsor to evaluate their ROI will go a long way towards making the experience a positive one for them.

Post-Event Follow-Up and Evaluation

Keep the communications going after the event’s finished! If appropriate, invite your sponsor along to any post-event celebrations or debriefs, and make sure you send them a thank-you note, as well as any findings from your feedback surveys.

Review your data. The measures of success will differ from event to event, but your sponsor will be interested in any insights you can provide on engagement with their brand, generation of leads, industry coverage and media buzz, and any data you can provide on their benefits vs investment.

Post event review of metrics with sponsor and event organiser

As part of reviewing this data, a good option is to hold a post-event review. It’s a great opportunity to:

work with your sponsor to assess their ROI
discuss attendee feedback, as well as feedback from the sponsor on their experience
share the impact of their sponsorship on your event
reinforce any observed benefits from working together
get your sponsor’s input on any future events you might have planned (what could you do differently, and what worked well.

Conclusion

As you can see, working with a sponsor is not an activity to be undertaken lightly, and there are a lot of moving parts involved that you’ll need to keep track of. However, if you take a structured approach, both parties can come away with quite a few big wins as a result.

Employing sponsorship strategies such as understanding your event’s goals and how a sponsor could help you reach those, finding a sponsor that aligns with your values, putting together a great pitch and offering measurable benefits, with an eye to developing a long-term relationship, will help to make your new partnership a fruitful and successful one.

Lil Regie Team

Our passionate and experienced team loves to share insights on how to set up and execute exceptional events.