3 minute read
Getting Your Sponsors Excited Again, by Katie Bell
GETTING YOUR SPONSORS EXCITED AGAIN
By Katie Bell
Tradeshows and conventions are rapidly returning to in-person events. After a year of being limited to branded email blasts and virtual meetings, it’s more important than ever to bring sponsors back into the fold with dynamic messaging opportunities. Providing a flexible service that can cater to all sizes and levels of sponsorships is critical for reestablishing win-win partnerships. In the ever-changing events industry, you can’t always pick up where you left off, but rebuilding doesn’t need to be an impossible task.
Here are three key advantages to digital branding as a way to re-engage potential sponsors for your conference:
1FLEXIBILITY For your first in-person event in quite some time, you will not always be on terra firma. Letting your sponsors know their message can move and evolve throughout the event is paramount. As ideas and content change, digital messaging is much more economical than print when it comes to changes and adjustments.
Never mind what you think you know, now is a good time to embrace what you don’t. You should be taking the pulse of your event daily, maybe even more than once on the important days, and sculpting your messages to make sure your attendees are feeling positive and welcome. If your branding isn’t connecting the way you expected, you need the flexibility to adjust it in a timely fashion in order to re-engage your audience.
No matter how many content changes you may have, with digital signage you can quickly establish a reliable hub of information throughout your event. For example, with digital signage you can extend a timed offer or onsite call to action that doesn’t require you to print new signs and spend the labor and time needed to strategically place them throughout your event. The ability to deliver information in a targeted manner based on real-time event data insights ensures the sponsor is getting the most value for their spend. 2 ENHANCED PRESENCE There’s a real positive when an attendee looks at your brand or message and thinks “Hey! I remember you!” Familiar encounters with messaging from previous events and campaigns can have a huge impact. Clings and banners always make a sponsor smile, but think about how effective it would be for you to offer additional branding to a sponsor that makes them ready to re-sign for years to come. Digital signage also provides a seamless solution to capturing first-time sponsors who arrive onsite and want to increase their presence among their peers and competitors on the show floor.
3AN VALUE-ADDED REENTRY POINT Getting a sponsor’s name “in lights” is a quick and easy way to provide a great launching pad to reinvigorate those discussions that once seemed so commonplace. If you’re lucky, the folks you knew are back as your closest sponsors and event advocates. If they’re no longer around, every conversation has a starting point, and demonstrating value is always a great place to open negotiations.
Whether your event is right around the corner or you have extra time to plan, offering digital signage as part of a sponsorship package can help get those partners back on board and generate excitement and revenue for your conference.
The ability to deliver information in a targeted manner based on realtime event data insights ensures the sponsor is getting the most value for their spend. As a Digital Signage Sales Manager with Orlando, FLbased Xpodigital, Katie Bell partners with meeting planners to create and execute digital branding campaigns for conventions and tradeshows. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Bell moved to Central Florida to pursue a career in hospitality. She started in guest service and technology at The Walt Disney Company before moving to Xpodigital, where for the past five years she has worked closely with local hotels and the Orange County Convention Center.
