After attendees, sponsors and partners are the next key stakeholders for any event. With their cash or in-kind donations and other support they make the events a reality. But what’s in it for the sponsors? What are they looking for?
Sponsors rated “creative awareness/visibility”, “increase brand loyalty” and “change/reinforce image” as the most important objectives when evaluating choices. Presence in the event app can help them immensely with these priorities. In fact, 46% of sponsorship decision-makers said that presence in mobile/digital/social is a very valuable benefit. It’s ranked second with on-site signage. The only benefit that surpasses it is the perennial category exclusivity. If your sponsors are still on the fence about event apps, we can help.
Here Are 7 Things You Can Tell Your Sponsors to Sell Them on a Convention App:
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“Attendees can engage with your brand in just one click!”
One key benefit of a convention app is that you can include clickable links for sponsor information such as website, phone number, landing page and social media pages. While printed agendas can have this information, in mobile event apps these are live links. Imagine the vast difference between expecting an attendee to type in the entire URL that is featured in a printed event agenda versus just clicking on a link! Sponsors can also include telephone numbers and social media links that are also clickable!
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“You can reach attendees (and prospective attendees) beyond event day(s).”
Feature your sponsor on the event app cover. You’ll use the app cover in all of your event app marketing leading up to the event so the sponsors will get brand exposure even before the event app is downloaded. As you encourage app downloads and engagement, inform attendees that the exhibitor profiles and exhibition hall map can be found in the event app. This will give partners added exposure via screenshots. Plus, attendees will be able to view detailed listings ahead of time to plan out which booths to visit at the event. After the event, you can include screenshots of the event app in emails and blog posts about featuring an event recap. Additionally, you can keep the engagement and conversations going so sponsors will continue to get brand exposure as well.
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“You can send timely push notifications directly to attendees’ phones.”
Push notifications show up on the attendees mobile devices even if they aren’t currently looking at the event. They’re great not just for bringing users back to the event app but can be a very valuable placement for partners. Offer your premium sponsors push notifications about their brand driving the attendee to their listing or even a link to their website to learn more. Exhibitors can add-on push notifications to their package that can be sent out during expo hall hours. If a partner has sponsored a session or workshop, the reminder push notification for it can include the sponsor’s name. Again, the key benefit here is reaching attendees outside of the event app on the mobile devices.
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“You can easily look at individual attendee information and better qualify leads”.
“Capture database/lead generation” is a growing objective and joined the top 10 list for sponsor objectives for 2016. In event apps you can feature detailed attendee listings including the attendees company name and contact information such as email, phone and even social media profiles. You can also add custom information such as “their key reason for attending the event”. Sponsors and exhibitors can review these listings ahead of time and even connect with attendees with just one click from the event app. This type of access is impossible via paper agendas. To avoid overwhelming attendees, set some guidelines around when and how often partners can solicit attendees. For example, once before the event via one channel only.
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“You can also interact with attendees right in the event app”.
With features like Yapp’s Social Feed, partners can post helpful resources, fun facts or photos in the event app and join the conversation with attendees where they are. Additionally, they can “like” and comment on posts from attendees you are trying to reach. This type of interaction will help sponsors’ representative and their brand get noticed. Imagine the power of being able to respond to a question from an attendee that’s directly related to your product!
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“You can gain valuable information and feedback about your target audience”.
There are many ways to collect feedback from event apps. Here are 5 ways to collect feedback in an event app. Sponsors can collect direct feedback by submitting a sponsored poll question. Additionally, for some qualitative feedback, they can monitor the conversations going on in the Social Feed among attendees. Partners can leverage this type of information about attendees to prepare for the event as well as apply the learnings to their marketing and product plan in the future.
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“You can have detailed insight about the true ROI for your sponsorship”.
Sponsors rarely get detailed data and metrics around event sponsorships. Assistance measuring ROI is a valuable service add for majority of sponsors and 65% are not satisfied with what’s provided to them. Get ahead of the curve with event apps and wow your sponsors. Event App Analytics allow you to monitor everything from app installs to popular content by date in real-time. Sponsors will have actual metrics to better understand their true ROI.
One of the most common concerns for event planners switching from paper is how will they feature their sponsors and partners in the event app. There are plenty of innovative ways to do so. Here are 8 ways you can feature sponsors in a Yapp event app.
Have other tips or ideas on how to sell sponsors on an event app? Share them in comments below.
