As virtual events become the new norm for the foreseeable future, sponsorship opportunities are in full swing.

For many, this new, uncharted territory has forward-thinking companies trading their annual booth kiosk signs for rich media digital banners and sponsored splash screens. In fact, a recent study by AIM Group International found that 80% of survey representatives in the pharmaceutical and biomedical field said they would be interested in sponsoring a digital gathering.

You can even hire companies to mail premium conference swag packs straight to your attendee’s home.

While marketing budgets may be tighter than ever in our volatile economy, it’s essential to understand the value of virtual sponsorship opportunities in this newly developed landscape to keep your business growing.

So, before you shrug off a potential virtual event sponsorship opportunity, check out these three topics to see how your business can find value in this innovative piece of digital real estate.

Just like in-person, but virtual

Executing a successful sponsorship event is more than slapping your logo across conference signs and booklets. Traditionally, these in-person events give sponsors an opportunity to network with prospects and/or existing customers that can generate new leads and ultimately drive new business.

This opportunity can exist in a virtual setting, too.

If you’ve recently experienced a virtual event live stream with many participants, you know they can get overwhelming. To steer clear of this anxiety, ask your event planner:

• What virtual 1-on-1 opportunities exist between you and event attendees?
• Are there virtual networking happy hours or team games scheduled during the event to create real, authentic connections?
• How is their virtual event or conference logistically set up so that sponsors come out on top and generate revenue-based value?

Most major event companies already have sponsorship portfolios and benefit guides developed for virtual sponsor prospects. Like traditional sponsored in-person events, these digital event booklets should include various levels of sponsorship packages, attendee demographics, your reach, estimate of live attendees, and many other measurable media elements.

Make sure you note which opportunities within their sponsorship portfolio will help you connect with attendees in smaller groups, or even 1-on-1 to generate those premium leads.

Digital is measurable

You should be able to measure success across these virtual events since digital is measurable.

Most event companies are happy to showcase metrics, like the total number of impressions you’ll receive, click-to-open rates for sponsored emails, total clicks on sponsored banners, etc. This data will help you evaluate if sponsoring a virtual event is worth the money for your brand.

On your end, you can develop a new campaign landing page exclusively for event attendees that can showcase how your product/service can be their solution. On the back end, you can see your metrics in real-time that can help gauge how effective your sponsorship elements are.

Is your creative not generating enough clicks? Assuming your event spans over a few days, ask your event contact what optimization opportunities they offer so that you can swap out one piece of creative with another for maximum impact.

This is a huge win because, in a traditional event space, you’re one of many sponsors encouraging attendees to check out your website. However, in a virtual event landscape, you may be one of a few sponsors within the virtual event. Since your audience is already behind the screen of their personal device, your website will be only one click away.

Engaging creative

Virtual events are designed to help sponsors gain maximum value, so it’s vital your sponsorship creative is engaging, relevant and disruptive.

While all sponsorship opportunities are going to vary between event companies, here are some of our favorite, memorable examples of sponsorship opportunities that sponsors have found value in:

• Virtual Exhibit Booths – This exclusive landscape allows attendees to interact with various elements within your very own customized, digital booth. From allowing attendees to read more about your product via digital brochure, to speaking 1-on-1 with a brand rep right away, everything your attendee would expect from an in-person booth is right at their fingertips.
• Exclusive Mini Concerts – Some virtual events are hiring musicians to exclusively stream live performances straight from their home to their guests. Get a piece of the pie with a frame around the viewing panel branded with your logo to generate impressions or lead them to your site.
• Splash Screens – Quickly emerge your audience with your brand via a traditional, yet unique, splash page to generate leads across various times within the virtual event.
• Sponsored Games – Take your sponsorship engagement to the next level with sponsored, virtual games. Here, you can brand these opportunities with your company’s logo or hashtag. To add a cherry on top, mail game winners (or all participants) a small prize once the event is over to keep your company top-of-mind.

Although virtual events sponsoring are becoming more popular, you can still collaborate with your event host to create a unique sponsorship opportunity specifically for your brand.

The power of asking for different, but creative, sponsorship opportunities is extremely important today since this virtual arena is so new for many sponsors – including event companies.

To set up a brainstorm to generate valuable ideas for your next sponsorship event, contact us to set up a free consultation today.