The Ultimate Event Sponsors and Sponsorship

1. EVENT SPONSORS AND SPONSORSHIP

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Why Event Sponsorship is Necessary? 2 How Sponsors Pick an Event? 7 How to Get Sponsors for Your Event? 10 How to Make a Sponsorship Proposal? 15 Promote Your Sponsors with These Creative Ideas. 22 The Ultimate Unification: ROI, Sponsorship & Event App 26 How to Nurture the Relationship with Sponsors? 31 About the Author 34 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

3. INTRODUCTION “Sponsorship? Because everyone needs a hand sometimes.” According to Statista, the annual spending on event sponsorship in the year 2016 was 60.1 Billion USD and it’s going to increase exponentially in the coming years, seeing the win-win situation it facilitates for both the sponsors and sponsee. Sponsorship is one of the most integral part of an event. And hence, as an event professional, it is of utmost importance that you understand this empirical facet of event planning. Sponsorship is not only important in fueling the financial needs of your event but also in getting the exposure you want. It is one of the principle weapons to enhance your event credibility and partner with companies in your industry. According to Event Manager’s Blog report on sponsorship, 53% of event professionals struggle to get sponsorship* because of multiple problems faced by the event industry. Due to this, events itself are threatened sometimes. But why this struggle and how to solve it? This is what this ebook is all about. To solve the core problems faced by the event professionals. Read further to know. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 1

4. 1 WHY EVENT SPONSORSHIP IS NECESSARY? A common conception says that event sponsorship is all about money and capital.But is it just about money? Don’t be surprised! Go ahead to find out why. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 2

5. Why Event Sponsorship is necessary? Before getting any further, ask yourself one simple question- Why do your need Event Sponsorship? Most people have a very common answer to this question. Event Sponsorship is necessary for the money. However, if you are a marketing geek, you know this is not the only thing. Marketing experts from the world over have started recognising the importance of sponsorship as a marketing tool. Confused? Well, let’s get into the details of it to have a better picture of the situation. Benefts of getting an event sponsorship Getting an event sponsorship is going to help you a lot in many ways. But for understanding it better, let us divide these benefts into two broad categories. 1. Sponsorship for Capital 2. Sponsorship for Marketing Sponsorship for Capital Let’s start with the very obvious thing that a sponsorship brings - capital. Now, this may be in the form of money, venue, logistics or anything at all which fulfils the financial requirements of your event. So if you get good sponsors for your event, the grandeur of your event will automatically get enhanced. You can afford to bring in not just commodities, but even luxuries for your event. This capital grandeur is directly proportional to the profits earned from the event (provided other things go well). Thus, it becomes crucial for you to find nifty event sponsorship. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 3

6. Why Event Sponsorship is necessary? Sponsorship for Marketing Now though capital is the primary goal of getting a sponsorship in most cases, it is definitely not the only benefit you get. If used efficiently, sponsorship can act as a great marketing tool for your event. It doesn’t just become cost efficient, but it can increase the success rates of your event exponentially. Here’s how. 1. Higher and Targeted Audience Reach Publicizing your event is a definite way of bringing in more people to your event. But random publicity is not going to be any good. You need to reach out to a specific audi- ence group so as to find potential event attendees. The correct demograph can be procured through online market research or digital analytics of website traffic sources and geographical locations. Event Sponsorship for Audience Reach Ideally, the sponsors of your event belong to the same industry as your event. For example, if you are hosting a Tech Conference (Find the best Tech Conferences in India here), your sponsor might be a Web Development Company. Therefore, the target audience for your event as well as your sponsor company is the same. So if you use the clientele of this sponsor company for promoting your event, you are approaching a very targeted audience which can add up to the list of your potential attendees. This can be done by putting up blog posts on the sponsor company’s blog regarding your event. Your event can be marketed on the social media channels of the company. Or you can spread the word simply by sending e-mail invites to the clientele. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 4

