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I was recently on a Sponsor Prep call for an event I’m sponsoring in a few weeks, and was surprised to hear one of the sponsors ask a question that should have been asked much earlier in the process – in fact, before the commitment was made to sponsor the event.
This question is often overlooked, and could determine whether you lose thousands of dollars on a sponsorship or make an incredible return on investment.
Her question was about something you must know up front when you are in the initial stages of checking out events to invest your time and money into.
Here’s the question she asked: “How much are people paying to attend this event?”
One of the reasons I promote sponsoring and speaking at other people’s events as an income-producing strategy is that you have the opportunity to connect with qualified leads for your business– people who have demonstrated they are willing to invest in themselves.
I must confess this is one of many lessons I had to learn the hard way in my initial year of sponsoring events. But it’s a lesson you can learn right here without losing any of your precious time and money!
Whether people pay to attend the events you sponsor is critical.
Because it tells you whether they already know they need to invest and are willing to invest in themselves and their development. Once you know that, it’s just a matter of finding the people at the event who need and are ready to invest in what you offer.
But you need to know this before you commit to your sponsorship.
Here are three things you must find out when considering a sponsorship opportunity. Three things that will help you determine whether the audience has proven they are willing to invest:
What ticket prices are being offered for this event? If you sell only high-end products or services, and the average ticket price is $29, you really don’t know if you’ll find your ideal clients at the event, and sponsorship might not be a good investment for you. One of the industry trends right now is that event hosts are offering different ticket prices to different groups. There are also early-bird pricing options being offered in many cases. You’ll also want to know how many people are expected to purchase at the different rates. This is really important for you to consider as you analyze whether a sponsorship is a good investment for your business.
How many free tickets are being given away? This information can easily “sneak by you” if you don’t come out and ask. Because another trend in the last year or so is event hosts giving loads of free tickets to event sponsors, clients, or other groups, and I’ve seen some events where over 75% of the people at the event are attending for free. You can just imagine how this could affect the quality of the audience there!
How many people will have to travel to the event? Even if ticket price for the event is low, if most of the attendees had to pay for airfare and hotels, they are still demonstrating their willingness to invest in themselves. So you may not want to count events like this out.
When you choose to sponsor and/or speak at an event, you are often making a large investment of time and money. Using the screening questions I’ve shared with you here will help you determine whether that investment is a good one!
Do you have questions for Debbie about using sponsorships and speaking to grow your business? Submit your question here and Debbie will answer it in an upcoming article!
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