How to Design Event Sponsorship Packages (Examples + Ideas)

  • Event Management News
How to Design an Event Sponsorship Package

Running an event is a costly experience. Even for small events, costs can ramp up quickly and out of budget if you are not prepared for issues that might pop up. With event costs rising yearly, you will want to bring in revenue from as many channels as possible. Luckily, sponsors are here to make event costs easier to manage and to help generate significant revenue for your event. This is why event sponsorship packages are crucial: because they help you get more sponsors.

What Is an Event Sponsor?

An event sponsor is an individual, company, or organization that provides contributions or financial support for an event in exchange for various benefits, such as brand exposure, marketing opportunities, networking, or goodwill. Event sponsors typically contribute funds, goods, services, or promotional support to help cover the costs of organizing and hosting the event. In return, they receive recognition, advertising, or other forms of visibility before, during, and after the event, depending on the terms of the sponsorship agreement. Sponsors often see events as opportunities to reach a targeted audience, enhance their brand image, or align themselves with a particular cause or community.

What Are the Benefits of Sponsoring an Event?

When a company wants to learn more about your event, they will want to know how they benefit from sponsoring. Every sponsor has different goals, but common benefits include: 

  • Increase brand awareness
  • Generate leads
  • Speaking Opportunities
  • Guaranteed booth space
  • Access to registration and attendee lists

What Is an Event Sponsorship Package?

An event sponsorship package is a structured offering or proposal presented by an event organizer to potential sponsors. It outlines the various sponsorship opportunities available for businesses or individuals interested in supporting the event. These packages are typically tailored to different levels of sponsorship and include a range of benefits and promotional opportunities based on the sponsor’s financial contribution.

What Should an Event Sponsorship Package Include?

You will likely have this information about event sponsorships in a PDF, which you can post on your event website and have your sales team share with interested sponsors. In your event sponsorship package, you want to include the following information:

  • Expected attendance
  • Attendee demographics (age, gender, job titles, etc.)
  • Sponsorship tiers and benefits
  • Testimonials from past sponsors

Event Sponsorship Tier Examples

When it comes to event sponsorship packages, tiers have to be considered. Not every sponsor is going to be equal based on the amount of money they contribute and what they are looking to get in terms of sponsoring your event. This is where sponsorship tiers come into play. You will want to build a sense of exclusivity for your higher sponsor tiers, so you will also want to limit the number of sponsorship opportunities. 

For example, you can use the following tiers:

Sponsor Tier 3: The Silver Package: 

  • Cost: $2,000 
  • Your company logo on all event marketing materials
  • Guaranteed booth in the event expo center
  • A sponsorship grab bag

Sponsor Tier 2: The Gold Package: 

  • Cost: $3,500 
  • Everything in the Bronze Package 
  • A branded lounge room named after your company
  • A dedicated page in the conference handbook handed out at the event
  • Only ten available

Sponsor Tier 1: The Diamond Package:

  • Cost: $8,000 
  • Everything in the Bronze and Silver Packages
  • A guaranteed speaking/demonstration opportunity for your company’s CEO 
  • Dedicated email sent to registrants and attendees about your product/service
  • Company logo included in event swag
  • Only three available

Event Sponsorship Tier Example Chart

Ideally, you want to put the event sponsorship tiers into an easy-to-understand chart. An example sponsorship tiers chart is provided below:

 Silver GoldDiamond
Logo and company profile on the conference website
Discount on additional tickets
Guaranteed booth space
Branded lounge room
Logo on live streams and videos 
Logo on conference swag 
Host a workshop 
30-minute speaking slot 
Access to registration and attendee list  
Email list rental  
Branded WiFi  

 

Event Sponsorship Package Ideas

As mentioned earlier, companies want unique benefits for sponsoring your event. There is a “pay to play” element because companies who spend the most will want exclusive benefits. Here are a few suggestions for sponsorship benefits you can provide: 

1. Sponsored Lounges

Attendees need a place to recharge physically and mentally during an event. Give sponsors the opportunity to have their branding and some swag so attendees can learn more about them while they are relaxing and “recharging” during the event.

2. Phone Charging Stations

Even with the proper planning, a phone’s battery can quickly die out during an event. Even though smartphones are becoming more powerful, their battery lives haven’t made the same progress. Attendees will need a phone charging station to help them manage their battery lives, so this will be a great way for sponsors to get their branding noticed. 

