Creating a Sponsorship Pack

Sponsors can be a really helpful source of product and revenue for your race, so make sure that you are able to offer competitive and valuable event sponsorship package options. An event sponsorship package is essentially your “pitch” on why potential supporters should choose you over other events or channels they could invest their budget. That’s why it’s so critical to understand what are the goals and objectives of your sponsors and potential new sponsors.

When communicating with a sponsor, you will likely be in touch with the head of marketing or similar who will decide if they can be involved. However, they will likely have to consult with other members of their team before any payment or commitment is made. Without a sponsorship package to refer to, they won’t be able to convince others of the value of your event.

Having a pack can help you refer to something further down the line, to see if you’re fulfilling your end of the deal, building trustworthiness between you and the sponsor. 

So here are 2 common approaches to take when designing your package:

1. Tiered Sponsorship Model: This is the traditional approach where a variety of features are included in the event sponsorship package offerings, depending on the sponsorship level
2. A La Carte Sponsorship Model: This approach is commonly used to serve sponsors with specific needs or goals, so flexibility and customisation in their event sponsorship package are key

The Tiered Sponsorship Model

Here is a breakdown of how to build a tiered sponsorship model that can offer something for all levels of desired involvement. 

1. Create Tier Levels. Tiers are commonly labeled as Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Exhibitor, but you have lots of creative freedom to name the levels whatever you think best fits your event or brand. It’s your chance to make it sound fun and appealing to sponsors.
2. Decide Quantities Per Tier. Determine how many event sponsorship packages of each tier level you are able to sell, without compromising or diluting on what you are offering for each of them. The more limited the quantity, the more you can charge for the sponsorship package because of its exclusivity. This will also encourage sponsors to commit earlier so you’re able to better predict your revenue and plan your event.
3. Distribute Sponsorship Benefits Per Tier. The higher and more exclusive the tier, the greater the number of high-value benefits. Below is an example of a tiered sponsorship model:

The A La Carte Sponsorship Model

The a la carte sponsorship model approach is an alternative model for sponsors looking to achieve specific goals or outcomes. Perhaps they haven’t been too interested in what you have had to offer so far, or are not responding well to a tiered model. If you have the time and resources to try something new, this is your key to look into a tailor-made package. Below is an example of a la carte sponsorship offerings, based on the event lifecycle stages.

1. Pre-Event Marketing Communications: Include the sponsor’s logo on your event registration page and any marketing communications promoting the event, such as registration invite emails. Provide social media shout outs to promote sponsors. Invite your sponsors to give the opening remarks before your race start. Include pre-event sponsored giveaways when promoting registration, eg. 2 free race tickets by sharing your post and following your sponsor's page. 
2. Attendee Engagement. If your event has exhibitor spaces, include challenges where attendees need to interact with sponsors and visit their booths in order to collect prizes. Promote sponsor offers and/or giveaways that can be included in your finisher packs or when collecting race numbers, particularly if this is available the day before. Send sponsored emails to your racers.
3. Start Area/Aid Station Recognition. Offering to place the sponsor’s logo on any printed and/or digital marketing materials/signage displayed in the event registration area and start arch or general area. You could also, or instead, offer sponsorship of one of your aid stations, allowing branding at the tables, in addition to a mile marker sign with their logo on it.
4. Post-Event. Include the sponsor’s logo and/or mention them in the post-event email or survey sent to attendees

This is just an example of some of the ideas that can be included in this kind of pacakge. Remember, its tailor-made, so it's up to you to understand the needs and wants of your sponsor before making it. For more on sponsorship meetings to understand your sponsors needs, see our ‘Identify and Approach a Sponsor’ guide. 

But this isn’t all your potential sponsors might want to know about your event and why they should get involved. Apart from the brand recognition and engagment opportunities you have available to them, they’ll want to warm to your audience and event ethos. Here are a couple of extra things you should include in your package:

Your Event Intro and Background 

This is an often forgotten section, but important in order to lay down the foundations for your relationship. Here are some points to highlight to inform and hopefully impress your reader: 

1. Who you are
2. Why you are holding the event
3. The size of the event and how it's grown over the years if applicable
4. Your links within the community
5. Past fundraising achievements 
6. Past sponsors that have supported you
7. Why you need sponsors
8. What you hope to achieve

If they’ve never heard of your event before, you need to give them some information for them to warm to you!

Know your audience

Any potential sponsors will want to know exactly who your audience is. What are their demographics? You should have statistics about your market at your fingertips. Be specific about the ages of your race goers, where they’re from, and gender proportions. You can see these statistics on your eventrac dashboard. 

Sponsors want to know information about the audience's purchasing habits, this information will help them work out if its the right market for them to showcase their brand in. 

Charity Partners

Do you have any charity partners? If so, they should definitely be included in your package, either at the beginning in an ‘about’ section or near the end after your package options. If your sponsor has the opportunity to be associated with the charities that your event is supporting, its a win-win. You could even go a step further, and include the option to ‘nominate event charity’ as part of the top sponsorship package. 

Call to Action

Don’t be afraid to include some sort of call to action within your sponsorship packages. This makes it easier for them to respond and, of course, say yes to your proposal.

At the very least, make sure you include your contact information. Making it easy for them to get in touch with you is paramount especially if an answer to their question could mean the difference between a “no” and a “yes.”

In Conclusion...

The aim is for your potential sponsors to know exactly what they will get out of your sponsorship packages. Be very clear on why you think it is worth their time and money. Be specific when you contact potential sponsors. Learn more about them, what they do, what audience they target, and even other events they’ve sponsored in the past. Customize your message to meet their needs so you can make it easy for them to invest in your event. See our guide on ‘What can your race offer a sponsor’ for more ideas of what to include in your pack and making the most out of your brand placement opportunities.