Let’s face it – cookie cutter, one-size-fits-all event sponsorships don’t add any value for attendees’ experience, don’t really provide any quantifiable results for the sponsors, and are generally a wasteful endeavor on all fronts. I’m talking about sponsorships that only entail logo placements in as many locatations as possible, and a few generic on-stage “thank-you’s” which are ignored or quickly forgotten. Just like traditional advertising, event attendees have grown immune to these tired sponsorships which have become just another piece of the ignorable marketing clutter. More importantly, companies are slowly understanding that these forms of event sponsorship simply do not yield ROI or improved brand awareness. Sure, these elements should be included in a sponsorship package to some extent, but this is no longer a viable solution for event producers looking to sell high-ticket, recurring sponsorships – especially not in the current economy.
There are a number of ways you can improve sponsorship integration for your event, but for now let’s focus on ways to attract sponsors and give them more through your online outreach efforts. You need to have a persuasive and actionable proposal that is easily accessible and sharable by prospective sponsors who likely will need to consult with multiple executives about your opportunity before granting sign-off. It also needs to stand out from the dozens of other sponsorship proposals your prospects field on a weekly basis. A PDF you can email or link to on your event website is a start, but what if you could create a customizable, interactive pitch that lets prospective sponsors actually see what their specific involvement might look like? Imagine this…
After you’ve developed your core sponsorship packages, you create a visual presentation template of the offerings and benefits, whereby you (if you’re pitching) or the prospective sponsor (if they seek out your event) can customize the presentation by simply completing a short step-by-step process. You or the prospective sponsor simply select the desired sponsorship package on your event website; enter the company name, slogan, and upload the logo; and pick the additional sponsorship benefit options a la cart style, which should include the associated fees – this is where you should be really creative about all of the different ways you can integrate sponsors so that attendees can gain value from their involvement and engage in a meaningful experience.
When complete, an interactive presentation would render which would compile all of the selected options and integrate them into a pre-designed visual sponsorship tour, incorporating images, video, and audio customized with the prospective sponsor’s inputted information. The presentation would come to a close with estimated statistics on the number of impressions, attendees, and other historical or projected figures you have to help persuade sponsors that your event is a great investment that will yield impactful branding and quantifiable ROI. 
Think Facebook Connect implementations like Prototype, but with manual entry of the customized data used in the presentation and a cleaner visual experience. After the recipient views the presentation, there are actionable options to schedule a call (the prospect’s information would be stored in a light-weight CRM system, or your site’s CMS, and ping a notification to you) and share the presentation via social bookmarking options and email. This approach would accomplish four important aspects of sponsorship sales:
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Give you the ability to custom-tailor your sponsorship pitches quickly and effortlessly
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Increase the number of inbound sponsorship leads
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Shorten the sponsorship sales cycle by giving sponsors more, and higher quality, information about your sponsorship opportunities
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Differentiate your offerings substantially for other events that are vying for the same sponsorship dollars
This is a hypothetical scenario, and I’m honestly unsure if any companies have developed something similar to this, but it’s fully feasible and something I’d personally love to see come to fruition. Interested? Give me a call and we’ll talk details about how this system could be implemented for your next big event or conference – 415-669-4306.