3. Sponsored Videos & Live Streams

If your event includes live streaming, include the sponsor’s logo in the stream. You can usually do this with a “Sponsors” section in the live stream of the video. If you create a post-video event, ensure a section is dedicated to thanking your sponsors. 

4. Sponsored Parties

Post-event parties and happy hours are a great way to recover from the fatigue of running around the event floor all day or manning a booth. Use these parties as a way to promote a sponsor so they can have even more people become aware of who they are in a fun and relaxed setting.

5. Exclusive Workshops & Speaking Sessions

Many companies who sponsor want the option to get directly in the face of attendees. Depending on your event type, there are going to be speakers or working sessions (for educational conferences). Speaking opportunities are the most coveted because people will sit down and listen to the speaker. 

6. Hosting a Panel

Mid-tier sponsors may not be able to get a speaking opportunity. If your event has a panel, they can pay to host it, with one of their employees serving as the moderator.

7. Branded Merchandise Giveaways

Everyone loves free stuff, especially if it’s useful or cool. Allow sponsors to provide branded merchandise like t-shirts, water bottles, or notebooks for attendees. It’s a win-win: attendees get freebies, and sponsors get their logos seen outside the event.

8. VIP Access & Networking Opportunities

Create an exclusive VIP experience for sponsors, giving them access to high-profile networking events or private meet-and-greets with keynote speakers. VIP treatment not only makes sponsors feel valued but also encourages them to invest more in future events.

9. Customized Event Apps or Features

Develop a customized event app or integrate special features into an existing one, such as sponsored push notifications, branded gamification elements, or interactive maps highlighting sponsor locations. This not only enhances the attendee experience but also ensures sponsor visibility throughout the event.

10. Logos on Event Swag Bags

Swag bags are a staple at many events, offering attendees a collection of goodies to take home. Allow sponsors to include branded items in these bags or even feature their logos prominently on the bags themselves, ensuring exposure long after the event ends.

11. Social Media Promotion & Takeovers

Harness the power of social media by offering sponsors dedicated posts, sponsored ads, or even temporary account takeovers leading up to and during the event. This extends their reach to a wider audience and generates buzz before, during, and after the event.

12. Branded Interactive Experiences

Create interactive experiences or zones within the event space that are sponsored by specific companies. Whether it’s a virtual reality demo, a product showcase, or a hands-on workshop, these branded experiences offer attendees a memorable engagement opportunity while showcasing sponsor products or services.

13. Recognition in Event Marketing Materials

Feature sponsor logos prominently in event marketing materials such as emails, flyers, posters, and digital advertisements. Highlighting sponsors in promotional materials not only boosts their visibility but also reinforces their association with the event.

14. On-Site Branding & Signage

Ensure sponsors’ branding is prominently displayed throughout the event venue with banners, signage, digital screens, or floor decals. Strategic placement in high-traffic areas ensures maximum exposure and reinforces brand recognition among attendees.

15. Networking Dinners or Luncheons

Organize exclusive networking dinners or luncheons where sponsors can interact with key stakeholders, industry influencers, and potential clients in a more intimate setting. These events foster meaningful connections and partnerships, adding value to sponsors’ investment.

16. Interactive Gaming Zones

Create interactive gaming zones sponsored by companies looking to engage attendees in a fun and competitive environment. Whether it’s virtual reality experiences, arcade games, or eSports tournaments, these zones offer sponsors an opportunity to showcase their products or services in an entertaining way.

17. Food & Beverage Sponsorship

Partner with food and beverage companies to provide sponsored refreshment stations, coffee bars, or branded snacks throughout the event venue. Sponsors can customize menus or offer special discounts, enhancing the attendee experience while promoting their brand.

18. Live Entertainment Sponsorship

Collaborate with musicians, comedians, or performers to offer live entertainment sponsored by companies seeking to leave a lasting impression on attendees. Whether it’s a live band, a stand-up comedy show, or a magic performance, sponsored entertainment adds excitement and energy to the event.

19. Interactive Photo Booths

Set up interactive photo booths sponsored by companies looking to create memorable experiences and social media buzz. Attendees can take fun photos with branded props and filters, instantly share them online, and leave with printed keepsakes featuring sponsor logos.

