I rarely purchase a packaged sponsorship for my clients or my own brand. But my clients and VI both sponsor a lot of events. The difference is that we activate sponsorships in a manner that supports the objectives of the given brand.
Companies that sell sponsorships typically develop a series of investment levels that take a basic package and then they add “value” to it, increasing the price at each jump. These packages work for them — it’s easy to put your logo on the website, invitation and video monitors. Tickets to the event for your staff or clients might be included in the next level up, along with some booth space. The top level might include the opportunity to address the event attendees from the podium, and you might get your hands on the database of attendees to use for future marketing. You get the point: The event has inherent opportunities for you to take part in. You and everyone else they are selling to.
The experienced marketer knows that proper activation begins with the attendees themselves. Are they good prospects for your brand? If so, then maybe you’re interested in showcasing your brand there. But chances are you will blend in with the rest of the sponsors and not get a return on your time or money if you buy the pre-packaged option. It is not much better than just making a donation. What to do?
People in sponsorship sales can’t customize each and every pitch they make for the benefit of you, their prospect. They wouldn’t know how, because they aren’t familiar with your objectives. But you are intimately in tune with what your marketing is trying to achieve. You may very well see the value in a $25k investment to effectively reach the people that will attend a given event or attraction. But that investment is much more likely to pay off if you can customize your sponsorship for YOUR benefit.
You have to decide what you want to do and how you want to do it in order to maximize your opportunity. Maybe it includes some of the items from the “Gold Package” that you have been presented — don’t summarily dismiss all of those options. But ask for what will help you execute your marketing strategy. You might even have ideas that actually improve the event for the organizers. Example: You add valet parking to the event because you will get to meet every attendee as they arrive and leave.
One simple approach is to look at sponsorships like a media buy: You have purchased the time or space, but it’s up to you to determine what you will do with it. What is your creative execution? What works for your brand is not the same as what works for other brands in marketing. Sponsorships are no different — they are a form of marketing that should be customized at every turn.
And it should NOT be an afterthought that your involvement with the event should begin long before the event is held and continue past the event’s closure. Sponsorships are a marketing tactic. Every marketing tactic should be executing your brand’s strategy, and only YOU know how to best do that.