Should You Add Event Sponsorships to Your Business Plan?

The marketing section of your business plan is one of the most important sections you write. (And oftentimes it’s the most fun). You’ll have a prospect goal for the year and the marketing section discusses how you’ll reach that goal. In other words, how will you get and keep customers/clients?

Sponsoring events can be one of the most effective ways of attracting clients if it’s done properly. In fact, 83% of B2B marketers are heavily invested in events.

Traditionally, we’ll see branding building sponsorships like Pepsi sponsoring a Beyonce tour or the Superbowl. But those types of sponsorships don’t work for the average small business. We need results. We demand an immediate return on investment. Therefore, we need to sponsor events that cause our perfect prospects to raise their hand and ask us for more information.

If you offer a service to other businesses, sponsoring (or even hosting) education events can help you grow your prospect pool exponentially. Adding event sponsorship to your business plan can be very wise.

Here are 7 steps to sponsoring events that produce results:

 Know your target market and which conferences they’re attending. Sometimes it’s better to sponsor a small event with 100 of your perfect prospects than a large event with 10,000 lukewarm recipients.

 Review the event marketing plan. When you agree to sponsor an event, you expect a certain number of ideal prospects to be on site. How aggressively will the event host market the event? How receptive is the audience to the event marketing? Before writing a check, ask about the event marketing plan.

 Have a prospect goal. Some companies spend almost 30% of their marketing budget on a specific event. As small business owners, we must have an event return on investment mandate. Answer the following questions before deciding on sponsoring an event:

a. How many leads should we get from this event?

b. How many do we expect to convert into opportunities?

c. How much revenue could we possibly generate?

d. What is our estimated event return on investment?

I’m currently working with a group that will be the title sponsor of an event. They selected a social media influencer in their target market as their keynote speaker. Their goal is clear. We want 400 people in the room and 10,000 people watching the live stream event within 24 hours of it airing. Their event ROI is 2,000 new prospects and 500 new clients within 30 days of the event. Within your business plan, you should outline the same expectations.

 Getting the right attention is the name of the game. According to the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, 56% of Directors of Marketing view exhibiting positioning on floor as most important to maximize ROO/ROI. If you’re a sponsor, you MUST think about how you’ll get attention. One of the best ways is to be a speaker. Another great way is to have an exhibit booth in an ideal location. Think about how you’ll get attention before you write a check. It’s easier to negotiate these things before you agree to sponsor an event.

 You need a sales script to be successful.  Many people want to be spontaneous with sales but it doesn’t work. You won’t maximize sales unless it’s a scientific and mechanical process. Top sales trainers teach that scripts, appearance and dress, movement and body language, the selling environment, the actual movement of the prospect physically, seating, props, and more affect whether or not you’ll make a sale. Setting aside several days to write an event script is vital to reaching your event targets.

 Schedule time to follow up with prospects the day after the event. Many entrepreneurs make this mistake. They don’t schedule time on their calendar to follow up with prospects which means you’ve wasted your sponsorship dollars. When you decide to sponsor the event and write the check, immediately schedule follow up time on your calendar as well. Block it off and consider it money making time.

 Create a long-term for prospects. Some prospects may convert immediately. Others may take time. But having a 365 day follow up program can help you maximize sales conversions.

Sometimes there isn’t a perfect event that you can sponsor. If not, you should create your own conference or road tour. It can start off small and grow. For example, there’s a CRM system called Infusionsoft. The first conference had 40 individuals in a small hotel room and has grown over the years to thousands of evangelists. Creating your own events allow you to control the marketing, speakers, education content and more.

We all have limited marketing dollars our business plan budgets. We also have a number of prospects we need each year to meet our revenue goals. Events are still one of the best ways for us to reach those goals.

Cheree Warrick is a business plan writer that helps companies nationwide. She writes business plans for bank loans, angel investment, government certifications, immigrant visas, and more. Contact her at wewritebusinessplans.com.