3 Sponsor Retention Strategies
High-five! You have successfully found a sponsor for your event. Take a moment to pat yourself on the back, sit down, and put your feet up, right? Well, it’s important to remember that obtaining and retaining are two very different things.
In fact, obtaining the sponsor was the easy part! That is why we are giving you 3 strategies to help you navigate the turbulent waters of sponsorship retention.
Understand Your Sponsor’s “Why”
Every sponsor has a “why” when they decide to support an event. What is that ‘why?’ It is your job to communicate with your sponsors and tease that answer out!
Is it a PR move? Are you mostly communicating with their HR team, because they're looking to hire?
Are they wanting a certain amount of exposure or attendees (ie, is this a straight marketing expense)?
Are they looking to you to help bring their brand in touch with their audience directly?
Too often, event hosts make the mistake of not factoring in the sponsors main motivation for supporting the event, which can cause a lot of frustration during the planning process and after the event.. The more your event considers the shared goals and objectives, the more likely you will retain your sponsor for a future event.
Assign a Sponsor Liaison
Assign an individual or team to be your sponsor liaison.
There's nothing worse than a sponsor signing a contract after a few great meetings with your fundraising, sales or marketing teams, only to have the event team be radio silent between the contract signing and event date.
A few social media posts don’t cut it if you don’t make your sponsors feel like VIPs!
It is your job (or rather your team's job) to communicate with your sponsor through every process to keep them updated on any tasks they may need to complete, or just simply keep them informed about the event!
Check-In
Communication is key.
Often the largest issue when working with a sponsor for an event is communication, or lack thereof. It is up to you to consistently check in with your sponsor(s) and make sure they are abreast on the details of your event.
You can do this by scheduling a cadence of check-ins, using various methods:
Emails
‘Office hours'-style zoom calls
Hidden sponsor "know before you go" page on the event website
Calendar invitations for key sessions
These check-ins should be the time where you make sure your sponsor contact understands any virtual or hybrid components of your event process, so that there is always a steady stream of communication.
What’s Next?
We know you just got done trying to obtain a sponsor and for many of you, all you want to do is sit back and revel in that joy, but don’t do that quite yet! Whatever impression you leave on your sponsor through your communication and event strategies will determine what sponsors return for your next event. So let’s leave an impression they will never forget!
Not sure how to retain your sponsor for your upcoming event? Schedule a Catalyst Call with us to find out or book a Strategy Sprint with us so we can help you through the entirety of the process.