7. Why Event Sponsorship is necessary? 2. Augmented Reliability Reliability is a key matter of concern when people are planning to attend your event. Higher the reliability, higher the chances of their attending the event. But if you are a fresher in the industry, you might need to build upon this factor. Event Sponsorship for Reliability Your sponsors don’t just provide you with the finances but they also attach their brand image to your event. This automatically enhances the reliability factor of your event. Say, for example, if you are a student of a university which is hosting a fest or an event, there are chances people might not be interested in it. But if the university he is study- ing in becomes the sponsor of the event, the reputation of the university makes the event a grander success. 3. Upsurged market value The ticketing costs, the significance of the event, the entire market value of it play a huge role in the event’s success. Now whether you are a fresher or a reputed brand, there are always ways to enhance your existing market value. Event Sponsorship for Market Value This is very similar to the reliability factor. Just like the brand image, the sponsor brand’s market value also adds up to your event’s market value. This gives your event a better payoff and better value to your company/brand in general. 4. Enhanced Guest List Having big names added to the guest list of your event is always a plus. It has n number of advan- tages. But unfortunately, you need to make quite some efforts to get hold of these names. Event Sponsorship for a better guest list The business associates or the clientele of your sponsors might include a few great names. These names can be a part of your guest list, thanks to your sponsors. Their presence will benefit the marketing, reputation as well as the value of your event. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 5

8. Why Event Sponsorship is necessary? 5. Added Media Coverage The marketing of your event doesn’t stop with the event completion. It goes on after that as well and adds up to the event image which ultimately enhances your organisa- tion’s reputation. One very productive way to do this is to get higher media coverage Event Sponsorship for added media coverage The amount of media coverage you get is directly related to the number of big names attached to your event. This would include your popular event sponsors as well the eminent guest list that they have brought you. Thus, the media coverage of your event is boosted in both ways. Once you start recognising event sponsor- ship as a marketing tool, you will start understanding the various ways you can benefit from it. Don’t just limit your perspective to finances. If you think deeper, you will find ways to build up your event reputation with the efficient help of your sponsors. This was all about why you need the sponsors. But in order for you to leverage them, these aforementioned perks, you need to do your homework first and need to learn the art of how to attract these sponsors. Before that let's get in the shoes of sponsors to understand their choices and expectations! Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 6

9. 2 HOW SPONSORS PICK AN EVENT? Sponsors don’t choose an event out of a magic hat, do they? Read in this chapter about 5 questions that every sponsors ask before sponsoring an event. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 7

10. How Sponsors Picks an Event? Sponsoring an event is one of the majorly followed mass marketing tactic. Days are gone when sponsorship was an overlooked marketing channel. Times have changed and more and more companies are embracing this channel for increasing their ROI. Moreover, they also want to build goodwill and connect with the event audience. But companies are not just displaying a banner and calling it a day. They also want to make the most out of their event sponsorship and hence the race for getting sponsorship isn’t easy as it sounds. Various factors are considered before deciding which event to sponsor. And we want you to understand how sponsors think. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 8

11. How Sponsors Picks an Event? 5 questions that every sponsor asks themselves before sponsoring an event. Is this event offering value-driven sponsorship? How about other sponsors? Is this event is matching to the target audience?  Is this event a right mix of value and exposure? Is this event just a one-time transaction or more than that? So now that you are aware of the thought process of your sponsors, let's get you prepared for the actual game 9

12. 3 HOW TO GET SPONSORS FOR YOUR EVENT? Finding out the correct sponsors and getting them on board sounds like a big task to accomplish, isn’t it? Not if you follow the tips we’ve mentioned in this chapter. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 10