20. Sustainability Initiatives & Green Sponsorship Options

Introduce sustainability initiatives and green sponsorship options that align with sponsors’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. Whether it’s offsetting carbon emissions, minimizing waste, or supporting eco-friendly practices, these initiatives appeal to environmentally conscious sponsors and attendees alike.

Event Sponsorship Web Page Examples

Companies love to sponsor for branding purposes (and get backlinks). A sponsor web page is a requirement for any event you host. To give you an example of what a sponsor’s page should look like, here are some best-in-class examples from companies like Adobe Summit, Dreamforce, and INBOUND.

Event Sponsorship Testimonials

Social proof is always a great conversion tool. If you have used sponsors for past events, reach out to them to get quotes about how they benefited from sponsoring your event. You can include these testimonials on your website and event sponsorship document so potential sponsors can see why your event is worth sponsoring. 

How to Find the Right Event Sponsors

  1. Identify Your Target Audience: Understand the demographics, interests, and needs of your event attendees. This will help you pinpoint sponsors whose products or services align with your audience.
  2. Research Industry Leaders: Look into companies that are prominent in your industry or related fields. Consider their brand values, reputation, and past sponsorship involvements to gauge their suitability for your event.
  3. Leverage Your Network: Reach out to your existing contacts and connections within your industry or community. They may be able to provide introductions or recommendations to potential sponsors.
  4. Attend Industry Events: Networking at industry conferences, trade shows, and other events can put you in touch with potential sponsors who are actively seeking opportunities to engage with their target audience.
  5. Utilize Online Platforms: Explore online sponsorship marketplaces or platforms where sponsors and event organizers connect. These platforms often allow you to filter sponsors based on criteria such as industry, budget, and sponsorship preferences.

How to Pitch Event Sponsorship Packages

  1. Know Your Audience: Understand the priorities and objectives of your potential sponsors. Craft your pitch to align with their goals, whether it’s increasing brand visibility, reaching a specific demographic, or driving sales.
  2. Highlight Unique Benefits: Clearly outline the benefits and value propositions of sponsoring your event. Emphasize unique opportunities such as exclusive access to your audience, custom branding opportunities, or involvement in special events or activities.
  3. Provide Data and Insights: Back up your pitch with relevant data and insights that demonstrate the potential return on investment for sponsors. This could include attendee demographics, engagement statistics from past events, or market research relevant to your audience.
  4. Offer Customization Options: Provide flexibility in your sponsorship packages to accommodate different budget levels and sponsorship objectives. Allow sponsors to choose from a range of options such as booth space, speaking opportunities, or branded content.
  5. Follow Up with Potential Sponsors: After pitching your sponsorship packages, follow up with potential sponsors to address any questions or concerns they may have. Be open to feedback and willing to iterate on your proposals to better meet the needs of your sponsors.

Effortlessly Manage Event Sponsorship Packages & Tiers with EventUp Planner

Event sponsorships are valuable because they generate revenue and make your event more credible. With a well-built event sponsorship package, you can easily communicate your event’s value to sponsors. Remember to include different sponsorship tiers at varying price points so more companies can get involved. Make it clear what each sponsor will receive, use exclusivity to your advantage, and make your sponsorship packages enticing.

Automation makes sponsor management easy as part of the EventUp Planner platform. With our Workflow features, you can manage and add sponsors by tiers. You can then use the Sponsor Block in our website builder (CMS) to pull information directly from the platform to the website. Using our event app would also pull the data to the event app.

If you need to edit anything, you just need to edit the settings and republish the website and app to update the information, so you don’t need to change it everywhere manually. EventUp Planner (formerly Attendease) is a powerful event management software and automation platform designed specifically for corporate event teams. By helping you address the entire event lifecycle, EventUp Planner can reduce event costs and make events easier to run. Request a demo to find out how this all-in-one platform can help improve your workflows.

Let's Talk!

Manage your entire event portfolio and drive down the cost per event with each additional event you execute. EventUp Planner has flat-fee pricing, with no surprises.

  • For all meeting and event types
  • For all event sizes
  • For all functional teams
  • For all use cases

Book a call with our team to learn how EventUp Planner fits your needs.

