Event sponsorship

Event Sponsorship
HOW TO FIND NEW SPONSORS AND
MAKE THEM LOYAL

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Event sponsors vs partners
3. How to choose and acquire sponsors
for the event?
4. Where to find the sponsors?
5. Today's sponsors
6. The most essential KPI's for the event
partners
7. How to build loyal relationships with
existing partners?
8. Trends in event sponsorship

1. Introduction
Many event organizers face challenges when it comes to event sponsorship. Some event planners
struggle with finding suitable event partners, others make mistakes in communication. Whereas,
sponsors’ demands and requirements are increasing constantly. Up-to-date events can’t rely on the
sponsor’s logo placement only, modern sponsorship relies on complex strategies and customized
solutions.
Do these issues look familiar to you? Do you want to avoid them and organize successful events with
recognizable sponsors? Then you’re in the right place. This guide aims to help event industry
professionals to acquire event sponsors and make these cooperations long-lasting, profitable and
beneficial for both parties. You will learn:
What is the difference between event sponsors and event partners?
How to choose and acquire sponsors for the event?
Resources to find the suitable sponsors
What does a modern sponsorship mean?
What KPIs are important for sponsors?
How to make sponsors loyal?
Future trends in event sponsorship
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2. Event sponsors vs partners
To begin with, it is important to distinguish
the difference between a sponsor and a
partner of the event. According to Bizfluent,
event sponsors give financial funds to
organizers, while event partners share some
risks and responsibilities with event
organizers. Some people believe that event
sponsorship is old-fashioned and the term
partnership is more relevant nowadays.
Nevertheless, the difference between these
terms is still questionable and it is common
to use them as synonyms. For example, the
goals of event sponsors and partners are
similar and may include:
BRAND EXPOSURE
BRAND IMAGE IMPROVEMENT
BRAND DIFFERENTIATION FROM THE
COMPETITORS
DIVERSIFYING THE TARGET AUDIENCE
CLOSE COMMUNICATION WITH ATTENDEES
DURING THE EVENT
ACCESS TO THE ORGANIZER'S DATA ABOUT
EVENT ATTENDEES
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Sponsorship became popular due to its effectiveness as a marketing tool. In many cases, it brings
better results and allows to achieve more with the same amount of investments as a traditional
advertisement. Let’s give a couple reasons why:
Events are a great possibility to test the products by offering them to event
attendees and get instant feedback.
Sports events are unique in terms of the sponsor’s visibility and
engagement. Sports events are viewed in-stadium, broadcasted on TV and
on the Internet, its results are published and discussed in printed media.
Any photo made on the stadium is likely to show sponsors’ logos, which
can be seen everywhere inside the venue. As a result, the sponsors’ media
coverage increases and makes sports attractive for existing and potential
sponsors. Moreover, sports are known for fans’ engagement, commitment
and loyalty that consequently enhances the perception of sponsoring
brands.
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4. How to choose and acquire sponsors
for the event?
Sponsors are an indispensable part of the whole event experience, but they can affect the event
reputation both positively and negatively. Attendees memorize the general impression, therefore,
event organizers should pay enough attention to sponsors’ integration. The customers wouldn’t think
if it was the organizer’s or event partner’s fault if they got bad overall experience.
TIP #1 Get to know your event
It’s essential to set up sponsorship contracts only with companies that have similar values, target
audience, expectations about the event, etc. The organizer’s role is to provide the potential sponsors
all the needed information such as the event’s scale, goals, vision, competitive advantages.
Prepare the answers to these questions in advance. It saves time, filters unsuitable companies and
makes the cooperation more professional from the very first steps.
5