13. How to get sponsors for your Creating a top team and successfully organising an event will surely give you an accom- plished feeling. But for that to happen, you need good talent, lot of resources, planning, preparation and most importantly, sponsors! Yes! The value of sponsorship is more than the power of traditional advertising that print and media can buy. Though don’t confuse sponsorship with advertising. It is a marketing medium which promotes sponsors in association with the event. But getting sponsors is not an easy task. You’d be having a long list of tasks, from sending out emails to fruitless calling and dealing with uninterested company employees and what not! Getting sponsorship might sound like a tiring task but it doesn’t have to be anymore. Here we have cooked the perfect recipe on how to get hold of your sponsors. Ingredients are traditional ways, a pinch of fresh ideas with event technology sprinkled on it. 1. Know your platform. The first and the foremost thing is to find the people who align with your core values and who’d support your endeavors. Finding the people who think just parallel to you, is half work done. Make a detailed list of companies who sponsor events and activities similarto yours. Targeting right kind of people is going to save time and energy both. You know what they say, “know the sea before you start drifting in uncertainty” 2. To whom you are approaching? Do a thorough research on what sort of organisation you’d like to approach. Or you can use the research that other people have already done to give you an edge. But how do you do that? Well, look out which are the organisations that sponsors events like yours. For example, if you’re looking for a sponsorship for your technology conference, look out for the other technology conferences and who were the sponsors. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 11

14. How to get sponsors for your 3. Know different levels. Any event, big or small, has a different level of sponsorship and you need to curate them in a detailed manner. If you haven’t already outlined your budget and what do you expect from your sponsors, do it. Make a list of different levels of your event. Once you know which level has to offer what and what are your expectations from the sponsors for the same, well, then entice your sponsors accordingly 4. Create a potential sponsor list. Having a good long list of potential sponsors sounds like a good idea. But the length of the list is of the least importance. We are sure that you wouldn’t like to go to every company and talk to every other person. Sounds tedious, right? Therefore, make a list of sponsors who would be willing to sponsor your event in actual. Also, sponsorship has different layers. So, make sure you categorize your sponsors accordingly. 5. Do your revision. We all know the importance of revision, don’t we? Having done the revision about the company beforehand will help you in the long run to gain the confidence of the sponsors. It will also help in finding the right person to talk to when you approach the company. Before approaching the company, ask yourself, what does company want? Look for the reasons why they would be interested in sponsor- ing your event? If you have this thing clear in mind then you’d be able to offer them better. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 12

15. How to get sponsors for your 6. Have a great proposal ready. One of the fundamental keys to getting sponsored is our ability to create a winning sponsorship proposal. Just so you know, it can liter- ally make or break the deal. Start with the story, tell them what do you do and what are the benefits they are going to get. Well, here you need to connect the bridge. The bridge between what you have to offer and what they want. Research and make your pro- posal an insightful document which aligns with their as well as your objectives. If sponsor and sponsee both stand on the same platform, chances of a win-win situation are more than ever. 7. Go creative. Sponsorship is about more than sticking logos on everything. While your sponsorship agreement might include the use of logos, if that’s all you’ve got to offer you can’t really ask for all that much in return. Find out new ideas and offer more than just logos. Be it terms of customized gifts, product endorsements, event naming rights, establishment of staff volunteer program, organizing contest or giving coupons. Just do it differently! 8. Promise on the deliverables. When you’re courting a sponsor, always do what you say. Sponsors will test you. If you can’t get information, tell them why. Always be on time or early for an appointment. Let them know you are a person of integrity. “You get one chance to make an impression, and if you burn the bridge, you can’t go back.” 13 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

16. How to get sponsors for your 9. Use the magic spell – “Event-o Analytics-ism” Use of event technology is that secret ingredient you can use to attract your sponsors. But, how? Here’s where event analytics come into play. People these days have resorted to dedicated event web- sites and apps to create a unique experience for their attendees and are keeping a track of it with event analytics. Event analytics are user interactions with content on your website that can be tracked. This comes very handy in winning the confidence of the sponsors. Hence, send them a detailed report of how many visitors your website are gaining and what exposure it would give to their brand as well. Entice them about how you are using event technology to boost and measure your event performance by providing concrete information on the real return on their investment. We’re sure they won’t say no! 10. Don’t sell yourself short. According to Linda Hollander from Women’s Small Business Expo, making a year long sponsorship program is what feasible for spon- sors and sponsee as well. That means you are asking for sponsorship for not just a single event but multiple events that you are going to hold within the specific time. Also, make up your mind about how much amount of money you want from the sponsors. Asking quite short amount is a big No. You’re dealing with a well-paid person in corporation. If you’re seek- ing low key sponsorship then may be it’s not even worth their time. 11. Its not an OTT(One-Time-Transaction) afterall. Don’t ever think that once you’ve got the cheque your job is done. As with most things in fundraising, sponsorship are all about the rela- tionship. You need to be in regular contact, you need to give thanks where it’s due, and you need to ensure that you’re always doing what you said you’d do. But we will get into that in detail later in this book. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 14