Evaluating Event Management Software Companies: The Onboarding Process

  • Event Management

The onboarding process is a critical part of implementing a new event software platform. A well-executed process can help you get up and running quickly and efficiently, understand the software’s features and functionality, import your existing data and settings, and train your staff how to use the software.

Unfortunately, not all event management software companies offer a high-quality onboarding experience. This is why it is important to ask the right questions during the vetting process!

This post will guide you through the key questions to ask event management software companies about their onboarding process. You’ll gain a better understanding of what to expect and ensure that you choose a software provider that gives you the support and resources you need to succeed.

Understanding your needs

The first step in evaluating event management software companies is to understand your specific needs. What types of events do you plan? What features are most important to you? How many users will be using the software? Once you have a good understanding of your needs, you can start narrowing down your options and comparing different software providers.

It’s also important to define your goals and expectations for the onboarding process. What do you hope to achieve by the end of the onboarding process? Do you need to import existing data from another software platform? Do you need training for your staff? By clearly defining your goals and expectations, you can better communicate with the software provider and ensure that they are able to meet your needs.

Finally, consider whether you need a customized onboarding experience. Some software providers offer standard onboarding packages, while others offer the flexibility to customize the onboarding process to meet your specific needs. If you have unique requirements or a complex event planning process, you may want to choose a software provider that offers customized onboarding.

Key questions to ask event management software companies

Once you have a good understanding of your needs and goals, you can start asking event management software companies about their onboarding process. Here are some key questions to ask:

  • Is there a dedicated onboarding team or specialist available to assist? This is an important question, as it will give you an idea of the level of support you can expect during the onboarding process. Ask about the qualifications and experience of the onboarding team or specialist.
  • What is the typical duration of the onboarding process? This can vary depending on the complexity of your event planning process and the level of customization you need. However, it’s important to get a general idea of how long the process will take so that you can plan accordingly. Ask about the factors that may affect the timeline, such as the number of users, the amount of data to be migrated, and the level of customization required.
  • Can you provide a step-by-step breakdown of the onboarding process? This will help you to understand the different stages of the onboarding process and what to expect at each stage. Ask to identify key milestones and activities.
  • How is data migration handled? If you need to import existing data from another software platform, ask the software company about their data migration process. Make sure that they have a proven process in place to ensure a seamless transition of your data.
  • What training resources and materials are available for users? The software company should offer a variety of training resources and materials to help your users learn how to use the software effectively. Ask about the availability of training manuals, videos, or webinars.
  • Is there ongoing support after the onboarding process? It’s important to know that you will have access to customer support after the onboarding process is complete. Ask about the availability of customer support and their response times.

Integration and compatibility

Another important factor to consider is integration and compatibility. Does the software integrate with other tools and platforms that you use? For example, do you need the software to integrate with your CRM system, email marketing tool, or payment processor? If so, ask the software provider about their integration capabilities.

It’s also important to ask about potential issues with third-party integrations during onboarding. The software company should be able to identify any potential challenges and work with you to find solutions. Finally, ask about how the software handles updates and upgrades. It’s important to ensure that the software will remain compatible and performant over time.

User feedback and testimonials

One of the best ways to learn about the onboarding experience is to read user reviews and testimonials. Ask event management software companies for case studies or success stories from previous clients. You can also search online for reviews and testimonials from other event planners who have used the software.

When evaluating user feedback, pay attention to the following factors:

  • Overall satisfaction with the onboarding process
  • Quality of support and guidance provided by the onboarding team
  • Software ease of use
  • Ability to achieve desired results

By evaluating user feedback and testimonials, you can gain a better understanding of what to expect from the onboarding process and identify any potential red flags.

Cost and pricing structure

The final factor to consider is the cost and pricing structure. Ask the software provider about the cost associated with onboarding, including any hidden fees or additional costs. You should also ask about the pricing structure for ongoing support and services.

It’s important to compare the cost of onboarding and ongoing support from different software providers before deciding. However, it’s also important to remember that the cheapest option is not always the best. Choose a software provider that offers a high-quality onboarding experience and ongoing support, even if it means paying a little more!

Conclusion

Onboarding is an important part of choosing event management software. By asking the right questions, you can gain a better understanding of what to expect. It also means ensuring that you choose event management software companies that give you the support and resources you need to succeed.

When you choose Attendease as your event management software, you’re not just onboarded—you’re celebrated!

