Source – Unsplash – Teemu Pannanen
Sponsoring an event is a secret weapon that can supercharge your business, especially if you take advantage of the many flow-on opportunities it provides. With the right approach, you can increase brand awareness, generate leads, and reach more people in your target market. Here are five tips to help you shine as an event sponsor:
1. Customize Your Business To The Event
Adapt everything about your business to suit this event to ensure you get the most out of it. Create specific targets, adapt your theme, and most importantly, adjust your brand marketing for the event. Avoid using a “one-size-fits-all” approach as attendees can see through this instantly.
Instead, invest in fabric banners and additional marketing material specifically created for this event. The goal is to have attendees drawn to your insightful theme and marketing, making them feel like you’re a true industry leader.
2. Measure Your Success
Create strong, well thought out objectives, then track and measure your success both during and after the event. This is valuable future-proofing for when you sponsor events again. It also helps you make the most of your current situation as you have the chance to adapt and improve any strategies that aren’t working. You can also capitalize on new ideas and innovations you have during your time as a sponsor.
3. Who Do You Want To Impress?
“Everyone at the event” is not a target market, unfortunately. Think about it this way: Say you’re selling a red button and you know that 2.1 billion people use Facebook, Whatsapp or Instagram every day, but it is unlikely that all 2.1 billion will want to buy your button.
To make your marketing as effective as possible, you need to find out who is most likely to love your product, buy it, and support your brand message. Then, you need to advertise to that demographic.
By taking on that same targeted approach at the event, you can make the most of your efforts. Fail to identify your target market, and you run the risk of creating marketing that isn’t specific enough and falls short of reaching anyone at all, let alone your demographic.
4. Speak To Those Who Know
Speak to those who know how you can make the most of the event. The organizers, for example, can give you an insight into how previous businesses have utilized the event, and most importantly, who was the most successful in their approach. It doesn’t mean that you should copy, of course, but you can get a good insight into the strongest ideas and allow this to inform your own strategy.
5. Add Something Meaningful To The Event
If you truly want to be remembered in your position as an event sponsor, add something meaningful to the event. Maybe you have free swag bags with relevant goodies. Maybe, you can organize an interview with somebody with high esteem in your industry.
Even better, you could create something lasting, like a video of event highlights or key moments that fellow industry leaders will want to share. If you can capture drone footage, all the better. You could simply blog, but video is the future. Nearly 60% of executives agree they would view video over reading a blog if both were available.
Shining as a sponsor doesn’t come from luck or chance. If you follow the tips above and put the groundwork in, you’ve got every chance of seeing your brand gain lasting positive attention, results, and insight at your upcoming event.