17. 4 HOW TO MAKE A SPONSORSHIP PROPOSAL? Sponsorship proposal is that magic wand which can make or break the deal. In this chapter, learn how to make the proposal which ensures that the deal is locked. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 15

18. How to make a sponsorship proposal? One of the fundamental keys to getting sponsored is your ability to create a winning spon- sorship proposal. It’s an important document in the process of going from sponsorship seeker to marketing partner. It can literally make or break the deal. Creating an effective sponsorship proposal is probably one of the most asked for yet misunderstood facets of the whole sponsorship process. Most event sponsorship proposals go to trash. They all are money seekers, not taking the time to research & understand sponsor’s needs & their market conditions. It might sound cliché, but we have seen this in reality. Many event sponsorship people fail to understand the sponsor’s perspective. They don’t take the time out to tailor the spon- sorship proposal. A lot of sponsorship people download sample proposals from the internet, edit it out by adding their event name & then just broadcast it to the potential sponsors. This kind of act is no different than spamming. Creating a winning event sponsorship proposal requires a hard work, but in the end, it is worth doing. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 16

19. How to make a sponsorship proposal? 1. Give Before You Get Before approaching the potential sponsors, ask yourself what can you offer to them? Define your event’s target audience. Get yourself clear on the demographics of your visi- tors. Please don’t create sponsorship proposal to offer a bunch of banners. Instead, Use some creative ways like an event app to give visibility to the potential sponsors. An Event app is an exciting opportunity for the sponsors to get the desired exposure & create a long lasting impression. With Event Apps, you can sell in-app sponsorship where the sponsors can get uninterrupt- ed attention. Additional to standard ads, event app solution offers hot deals section where the event organizers can display deals from their sponsors helping them to get direct sales. “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 17

20. How to make a sponsorship proposal? 2. Do Research (MAP them) Now as you understand what you have to offer, find the potential sectors or businesses that might be interested in your event demographic & offering. Create a list of potential sponsors. Visit their websites. Research their social media accounts. Read the latest news and reports about them. Find ways to passively attract their demo-graph for your event. Are they planning for a new product launch? Do they have any product that is currently underperforming? Find their pain points; try to solve them by your offering. 3. Reach Out (AIM) After the research process, find the people in the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) department or marketing department of those companies & try to reach out to them. If possible, find some connection with them, the old fashion networking still works. Prepare a concise email consist of Introduction, Opportunity, Event demographics, Benefits, Creative ideas to give them visibility & a strong Call to Action. Your goal with this first mail is to get an opportu- nity to secure a meeting so don’t mess it up by sending them the full sponsorship proposal. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 18

21. How to make a sponsorship proposal? 4. Win them (Take a breath, Shoot the Bull’s Eye) Prepare a precise presentation, conveying your demographic information, marketing opportunities & creative ideas to provide desired visibility. Don’t be the pushy sell person that we all hate. The focus of the meeting should be listening, not selling. Keep your presentation short & concise. Spend more time in listening & understanding the needs of the sponsor. Ask them questions about their marketing challenges, their objectives or goals, and what has & what hasn’t worked in the previous deals. Use this data to refine your offering & tailoring your sponsorship offer to meet their needs. Now based on the offer decide a sponsorship amount, keep it 20 % higher to leave room for negotiation. If your potential sponsor’s budget is below your amount then go back to the offer & review what you can offer the sponsor. In the context of all the new information what can you realistically do within the budget to meet the sponsor’s marketing objectives? How can you customize your approach to provide the great- est value? Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 19