With Attendease, your dedicated onboarding specialist ensures everything from account setup to software configuration is a breeze. Best of all, you can choose the onboarding style that works for you. Whether you’re into online courses, webinars, or the personalized touch of one-on-one sessions, Attendease has got you covered.

Analyzing Event Success Metrics: Part 2

  • Event Management News
How to Analyze Event Success Metrics: Part 2 Blog Banner

In the first part of our guide about event website analytics, we uncovered how you can shine a light on an event’s success online using some essential event success metrics. This guide aimed to set the groundwork for navigating the world of event analytics, introducing the vast world of website analytics and their instrumental role.

In this sequel, we’ll go deeper, discussing more advanced event success metrics that can refine, redefine, and ultimately elevate your event strategies. The better your strategies, the more attendees will be at your event!

As we turn the page to this next chapter, get ready for even more insights and tools to supercharge your event’s digital presence. Are you ready for round two? Let’s go!

Understanding the impact of social media

Launching and maintaining a social media campaign is great, but when it comes to measuring the success of an event at-large, it’s only the beginning. Taking the time to understand the impact of your social media efforts is crucial when reviewing event success metrics.

Your social media presence is often the starting point of the customer journey, so it’s essential to know how your efforts are performing.

Begin by identifying where your audience is discovering your event website. Once you’ve identified your traffic sources, dig deeper. Analyze which platform is not only generating more engagement but also converting visitors into registered attendees. For example, do you see more engagement and event attendee conversions on LinkedIn than on Instagram? Using this knowledge allows you to make data-driven decisions and direct your efforts towards the platform that yields the best results.

If you wish to go deeper still, consider the timing. Are there specific days or hours when your social media posts are driving more people to your website? With this insight, you can optimize your posting schedule—ensuring your content reaches the right audience at the right time!

Essential email marketing metrics

Unlike traditional mass marketing, which casts a wide net to reach a broad audience, direct marketing focuses on reaching individuals or a well-defined group of potential customers.

Email campaigns are a vital component of a direct marketing strategy, but simply sending emails alone isn’t enough—your emails need to resonate with and drive action from your audience. For them to be successful, you must measure their effectiveness using two key event success metrics: open rate and click-through rate.

The open rate is simple in concept. It tells you how many people are opening your emails once they reach their inbox. The success of your email campaign can easily be measured by whether your prospective attendees are opening your event email blasts or simply hitting “delete”.

Next, delve into the click-through rate. This metric tells you whether readers are not only opening your emails but also taking action within—via clicking on the links embedded within the email’s body. The higher the click-through rate, the better!

By understanding which elements of your email content are working, you can refine your messaging strategy and allocate resources more effectively.

Measuring your offline event marketing efforts via direct URLs

Many event marketing strategies are still carried offline through posters, print ads, or mail. While these strategies can be incredibly effective, they often can’t be measured nearly as precisely as online efforts. However, there still is a way to ballpark if they are successful using event website analytics.

Here, you’ll want to focus on the number or percentage of visits directly to your event website URL. These metrics reveal the individuals who navigate straight to your event page—meaning they didn’t use Google, an email, or social media to get to your event website. If you see a spike in direct traffic shortly after you’ve deployed an offline direct marketing campaign, that could be a sign it’s working!

Leveraging influencer marketing and referrals

Referral marketing is based on the idea that people trust recommendations from those they know and respect. It is a strategy that relies on existing customers or advocates to recommend a product, service, or brand to their friends, family, or social connections.

Influencer marketing, while related to referral marketing, instead involves partnering with individuals or personalities who have a significant and engaged following on social media or other platforms. Brands collaborate with influencers who align with their target audience and brand values, and in return the influencers promote products or services through their own content.

Both strategies can be a game-changer when it comes to boosting event registration numbers and strengthening partnerships with speakers, sponsors, or exhibitors. If you’re considering a referral or influencer marketing campaign to enhance your event attendance, it is recommended to quantify how many registrants are discovering your event through associated affiliations and referral links.

To track these referrals effectively, you’ll need to create unique tracking codes or links for each source or partner. You can even include promo codes to give your referral’s audience an incentive to attend your event. Within your event website analytics, all these codes allow you to precisely measure the impact of each referral source—making it easier to optimize your event marketing efforts and gauge the success of this type of campaign.

