When planning an event, money is essential. You know it, and we know it, and businesses know it too – that’s why they can’t wait to sponsor an event, isn’t it?
In this article, we will talk about:
- Essential questions to ask yourself before approaching a potential sponsor
- How to look for potential sponsors
- How to approach them after creating a shortlist
- Essential elements and structure of a successful event sponsorship proposal
Are you ready to get the money you need? Let’s do this!
Rox Event Staffis the only event staffing agency in London that helps you take theheadache out of staffing and event marketing in one place.
We operate nationwide across the UK with over 2,000 dynamic event staff on our growing roster. We have dedicated account management, event marketers, staff’s right-to-work checks, training and skills tests on all workers, taking care of payroll too.
All this leaves you free to focus on your business!
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Define your event brand and objectives
Before writing an event sponsorship proposal (or even before contacting potential sponsors), you should define in a clear way who you are, your event and your goals.
This structure will help you not only to select the best candidates but also it will help you offering something in exchange for a sponsorship.
Here below, you will find some key questions to ask yourself to define your brand and goals. They will help you make your sponsors at ease when they receive your event sponsorship proposal:
The Event Brand
What kind of event are you organising? What are your business’s goals, values and philosophy? You should have a clear definition of your brand as event planners (Open the link in a new tab and come back here to learn how to ask for and write an event sponsorship proposal)
Target audience
Who is your target audience? Are they professionals in tie and suits that like conferences and networking? Or are they inspiring rock stars that delight themselves in air guitar playing?
Professional Background
What’s your professional background? Do you have lots of successful events in your resume? Did you work in any other industry that gave you unique skills?
Unique strengths
What makes you different from other event organisers looking for event sponsorships? Do you have unique strengths that make you original?
Partnership benefits
What’s to gain for those working with you? Do they increase sales? Does it inspire their staff? Being associated with them makes you stand out from the crowd?
How to find potential sponsors
Once you defined your brand identity, your target audience and your strengths, you are ready to look for and approach potential event sponsors.
Here some way to research an event sponsor:
- Look for companies that already sponsored similar events (they are probably keen to do that again)
- Make a list of their competitors (they don’t want to be left out)
- Ask past editions’ attendees what brands they enjoyed most (those brand surely want to reach your audience)
- Make some researches to find out what your target audience likes (the brands they use are great candidates)
- Use Sponsor My Event to find companies willing to sponsor events (open the link in a new tab and come back here to learn how to ask and write an event sponsorship proposal)
How can you approach potential sponsors?
You should have a list of potential sponsors to approach. But…wait a second! How can you contact them with no event sponsorship proposal?
Wait.
What you should do is make a phone call and send emails. Nobody likes it (until they buy, they will then love you). But you are not there yet. Find out whom you should talk to before. The “decision-maker” is the person that has that decisional power, and it’s challenging to get hold of them. You should spend some time reading online articles, checking Linkedin profiles, calling and sending emails to their colleagues before actually being able to talk to them.
How to write an event sponsorship proposal
Let’s get to the point. An event sponsorship proposal is a written sales presentation. As such, there are no strict rules to follow. It has to sell your event. Once you succeeded in contacting the right decision-maker, they will ask you to send a sponsorship proposal or to meet you in person. If they asked you to send a sponsorship proposal, it would be sufficient to write a simple Word document or PDF (open the link in a new tab and come back here to learn how to ask and write an event sponsorship proposal). If they want to meet you in person, then you should prepare a PowerPoint.
Now, let’s find out how to write an event sponsorship proposal.
Describe the event in a few words
The event is the main focus to discuss with potential sponsors while you explain to them why they should invest in your event. Make sure the first part will include all the event’s selling points that may be interesting to sponsors:
- The event name
- Date and time
- Presenters and artists
- Catering and suppliers
- Location
- What makes your event special
Your potential sponsors may be interested in the event’s background (if you already organised anything similar before). And finally, they will want to know why you do what you do. What’s the purpose of the event and what’s the mission as the event organiser?
Introduce your target audience
The kind of event you organise will give you a hint of your target audience. The second part of your sponsorship proposal should talk about your target audience. Here some details to include (the more, the merrier):
- Age group
- Gender
- Interests
- Job position
- Salary
- Skills
- Since the visual element of your sponsorship proposal is essential too, you should consider creating an infographic for your target audience (Open the link in a new tab and come back here to learn how to ask and write a sponsorship proposal)
Suggestion: include in your sponsorship proposal how you are aiming to manage Covid-19 related risks, using our FREE Covid-19 Risk Assessment for Events TEMPLATE
Prove your past successes
Do you remember we talked about your professional past? Now it’s time to put on display your past results. Having a brilliant idea for an event, it’s great. And it’s even better sharing the same target audience with your event sponsor. But why should they give you their money? Your resume demonstrates you know what you are doing. If you want people to invest in your event, you should demonstrate an adequate level of credibility.
Suggestion:check how to create an event organiser resume (Open the link in a new tab and come back here to learn how to ask and write a sponsorship proposal)
Plan your strategy
You now explained the event concept, who’s your target audience and why you are the right person to organise it. Now prove it. Illustrate how you will plan the event, step by step. This strategy will allow sponsors to understand if you know what you are talking about, and if your expectations are realistic. Imagine you are writing a business plan to ask a bank loan. You can apply the same principles. And finally, the timeline should include your advertisem*nt plans. This way, sponsors will know in advance how much publicity they will get through their sponsorship.
Suggestion:Use this guide for creating a smooth timeline for your event (Open the link in a new tab and come back here to learn how to ask and write a sponsorship proposal)
Suggest some sponsorship packages
Once you found convincing selling point to your event, your target audience and your resume, it’s time to your potential sponsors how they can be part of it. You should put together some sponsorship deals that can help them advertise their brand and sell more. Your sponsorship deals should include:
- Website banners
- Live streaming purchases
- Drink and catering
- Goodie bags, swags and brochures
- The Event’s App
Template for an event sponsorship proposal
If you are overwhelmed by the information you will have to include your sponsorship proposal, don’t worry: there are many templates you can use, once adjusted. Better Proposals is an excellent example of elegant and professional templates you can use. You can event go to template.net and find over 13 models to use.
Rox Event Staffis the only event staffing agency in London that helps you take theheadache out of staffing and event marketing in one place.
We operate nationwide across the UK with over 2,000 dynamic event staff on our growing roster. We have dedicated account management, event marketers, staff’s right-to-work checks, training and skills tests on all workers, taking care of payroll too.
All this leaves you free to focus on your business!
FREE QUOTE >>
Are you ready to contact your sponsors?
Congratulations, you are now on the right path to find your event sponsorship. Remember to personalise every single proposal. Everyone likes a personal touch.
Do you have a sponsorship proposal to send? Let us know in the comments below!