22. How to make a sponsorship proposal? 5. How the success will be measured? Once understanding their marketing objective, you need to agree with the sponsor how the success will be measured. The success can be quantitative like 1000 page views of sponsor’s ad in the event app or qualitative like positive social media talking about the brand. 6. Full proposal It is primarily about documenting what you’ve already discussed and agreed to. The sponsorship proposal should be comprised of two parts: One-page offer letter & a supporting document listing other supporting data (demographics numbers, previous sponsor’s testimonials & case studies, terms & conditions and other relevant information). The offer letter should include a summary of the event sponsorship opportunity, tailored benefits list, the sponsorship amount and a call to action. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 20

23. How to make a sponsorship proposal? 7. Follow-Up A few days later write a follow-up email or call the sponsor to review the status of your sponsorship proposal. If the sponsor’s request changes, then review it once again and if needed change the price accordingly. But unfortunately, if your sponsorship proposal gets rejected then politely ask why, by finding the reason behind their rejection you can improve your offering. Thank them for taking their time to meet you. Most importantly, keep in touch with them. Build a relationship with them. Event sponsorship is not a one-time transaction. A good relationship with the potential sponsors can help you to get the sponsorship for the years to come. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 21

24. 5 PROMOTE YOUR SPONSORS WITH THESE CREATIVE IDEAS Don’t promote your sponsors with just logo placement and banners. We have some innovative anecdotes from events across the globe, for you to take inspiration and add value to your event. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 22

25. Promote your sponsors with these creative ideas. For a long time now, event sponsoring hasn’t just been a mere accessory. Many events live from offering an attractive environment for sponsors and partners. Exhibitions, conferences and events offer excellent opportunities to reach target audiences personally. Such decision makers are often unable to reach via classic media and only insufficiently and one-dimensionally via online advertising. Event sponsoring is therefore a great opportunity for brands to present themselves live. But pure logo placement is not so interesting, as sponsors are looking for something special, they are looking for exclusivity. The best alternative is a win-win-win situation: the sponsor wins, the event organizer wins and the attendees win, as they get the added value. Here is the list of 10 creative ideas which organisers implemented and it was a huge success. Want to imitate them? Sure, go ahead. 1. Sponsored Power Packs Visitors to the European Pirate Summit were able to, in exchange for a returnable security deposit, borrow a portable power pack from Simyo to load their mobiles. Nice idea! 2. Mobile hotspots Using the motto “Moobile”, mobile network provider EE offered 4G hotspots at the Glastonbury Festival — in the shape of cows! A very eye-catching and unusual alternative! Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 23

26. Promote your sponsors with these creative ideas. 3. No WiFi zones The exact opposite for Kit Kat: “Have a break, have a Kit Kat”, whereby Kit Kat set up No Wi-Fi Zones. All mobile and Wi-Fi signals were blocked in a radius of 5m, allowing people to chat in com- plete peace and quiet. More like a Cut-Cut, instead of a Kit-Kat !! 4. Ice Logos Logos made of ice are fleeting — the impression they make at an evening event however lasts much longer. As for example at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. 5. Apple Logos Tasty: Apples with the sponsor’s logo on them! They don’t need to be grown especially. 6. Projection on wall You can simply project the sponsor’s logo onto a white wall — or you use a wall of white orchids! 7. Live vogue cover No participant expects a live Vogue cover. This is of course possible with a large amount of other partner publications. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 24

27. Promote your sponsors with these creative ideas. 8. Sponsored props For some reason it always goes down well when people take pictures of themselves with huge bow ties, glasses, beards or similar objects in front of their faces. Why not integrate the sponsor’s logo too. 9. Floating Logos Does your event venue have a pool? Then why not try a floating logo on the water? 10. Goody Bags A goody bag for participants is of course always a good idea. If you link these with getting participants to Tweet or post something on Facebook to get one, then this generates a lot of attention for the event too. 25 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