Supplementing your website’s backend with Google Analytics

While your event website analytics can provide a wealth of valuable data, Google Analytics offers even more information to help you optimize your strategies.

This includes:

  • Bounce Rate, which reveals the percentage of visitors who leave your site without exploring further. A high bounce rate may indicate issues with your landing page or content that need addressing.
  • Session Duration, which shows how long visitors stay on your site. Longer durations suggest engagement, while shorter ones may indicate that your content needs to be more captivating.
  • Pageviews, which is how many pages your visitors view. This helps identify which content or sections are drawing the most attention.
  • Session Path, which is how visitors navigate your site and the sequence of pages they visit. This insight helps you optimize the user experience and content flow.
  • Exit Pages, which is when and where people leave your event website. This allows you to pinpoint potential drop-off points and refine those pages to retain more visitors.
  • Popular Pages, which tells you which pages are most popular amongst your audience.

Using Google Analytics alongside your event website’s built-in analytics creates a comprehensive suite of event success metrics. Together, they can give you an even more in-depth look at the results of your event marketing efforts!

Summary of event success metrics

Measuring event success with analytics is the key to refining and optimizing your event strategies. By delving into advanced metrics, you can elevate your events to new heights!

But why stop there? To take your event success measurement to the next level, consider Attendease. Our powerful event software is designed to deliver awe-inspiring event experience and comprehensively measure every aspect of your event’s performance:

  • Amplify and simplify your event marketing with integrated marketing tools
  • Track performance throughout an entire event lifecycle
  • Gather web traffic data from our Google Analytics integration

How to Measure Event Success with Analytics: Part 1

  • Event Management
The Must Implement Analytics For Your Event Website: Part 1

There are a lot of ways to measure event success. That’s why we’re breaking down the steps into two parts. In this first segment of our two-part series, we’ll unravel the magic of analytics. We’ll explore the behind-the-scenes data of your website, uncovering invaluable insights to enhance its performance. By the end, you’ll have clarity on how your event website fares, where you can boost its impact, and how to measure event success as a result.

Publishing an event website is a major stepping stone in putting on a great event. But learning whether your website is doing what it’s supposed to can appear challenging at first. If only you had a tool that shows you exactly how visitors interact with your site—where they come from, which parts they love, and where they might lose interest—to aid you in your event planning journey.

You’re in luck: website analytics do exactly that! They tell real truths about your audience’s journey and your event’s reach. Whether it’s a small tweak today or a seismic strategy shift for the future, you can learn how to measure event success and make tangible improvements to your event marketing by taking the time to understand website analytics.

Let’s get started and make your event truly stand out!

Uncovering where your traffic is coming from

Understanding the sources that drive visitors to your event registration website is key. Every online platform—whether it’s Google, social media, or something else entirely—can usher potential attendees towards your event. Knowing where your audience comes from is crucial for smart marketing.

When you pinpoint platforms that consistently steer traffic to your event website, doubling down on them becomes a no-brainer. Spending time on a platform that converts to website visitors helps bring more awareness to your event. For example: if you notice a significant chunk of your website visitors come from Instagram, it’d be wise to invest more time in posting, building your followers, and engaging with them on that platform!

Learning how to measure event success from social media is easy. Simply check the referral traffic on your event website’s analytics dashboard. Your dashboard will show you which social platforms are driving the most visitors to your site and which are missing the mark. By analyzing this data, you can determine which channels are most effective for your event promotion and adjust your social media strategy to maximize engagement and registrations.

The power of organic search

Ever wondered how attendees stumble upon your event website when they type related industry terms into a search engine? That’s the magic of organic search! However, it’s not actually magic at all—in fact, the position your site holds in these search results is heavily influenced by how well you’ve tailored your site for SEO and the overall buzz it’s generating.

While the algorithms for organic searches constantly adapt, having relevant content and a strong presence in social media discussions can boost your standings. To get a grasp on how much traffic comes this way, keep an eye on the ‘organic search’ metric. This will show you what portion of your site’s visitors found you organically.

When your event website pops up at the top of organic search results for key terms that resonate with your brand, give yourself a pat on the back: that’s a clear sign you’ve nailed your site optimization and social media outreach!