TIP #2 Analyze the market and contact the desired companies
When you know everything about your event,
start to contact companies carefully. Firstly,
try to make quick market research to
understand what kind of companies might
be interested in sponsoring. What does the
company do? Is it international or local?
What are its marketing strategy and goals?
Why does sponsoring your event might be
interesting for them? Does it have a good
reputation? The number of questions is only
limited by time and other resources.
Secondly, start contacting companies that fit
better than others. Sending the same email
template to all companies is usually ineffective
and time-consuming. But instead, spend time
writing personal emails that show your
motivation and commitment. What might sound
easier than contacting a potential sponsor? Just
write an email or make a phone call to a
company, that’s it. In reality, many event
organizers face challenges in communication
because they focus on talking about the event
and forget to explain the sponsors’ benefits. Be
as specific as possible, state numbers and facts,
mention previous sponsors and results of the
partnership with them, show attendees’
feedback, etc. We will talk more about the most
important KPIs further in this guide.
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TIP #3 Avoid having too many sponsors
Even though it sounds attractive to partner with many
companies because each of them brings something valuable
to your event, it’s recommended to avoid having too many
sponsorship deals. Both attendees and sponsors will be
satisfied with this decision. It is well-known that nowadays
people are overloaded with advertisements and often stop
paying attention to them. Likewise, if the number of event
sponsors is too big, customers wouldn’t build associations
that sponsors desire.
The question is how many sponsors are enough? Obviously,
there is no exact number because all events are unique. First
of all, coming back to your event analysis (Tip #1) should be
helpful to answer this question. Additionally, think about your
needs and expectations, come up with ideas of sponsors
integration in events activities, plan the venue and schedule.
All in all, your analysis together with plans and ideas will help
to estimate the most appropriate number of sponsors.
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4. Where to find the sponsors?
Competitors
Start by looking for sponsors of a similar category of events. It is not the best way, but definitely a
great starting point.
Personal network
Maybe you know somebody who works for a company that might become a sponsor. Another advice
is to participate in pitching competitions, conferences and other business-related events to expand
the network and become closer to signing up a great sponsorship deal.
Online resources to find a sponsor
Luckily, we live in a digital age and there are a few online platforms that allow event organizers to
find potential sponsors easier and faster. These platforms are kind of hubs that connect events and
sponsors. Registration is the first step that is followed by choosing one of the pricing plans, but free
plans are also available. The negotiations usually start by sending a pitch to potential sponsors (or
events). The most famous platforms for event sponsorship are:
SponsorMyEvent
SponsorPitch
Sponseasy
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5. Today's sponsors
Modern companies consider the event as a product, a platform for building long-lasting relationships.
Brands want to be visible not only during the event but also before and after it. That’s why the most
progressive companies create a sponsorship strategy to ensure that every action helps to achieve
the goals.
Nowadays brands tend to solve a set of goals, instead of focusing on one goal only. Such a complex
approach is reasonable. The most recognizable sponsorship deals are costly, thus, brands desire to
get the most value and to prolong it further.
An example of an up-to-date set of sponsorship objectives:
Strengthening brand identity
Increasing customer loyalty
Building trust towards the brand
Storytelling during the event
All the goals correlate with each other, the fourth objective helps to achieve the previous ones. They
are specific, relevant, achievable and can be measured within a certain period of time.
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6. The most essential KPIs for the
event partners
Media outreach
Number of offline and online spectators
Attendees’ demographics
Attendees’ and previous sponsors’ feedback
Number of new leads for previous sponsors
Sponsors’ engagement (for example, number
of sponsors’ website page views)
These are the most important KPIs, but general ones. As it was mentioned before, each event is
unique and the indicators may vary because of that. Nevertheless, all the sponsors want to get profit
from sponsoring and the event organizer’s role is to convince the sponsor that its ROI will be
positive. If everything goes well, you’re likely to continue this sponsorship deal for the next year.
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7. How to buil loyal relationships with
existing partners?
If the sponsorship strategy is complex, goals are ambitious, whereas the indicators show that
everything works perfectly and delivers desirable results for both parties, the partnership should
extend to achieve even more. How to sustain the mutual success of event and sponsor?
Be flexible
Avoid repetition even if it was successful before, brainstorm fresh ideas to create a memorable event
together with a sponsor.
Treat loyal sponsors
Think about extra benefits for loyal sponsors such as better stand location inside the venue or better
logo placement. Be creative and original!
Co-create more with loyal sponsors
Existing sponsors are more trustworthy, they should have more opportunities for co-creation of the
event activities, social media content and so on.
Analyze the trends and think ahead
Companies want to get more and more value from sponsoring events. To retain existing sponsors be
proactive and adjust the offering according to future trends. Companies will appreciate your
professionalism and forward-thinking attitude.
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8. Trends in event sponsorship
Event sponsorship becomes one of the best ways to communicate with millennials,
especially women. (MKTG)
Sponsoring becomes multifunctional and aims to achieve multiple goals.
(MKTG)
Long-term sponsorship deals, which lasts for 2-3 years.
(ESA 2019)
Exclusive product creation customized for the event attendees. (ESA 2019)
Event sponsorship solves more social problems. (ESA 2019)
Events as platforms that combine targeted content and filter irrelevant content to
avoid information overload. (ESA)
More cases of virtual sponsorship. (Eventgarde)
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Thank you for reading
our guide!
This is the end of the event sponsorship guide!
Liveto hopes that you enjoyed reading it and
found it useful for your business.
Liveto is a Finnish event sales service, with a
mission to help events succeed. If you’re
looking for high-quality service and modern
tools for your event sales, Liveto is your
solution. The size or nature of your event
doesn’t matter to us – we accept everyone!
Contact us, let’s make your event
unforgettable together!
www.liveto.io
tickets@liveto.io