28. 6 THE ULTIMATE UNIFICATION: ROI, SPONSORSHIP & EVENT APP Use event app to show real time return on investment of sponsors and exhibitors. Don’t worry! We’ve covered everything in a simplified manner for you to get started with event app. 26 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

29. The Ultimate Unifcation: ROI, Sponsorship & Event App Sponsors and exhibitors play a pivotal role in the revenue that drives events. In order to retain and grow that revenue, your ability to assist your sponsors in demonstrating the value of their continued partnership is critical. It can be a challenging assignment. Nearly a quarter of event sponsors want a better way to measure the ROI of sponsored event. And all sponsors and exhibitors would benefit from increasing their return, even if they’ve mastered the art of measuring ROI. Event tech tools such as event app can help your sponsors and exhibitors measure and boost their event performance by providing concrete information on the real return on their investment. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 27

30. The Ultimate Unifcation: ROI, Sponsorship & Event App Shine a Digital Spotlight on Your Sponsors and Exhibitors Your sponsors and exhibitors attend events to cultivate relationships, increase brand awareness, and generate sales. An Event App provides a digital tool — connecting your partners with attendees who can easily access information from anywhere, anytime. By creating a digital presence within the app, sponsors accelerate their ability to meet potential prospects, customers, or partners. Create in-app profles. Ensure sponsors and exhibitors have a digital profile within the app. Sponsors and exhibitors can showcase company information, social media profiles, booth staff members, collateral, and logos. A digital profile allows attendees to become familiar with an exhibitor’s company, products and team, enabling a more engaging conversation at the booth. Build an interactive map Creating an interactive map gives attendees the ability to easily locate sponsors and exhibitors during the event. Directly from the in-app map, attendees can click through to each corresponding profile where they can learn more about the companies, which team members are staffing the booth, and schedule meetings. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 28

31. The Ultimate Unifcation: ROI, Sponsorship & Event App Help Sponsors and Exhibitors Engage with the Right Prospects Engaging strong prospects and maintaining existing relationships are key priorities for your event’s sponsors and exhibitors. Events are one of the best ways to create a meaningful one-on-one interaction with a prospect or customer.  Make it personal Exhibitors can focus their event outreach strategy by searching the list of event goers and identifying who their target prospects and customers are. After they’ve narrowed their focus, they can identify who they want to contact and request meetings with, directly from within the app. Build targeted campaings Exhibitors and sponsors can create targeted campaigns that appear within the activity feeds of their priority attendees. The campaign can include special offers, discounts, or meeting requests for those targeted attendees to encourage them to go to the booth during the event or schedule a one-on-one meeting. Capture leads Finally, exhibitors and sponsors can use the names and contact information of people who visit their booths by scanning their QR code, allowing them to follow up their conversations at the event. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 29

32. The Ultimate Unifcation: ROI, Sponsorship & Event App Track Brand Sentiment in Real Time Sponsors and exhibitors are able to keep tabs on leads and sales, but they don’t have abili- ty to measure the performance of their brand at the event. This sentiment is fundamental to their strategy. In-app surveys and attendee reviews can allow them to gauge opinion of their brand and its products or services. Encourage ratings Allow your attendees to provide reviews of exhibitor or sponsor profiles that they visit. The rating involves a quick, five-star scale that provides your exhibitors and spon- sors. Collect information Before the event, create an in-app survey that gathers useful attendee information for your exhibitors and sponsors. Consider including demographic information, industry products they use, job responsibilities, and the services they want to learn more about during the event. Then, you can share the survey results so that your partners can have more meaningful conversations with attendees during their meetings. Embrace polls Use polls to quickly gather data about your attendees. Similar to surveys, these polls ask a single question during the event that’s quick and fun for your attendees to answer, and that help your exhibitors and sponsors gauge the room. For example, try a broad prompt like “I have used _____ products to assist me with my job responsibilities,” or “I’d benefit most from meeting people who are experts in ______ industry.” If they’re logged into the app, your exhibitors and sponsors can monitor the responses in real time so that they can adjust their strategy accordingly. Shoot notifcations You can practice hit and trial marketing with short term marketing offers through event app. Event Sponsors & Sponsorship 30