However, if you’re not making a mark as you’d hoped, it’s time to re-evaluate the language you’re using. Does it truly echo your brand? How active and engaging are your interactions on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn? Making sure your content aligns with your brand and maximizing your social media presence can make all the difference, so don’t be afraid to dive in and tweak what you need. You may be a few small details away from watching your online visibility soar!

Getting the most out of paid search

Investing in ads on platforms like Google, LinkedIn, X (FKA Twitter), or Facebook can certainly help you cast a wider net when it comes to audience reach. However, simply opening your wallet doesn’t guarantee results—getting the most out of paid ads takes a measured approach and just as much care as any other marketing strategy.

To supercharge the effectiveness of your ads, make sure you tailor them to align with the characteristics of your natural audience. Finding your natural audience involves identifying and connecting with individuals who inherently resonate with your brand’s values, offerings, and message. By seeking out those who are instinctively inclined to engage with and advocate for your brand, you can ensure a more genuine and lasting relationship.

Any marketing expert will know that ads can often take time to be effective. However, monitoring the metric that counts the number of visits or the percentage of total visits resulting directly from your ads is a sure-fire way to assess if this strategy aligns with your goals and your budget. If the results aren’t what you expect, it’s likely time to refine your ad’s targeting specifics.

The importance of tracking link performance

At its core, link performance measures the effectiveness of individual links you or someone else have placed across various online platforms. These links could be strategically placed in articles, directories, email campaigns, social media posts, or other online spaces where potential attendees might encounter them.

It’s crucial to track the performance of links to your event page—doing so gives a clear picture of where your visitors are discovering your event from, tells you exactly how much traffic your links are bringing you and whether it’s important to seek more link placements in the future.

While the primary goal of tracking link performance is to optimize promotional efforts, a secondary, often overlooked benefit is enhancing user experience. By taking time to understand the journey a user takes to reach your event website, you can tailor their experience accordingly.

Summary

From understanding where traffic originates, be it social media or organic searches, to the potency of paid ads and the significance of tracking link performance, analytics are the answer to how to measure event success from your event website. Knowing which platforms direct visitors, or how SEO influences organic search results, is crucial for effective marketing!

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll explore some typical event marketing activities and how you can derive useful performance data from each of them.

Looking for software that makes event website analytics a breeze?

With Attendease, you can create agency-grade event websites with the easy-to-use Website Builder and easily measure event success:

  • Compare against your own benchmarks
  • Gain insight on what’s working and drive improvement
  • Integrate your Attendease event website with Google Analytics, for timely web traffic insights

Navigating the Top Challenges of Corporate Event Marketing

  • Event Management

Corporate event marketing has become a critical component of customer acquisition. Corporate events facilitate in-person relationship-building, boost employee satisfaction, and foster a sense of community amongst the attendees. Plus, they allow you to tease upcoming changes to your business, such as new product releases or partnerships. 

Despite the unique advantages of corporate events, marketing them can be challenging. Unlike cut-and-dry statistics, such as email click-through rate or social media engagement, measuring corporate event marketing ROI can be difficult as it’s not always clear where attendees come from. Event marketers also need to acquire the right target audience, set their company’s event apart, and master robust event data software.

Fortunately, corporate event marketing doesn’t need to be daunting. With a little planning, research, and tech-savvyness, you can achieve your goals and sustainable growth. Let’s explore some of the top challenges event marketers face and how you can overcome them.

Challenge #1: Finding the Right Target Audience

The best marketing campaigns are tailored to audiences that would benefit the most from attending your event and buying your products. However, it can be difficult to customize your messages to the interests and needs of many attendees, especially when you host an event with an array of keynote speakers and products on display. Fortunately, you already have some tools at your disposal to help you structure your messages and pinpoint your target audience.

The best assets you have are your data management systems. Pull data from your CRM to better understand what your average customer looks like. Determine how old they are, their net worth, what they usually purchase, their interests, and other relevant information to your business to make a profile. This allows you to step into your audience’s shoes to make tailored marketing messages. Also, if you’re marketing an event that your company hosts repeatedly, use your event registration software to understand who signed up in the past and how you can attract them again. 

These insights help you create marketing collateral that resonates with most of your customers based on data.

