Virtual events are now one of the most popular event types in 2021. Swiftly, they are turning into a mission-critical agenda for organizations and brands like you. While virtual events continue to rapidly evolve with time, organizations and brand owners are still trying to find ways to attract sponsors as well as monetize.
When it comes to virtual events sponsorships, there is a lot more going on than one could imagine. Virtual sponsorships are providing new opportunities to build new partnerships and re-engage in-person event sponsors.
Whether you’re someone looking to pivot to virtual events or spending more time redesigning virtual events sponsorship programs, vFairs brought you with everything you need to know. The upcoming examples are loaded with fresh perspectives along with inspiration for virtual events sponsorship ideas.
Continue scrolling to get acknowledged about sponsored sessions to virtual booths, and discover the most popular virtual event sponsorship ideas for better ROI and engaging virtual attendees.
Virtual Events Sponsorship
The traditional methods are on hold, but you still have to generate event sponsorship revenue. How is it possible?
With no billboards, massive signage, face-to-face meetings, and specially named lounges or convention halls, how will you be able to translate the placements sponsors were expecting to an online environment?
At this moment, vFairs has some good news for you!
There is always a new opportunity with virtual events to replace the loss of in-person opportunities for sponsor placement. It only exists when you begin thinking about the bigger picture and are willing to play with some unique yet creative strategies.
Benefits of Sponsorship at Virtual Events
It is important to let your sponsors know the value you’re offering. The best thing to do is start by asking this important question – what’s in it for them? As we all know, sponsorship is quid pro quo.
When you are planning to decide what to offer your sponsors, it is crucial that you think about their goals regarding the events they attend. In short, you need to keep it interesting.
As a matter of fact, sponsors choose events that are based on the leads they can capture as well as the connections they can make. Sponsors also look forward to the brand recognition they can build at a virtual event.
By keeping all the above-mentioned information in your mind, most of your sponsorship offerings should definitely center around connecting your audience with your sponsors for a successful virtual events sponsorship.
How to Attract Virtual Events Sponsorship Like a Pro
Let’s take a look at six virtual events sponsorship production strategies and ideas that will drive impactful experiences for your upcoming virtual sponsors.
1. Sponsorship Website Pages
When virtual events sponsorship acts as real estate, it is highly valuable for sponsors that are looking forward to showcasing their brands during your virtual event. For this purpose, virtual event website pages are the best options to provide dedicated space in order to share a sponsor’s mission, messaging, products, and brand design.
This will help attract their target audience, who will be attending your virtual event. This also has the potential to be one of the most high-value virtual event resources that you will be provided to the attendees.
Sponsors can also gain some additional value by sharing downloadable content. They can also highlight sponsored sessions to capture leads.
2. Virtual Sponsor Booths
Sponsor booths are a mainstay at in-person events like trade shows and conferences. This is because they allow sponsors to engage with the attendees 1:1. Replicating the entire in-person booth experience is not the idea here but to seek ways that will build a dedicated virtual space for your sponsors. In this way, they will be able to interact with virtual attendees in a fun way by availing themselves of the face-to-face digital interaction offer.
3. Sponsored Tracks and Sessions
One of the vital elements in the virtual events sponsorship experience is tracks and sessions. When you provide the sponsors with the ability to create highly targeted content or entertainment within your event, they’ll feel more compelled to buy-in.
Our experts find that the majority of the time, sponsors will approach hosts with a formulated idea about what they’d like to share in their track, session, or entertainment. In this case, if you can provide your sponsor the tools to showcase their brand, it will act as a great way to provide a mutual return on investment in the partnership.
4. Sponsored Entertainment Breaks
When we talk about the most effective sponsorships, it is important to mention that some of the most popular visibility to offer sponsors takes place during breaks in your event program. According to Valerie Bihet, director of VIBE Agency (Miami) getting a sponsor is like arranging a “mini-concert” with a performance by a live musician or entertainer. Both of them will add energy to your virtual event hence providing a memorable opportunity for marketing.
Bihet also adds that a number of celebrity musicians are now hosting in-home concerts due to this global pandemic. They host the concerts on their social media feeds to stay connected with fans. Now, in this case, a short, 15-minute virtual concert having a frame around the viewing panel that is branded with the sponsor’s name provides the sponsor with even better exposure.
5. Branded Waiting Rooms
Before any virtual presentation starts, you have a big opportunity to get the logo or message of your sponsor in front of the attendees. These moments just before a live keynote or panel begins are the best for virtual events sponsorship recognition.
This is because it provides the sponsor with the opportunity to be the very first thing the audience sees of the virtual production. Tracey Shappro, president and CEO of VISION Production Group says, whether it is logos or actual video content, both create interactive and tech-driven brand experiences for clients.
6. Sponsored Introductions and Video Ads
For this idea, we will be taking inspiration from proven models that are already present in established live streaming services. This includes YouTube as well.
Take this as an example, during virtual events break, you could prompt attendees to have a look at a short video ad that is designed by the sponsor. It is important that you communicate with the sponsors about what platform you planned to use for live-stream. Also, the quality you’re aiming for must also be discussed prior to the event in order to ensure that the ads are compatible and won’t look foreign.
The exact opportunities will, of course, depend on which platform you’re using, so be sure to check out what your options are as you curate your live streaming tools and design sponsorship packages.
Sponsorship Metrics
An important part of virtual events sponsorship is proving impact. The data you were able to gather during the virtual event will prove the value of sponsorship. In simple words, it will tell what the sponsors got for their investment in your virtual event.
You can use the analytics and data provided by your event technology platform such as vFairs to show the impact this sponsorship had on both parties. By joining hands with vFairs, you can pull a post-event report to share with sponsors in CSV format. They can also view live attendee stats and report back to sponsors on those. Not only this but the exhibitors can also view real-time booth metrics within their own dashboard.
Important Data to Provide Your Sponsors to Show Impact
Here are a few criteria sponsors and exhibitors can use to track how impactful their efforts were:
- Number of attendees
- Webinar attendance
- Webinar engagement
- Booth attendance
- Content downloads
- Content engagement
- Chat metrics
- Survey results
These data points will help your sponsors track ROI and better understand their target audiences, thus increasing the value of your sponsorship packages!