33. 7 HOW TO NURTURE THE SPONSORSHIP RELATION? Do not underestimate the value of nurtured relationship with your sponsors. In this chapter, learn how to foster relationship and why is it important. 31 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

34. How to nurture the Sponsorship relation? You’ve done the hard work of identifying and signing up sponsors that align with your mission. You’ve created a great package that provides valuable benefits to your sponsors. They sponsored your event which was a huge success. Now, how do you foster these relationships so they last? Here are 8 ways to nurture your relationships with your sponsorsso you both benefit for years to come: 1. Consistent communication. Follow up with your sponsors via phone calls, emails, face-to-face meetings and newsletters. Ask for feedback. Check in with them to make sure they are getting what they need. Don’t always ask for funds; forward useful information to them, deliver status reports and request business advice.  2. Leverage your sponsors Serve as a selfless liaison to connect sponsors with each other. Invite sponsors to other events throughout the year so they understand your mission. 3. Manage confict with grace Set clear expectations regarding sponsor benefits in your sponsor- ship contract. If a sponsor’s behavior has a negative effect on an event, take them aside and gently but firmly explain your expectations. 4. Get the “little things” right Make sure to pronounce people’s names correctly, both publicly and privately. Obtain the appropriate logo file (for print, website, etc.) and apply the logo with respect. 32 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

35. How to nurture the Sponsorship relation? 5. Ask for feedback Send a formal survey after the event. Make “how are we doing” phone calls throughout the year. 6. Rethink sponsorship Recognize in-kind service providers as sponsors. Offer a menu of opportunities for a year-long sponsorship. Let sponsors “tag” your event in their media ads in exchange for moving up in sponsor level.  7. Get creative about sponsor bene- Offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Provide exclusive access to your events: a special table at the auction or a pre-event party. Personally deliver special event commemorations, such as a framed photo, event memorabilia or a photo album. 8. Be fair Have a firm framework for your sponsor program. Don’t play favor- ites — make sure all sponsors at each level receive the same benefits. Have a strategy for approaching competitors equally. 33 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

36. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jay Sitapara is an engineer having an inclination towards innova- tion in technology. Currently, associated with Hubilo event-tech startup which aims to change the way how events are organised and people network at events. Hubilo, an Jay is particularly passionate about crafting stimulating, re- sourceful and in-depth guides for Event Planners to keep them updated and acknowledged about latest event industry trends. He is specifically interested in effective use of event technology and social media for greater ROI through innovative thinking and skills. Jay is also a Digital Marketer, Editor, Community Manager and a regular contributor to Hubilo Blog. His philic nature is prone to dogs, poetry, coffee, friends and coffee with friends. If you're on Twitter, say Hello to him @jsitapara @jsitapara and follow his articles on blog.hubilo.com blog.hubilo.com. And Jay says, do not forget to share this Ebook! 34 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

37. With a vision of building a one-stop solution for any type of event - may it be a conference, a seminar, a workshop or an off-site event, Hubilo helps you in executing a dynamically inter- active event by setting up the entire online management suit required for the event within a few minutes! Say goodbye to the mundane task of doing things manually and allow the event management software to do it an easier and much more efficient way. Automate the whole process and get your event powered by Hubilo. The value addition that Hubilo offers is equivalent to the ser- vices offered by 7 vendors, making it a perfect recipe for suc- cessful event planning. From event creation, event promotion, event engagement to analytics, we tech-care of all your event-tech worries. 35 Event Sponsors & Sponsorship

38. Event Website Event App Event Ticketing Event Ticketing Event Ticketing Event Ticketing Networking Event Analytics