If you have attended a well organized and successful business event, then you would agree that it really is an amazing thing when you get the right sponsorship for your event. Getting the right sponsors to help ease out the financial burden of putting a program together is such a good feeling. It is for that reason that one must go all out find the right sponsors.
If you are planning for a business event and you are not financially buoyant enough to handle the project, it might interest you to know that you can involve some corporate organizations to sponsor the event. Corporate organizations do sponsor events especially people oriented ones because it is a way for them to increase awareness for their brand and also a means to advertise their company’s products and services.
There is a whole lot to be garnered in this article, as you would get time tested tips on how you too can get sponsorship for your business. This is so that you can get the desired results when indeed you put together your event. Now, let at look at the sure-fire steps that is capable of getting you some great sponsors for your event.
10 Sure Steps to Getting Sponsorship for Your Business Event
1. Develop a Plan for Your Event
You can’t just wake up one morning to seek for sponsorship from people when you have not planned how the event will look like. If the event is a business event, ask about what purpose the event serves?
Is it to introduce a new product into the market or just branding? How many people are you estimating to be in attendance? Where will be the location of the event? It would be really important that you write down every single detail of the events; because along the line you may be required to show the event plan to people you will work with to put the event together and even the event sponsors
2. Choose a Niche
We all know that your event will is a business event, but what niche does it fall under? For instance; in the business niche, we have the real estate, banking, entrepreneurship, home business, and network marketing industries. You have to define a niche for your event. It will help you draw targeted people who are interested in the industry and you will likely get more sponsorship when you narrow down your niche.
3. Make Estimate Traffic
You have to create an estimate of how many people will be in attendance. This is so important for sponsorship, because an Organization or Body that will sponsor your event needs something in return. Hence, that is an opportunity to increase awareness for their brand. You can make your estimate from the adverts you are putting out. The more people are aware of your event via adverts, the more people will likely attend your event.
4. Make a Cost Estimate
You have to make an estimate of how much it would cost you to put together the event; putting into consideration, the bill for leasing a venue and venue decorations for the event, money for adverts, including fliers, billboards, radio jingles and Television adverts. Other logistics are; like transportation, phone calls, refreshment for the event.
After writing an estimate that will be required to successfully execute the event, then you subtract it from the amount you have for the budget. This will give you a clue of how much you need to get from sponsorship. For instance; it will take your $10,000 to put together an event from your estimate and from your calculations, you have just $3,500, it means that the least you need to get from sponsorship is at least $6,500.
5. Start Making Preparations
You have to start making preparations for the event with the cash you have. You can start putting out adverts for the event; you can start making negotiation for the rent of the venue for the event. If your bill can cover it, then pay for the rent and have the interior decoration company start work. Why is it so? Some sponsors especially corporate organizations will be more willing to put into your sponsorship package if you can show them evidence that preparation for the event is underway.
6. Make a List of Potential Sponsors
Whilst, preparation is underway, you have to make a list of companies or organizations that have sponsored similar events. Don’t just limit yourself to companies that have sponsored similar events in the past, just make a list of potentials, and get their contact information and schedule a business meeting with the Public Relations manager. Note: don’t call them on the phone to talk about sponsorship unless they have sponsored any of your events in the past or you are just giving them a reminder; doing so will make you look unserious.
7. Package Your Sponsorship
You need to package your sponsorship deal in such a way that it looks professional. For example; the sponsorship package can look like this; each banner space goes for $200 or more, so the company will know the number of banner spaces it can afford to pay and book well ahead of time. You can also take a Representative from the Company to go check out the venue and banner placements.
8. Draft a Proposal
You have to draft a proposal that you will take with you to the business meeting. The proposal should contain details of the events (that is the event plan), purpose of the event, how the organization can benefit buying a sponsorship package for the event. You can allow them to place the Company’s banner in strategic positions in the venue of the event depending on the sponsorship package the Organization pays for.
9. Negotiations
When you are done with presenting your proposal to the companies; some may wish to negotiate for bulk placements or less. During the negotiation stage, you have to provide account details where interested sponsors can wire in the amount they are bringing into the sponsorship deal. Do note that you have to give them a deadline for the payment of the sponsorship fee; to enable you make final preparations for the event with the funds.
10. Fulfill Your Part of the Deal
After the Organizations have sent in payment for their sponsorship, it is your duty to ensure that your own part of the deal by making sure that each banner space placed for should be placed accordingly or any other entitlement you pledged to your sponsors.
There you have it. 10 sure-fire steps you can take to get the best sponsorship for your business event. Be sure to take these steps really seriously and you would be on your way to getting the best deals.