How to Land More Sponsors for Your Next Event

Want to be more successful at landing business sponsorships for your events?

Here’s an easy way to land more sponsors when you’re asking for sponsorships through the mail or email.

Our clients have applied the following lessons from successful direct mail and landed more (and higher value) sponsors:

• Get to the point — that you’re asking for an event sponsorship — very quickly. Usually within the first couple sentences, and no later than the first sentence of the second paragraph.
• Mention a “shared value” with the organization you’re asking. Something like, “I know you care about the elderly, and it’s clear [COMPANY NAME] does too…”
• Write from one person to one person. Do not use the Organizational or Royal “we.” Make it a direct ask from one person to one person (even if you don’t know who the other person is, exactly).
• Sell the benefits of the sponsorship, and “sell” the outcomes your organization creates in the same way you’ll sell them to a donor. For example, if your organization provides housing for elderly people, you could say something like, “In addition, your sponsorship will help a local senior in need have a safe, long-term place to stay.”
• Provide the name of a person to call if the reader has a question, and a phone number (direct line if possible).
• Be sure to repeat the Ask for a sponsorship in the last paragraph or two. Just like with your fundraising direct mail and email, very few people will read the whole thing.

Apply these easy ideas the next time you send a letter or email to potential event sponsors, and you’ll land more sponsorships!