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Recently on a number of industry lists, there have been some discussions on selling sponsorships. The jest of the conversations were about finding ways to recoup costs by finding companies to pay for exposure through virtually everything that has to do with the event’s meals, functions and parties.
Interestingly enough, the responses were based on how successful you can be offering “exposure by association” to firms for each of the event’s functions. Still others talked about selling sponsorships for the program, giveaways and other typical components found at an event. But no one talked about giving the sponsor something that offered measurable return.
As I often spout from my soapbox, both the event and exhibition industry have changed substantially from the exhibitors/sponsors point of view since the post 9/11 downturn. Granted the industry has seen steady growth over the last two to three years but companies are not spending like they did so long ago, especially without concrete proof of value.
Industry surveys show that while exhibit space sales has leveled off, sponsorships have been on the increase. Companies see this type of brand exposure can actually help them achieve recognition on the show floor. The caveat is that they are less willing to spend on sponsorships that don’t offer access to highly targeted attendees or they can’t provide some form of traceable ROI.
Like the old-school identifying keys added to a direct mail campaign address (i.e. P.O. Box HG1, which stood for House & Garden Magazine ad 1) a sponsor (or in this case a mail-order advertiser) could clearly define which ad drew the best response. In today’s newer electronic campaigns used to promote an exhibition on an event, the goal is to target viewers and motivate them to visit a web site where they are ”Pushed” to an exhibit or function to obtain specific information or provided an incentive to redeem a specific value in exchange for a phrase.
The goal here is to move customers around until they ultimately end up in a position where they are ready to commit to a purchase or a service. Through each move, the needs become more defined and the information passed on helps to further identify and address the customer’s priorities.
Today’s sponsorships need to present a path to a company that demonstrate some form of measurable return. Whether it be increased brand recognition, sales commitments, or just qualified eyeballs your goal is to provide something that they could not easily replicate on their own.
Obviously, there are some budgetary items that can’t provide any real measurable value. In those cases, you need to create bundles with other more attractive items to build a better sponsorship package. Ultimately, this package could yield greater revenues if the sum total of the program is better than the individual pieces.
Rising Above The Clutter
For just a moment, think like a sponsor-
With the mountain of information attendees collect at an event or trade show, your most important goal is to have your information make it past the first cut. In most cases this is the “Round File” within the hotel room where the attendee is staying. The second cut is getting to the office and being reviewed with a project in mind. The real goal is becoming a reference resource that is referred to on multiple occasions.
Once your material reaches that plateau, you’re in. You become part of a standard, a benchmark by which competitors are measured against. It’s like the old Sears Toy Catalog distributed just around the holidays. Every child coveted that book and mulled over each page trying to come up with the wish list. Over and over again, we looked at the pages, read the descriptions and studied the images to make sure we didn’t miss a thing.
Today’s technology has the same ability to create such “Stickiness” and provide even greater depth about the products and services. Just imagine if you could have viewed the absolute “Must Have” toy on your computer screen and been able to click on the image to see the toy in action, or ten different views with detailed descriptions.
Think what it would have been like had you had the ability to compare side-by-side the two most important toys in the book. Now think what it would have been like if your parents could have purchased that exact toy without leaving the house...
More importantly, think about the toy store being able to track visitors to the exact page and product and even know how often you return to stare at the prize. Just knowing these statistics tells the toy company what to expect in sales. By converting the ratio of views to sales, they can forecast what kind of inventory they need as well as what source gave them the added business. Now think about applying that model to a sponsorship program.
Collect More From The Attendee and Give More To The Sponsor
For many this is a tough goal. For certain associations, this is down right against the rules. But companies that are potential sponsors are looking for more details. They want to know more about your member’s or attendee’s decision-making habits, buying levels and purchasing objectives. If you can’t provide this data they want permission to ask themselves. Making your sponsorship program successful means providing either this coveted information or a way for them to gain the intelligence themselves
Summary Opinion
When building sponsorship programs think about how you can help the company achieve some of their marketing and sales objectives. Use technology that can trace viewers, move them from one marketing medium to another and if not create a sale, help to define their closing objectives. Selling companies on “Sponsorships by Association” will become tougher as accountability becomes greater. That’s my opinion.
Tell me what you think and we’ll post your response here for everyone to read it.
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