Selling sponsorships to YOUR events

Your proprietary event is a hit. In fact, other companies want in. Maximizing your sponsorship revenue is tempting, but you don’t want to give up too much of your own visibility. And you don’t want to jeopardize the event experience. What’s a marketer to do?

For some, the key is working only with companies that add value to the event and represent products that are relevant to the audience. Many companies turn down far more offers from prospective sponsors than they accept—often because the brand’s image doesn’t fit with the event, its product appeals to the wrong demographic or the company’s ideals don’t match those of the event attendees.

A few other words of wisdom from brands that have found the right way to let partners in:
Find Companies That Think Alike. When Discovery Health started designing its eight-city Total Family Health Tour (Agency: Snap Marketing, New York City), it made sure its own objectives and plans were clear before it approached potential sponsors. “We wanted education and a hands-on experience. We only approached partners who would share the vision,” says Susan Campbell, director-marketing for Discovery Health. For instance, McNeil Consumer Healthcare brands Tylenol, Motrin and Pepcid created an interactive medicine cabinet that challenged visitors to identify home safety red flag, such as razors stored on low shelves and medicines past their expiration dates.

Let Partners Shape Packages. RSA Security, the online and digital security division of EMC, hosts the RSA Conference, an annual b-to-b security industry event. Sandra LePedis, vp and general manager of the conference, uses the event’s exhibitor advisory board to help create the sponsorship packages. “We ask questions like ‘What is of value to you?’… and make changes accordingly,” she says. This year the company added a sponsorship that includes an opening keynote speaking opportunity based on input from board members.

Control Contact. To keep attendees from being deluged with sponsors’ messages, RSA limits sponsor pre-event communications to physical mailings—and only to attendees who have opted in. Plus, sponsors’ programs can not compete with RSA’s, so sponsors can’t hold meetings during keynotes or other official conference events. Sponsors get a finite number of event admissions based on the size of their sponsorships. LePedis says RSA retains the right to review sponsors’ pre-event mailings, but the company leaves post-event contact up to each sponsor.

Map It Out. Another key consideration when bringing on outside brands is making sure that their messaging doesn’t overpower that of the event owner. Discovery Health decided to limit participation to just one partner per activity to avoid visual clutter. “[You] run the risk of logo soup. No one benefits in that instance,” Campbell says.

Discovery Health also double-checks its plan with a visual review—mapping out the event environment on paper and setting guidelines that govern how much signage each sponsor gets, and where it’s allowed to go.