Sponsorships not only help make your event financially viable but, if well planned, can enhance the event experience and provide extra value to attendees. The key is to work with the sponsor to shape the collaboration in a way that’s mutually beneficial. It may seem more challenging to do this for an online event, but it doesn’t need to be. This chapter is designed to point you in the right direction.
You may not be able to project a sponsor's logo onto the venue wall, but the online medium affords plenty of opportunities for creativity. Here are a just few ideas for how you might make use of Vito’s features to build out attractive and value-driven sponsorship packages:
Create branded sponsor pages with rich text content, videos and more
Enable the discussion feed on sponsor pages to allow for audience interaction that emulates a booth experience (except it involves less awkward standing around…)
Set up a virtual goodie bag where sponsors can offer exclusive digital swag — see below for ideas
Create a page to list job opportunities for sponsors who are hiring
Add sponsor branding to sessions in the schedule using Cards
Include branded videos or segments during the live-stream — ideally, ones that fit in well with the rest of your event content
Group and display sponsors hierarchically according to their package level
The best swag — whether physical or digital — is something that: a) your participants actually want, and b) showcases what the sponsor's brand is all about. No more logo-covered frisbees that have nothing to do with your business and end up in the trash, please! Instead, your sponsors could offer:
Free downloadable content (ebooks, audio books, games, documents, templates, etc.)
Free or discounted license for a software download or subscription
Free or discounted access to an online course
Extended free trials of their product or service
Exclusive pre-launch access to their new product or service
Discount codes or credits to spend on their product or service
Novelty interactive experiences such as a virtual photo booth using augmented reality
🎬 Watch this tutorial for pointers on displaying swag or offers using Cards.
Another option that can be pulled off very easily is an online competition. The sponsor simply needs to set up a form to capture the participants' entries (and select one or more prizes to offer), and this can be linked to from within the hub. Make sure to state any restrictions clearly on the competition page.
On this note, sponsors can also offer to ship physical swag to participants on an opt-in basis, which is a great way to reduce waste. Again, all that's needed is a simple form. Popular swag ideas include stickers, t-shirts, socks, toys, collectibles, etc. Again, be sure to make clear any shipping restrictions.
Events can be a perfect opportunity for brands to reach specific audiences that they might like to hire from. You can easily set up a sponsored job offers page in the hub, again using Cards. It's also a good idea to encourage these sponsors to provide additional content, such as a video of employee testimonials, to include on their page and help promote their company as a great place to work.
We hope this chapter has shown that online events afford lots of exciting opportunities to showcase partnerships, and that it gives you and your sponsors plenty of ideas to work with.