Challenge #2: Setting Your Event Apart

The point of corporate event marketing is to get attendees through the door of your event. To set your business apart from others in your industry, you need to highlight why your event is unique and what your attendees can achieve or gain from coming. For example, here are some ways to set your event apart:

  • Leverage your partnerships. If your event is centered around supporting a nonprofit partner for your CSR campaign, you can let your audience know that all proceeds will benefit their cause. 
  • Advertise the event’s unique activities or theme. For instance, if you’re advertising a corporate golf event, mention that it has a $500 prize pool or other special activities to encourage more signups. 
  • Incorporate a virtual component. It’s never been easier to host your event partially (or fully) online and involve attendees from across the world. Besides increasing attendance, OneCause’s guide to hybrid events states that virtual event components are also more cost-effective and eco-friendly. Simply create and send out a meeting link via Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet, or another virtual conferencing platform so people can participate online. 

By effectively communicating the value of your event, you’ll attract newcomers to your event, acquire them as customers, and keep them coming back for more. 

Challenge #3: Competing in the Digital Space

For corporations, standing out in the digital world is key to broadening your audience. That being said, making intriguing and unique marketing content in the oversaturated online space can be challenging. So, how do you go about marketing your corporate event amongst the sea of other competing businesses online?

First, assess your SEO status. According to Fifty & Fifty, less than 1% of searchers look for results past Google’s first page of search engine results. Updating your current website and pages to be SEO-friendly allows you to rank above your competition and achieve more visibility. Start by researching the simple changes you can make on your website in the short term to make it SEO-friendly, such as adding alt text to images and being deliberate about keyword inclusion. Then, revise your long-term content strategy by creating new and revising old educational blog posts on your website. 

Next, look into online advertising opportunities. Establish where your target audience spends their time online and buy social media and Google Ads to spread the word about your event and company. If you have room in your budget, trying these methods can guarantee more exposure online.

Challenge #4: Measuring Your Campaign’s ROI

Unlike other types of advertisers, event marketers face the unique challenge of gauging ROI and campaign performance. After all, it’s more difficult to determine which attendees came from email appeals versus social media marketing versus your website.

To overcome this roadblock, start by asking your attendees directly. After they’ve signed up online, include a drop-down list of your marketing channels for them to tell you how they found your event. Take it a step further by including separate URLs that redirect visitors to your signup page based on the platform they’re on. This allows you to track your conversion rate for each marketing channel.

Challenge #5: Using Event-Centric Tools

Marketing an event requires a different approach than other forms of marketing. While digital marketers can rely on specialized tools to execute digital marketing campaigns, event marketers have limited options for suitable online platforms for event marketing.

To streamline the lead acquisition process while maintaining functionality, use sophisticated marketing platforms with intuitive integrations and features so you don’t have to transfer information between your CRM and event management platform manually. Some popular marketing tools that your event marketing software might integrate with include Hubspot, Salesforce, Marketo, and Google Analytics.

Corporate Event Marketing: The Bottom Line

Despite the obstacles that many event marketers have endured, the tide is changing. By following the tips above and evolving with the changing landscape of event marketing, especially regarding virtual events and digital outreach, your company can improve lead generation, thought leadership, and brand awareness. With the right tools and strategies, navigating the challenges of corporate event marketing can be more manageable and rewarding than ever before.

3 Questions You Should Be Asking About Your Event Data Analytics

  • Event Management News
3 Questions You Should Be Asking About Event Data Analytics

This is an exciting time to be digging into the event data analytics generated from your events. With so many new tech tools and sophisticated insights, event planners can be very strategic in increasing the ROI from conferences, trade shows, and events.

To get started and instantly learn more about your attendees’ interests and behaviors, here are some important questions you should be digging into: 

Question 1: Where Do I Find My Event Data Analytics?

Event analytics can be found in several different places. Your event website, registration platform, and your virtual event platform (where applicable) will all provide you with important data regarding performance and visitor interactions.

Your Event Website

Data from your event website will tell you a lot about your marketing. Is your message clear? Is all the relevant information about your event clearly and readily available on your site? Are people finding what they’re looking for?

To get answers to these questions, check things like how long people stay on your site, how many pages they visit, and where they go next after they leave your site. Also, what pages are they spending the most time on? Are they the ones they SHOULD be spending the most time on? Or is this a sign that your content is confusing to them?

The goal is to get people to stay on your site and spend time researching and navigating to the links you’re sending them from each page on your event website.

Ultimately, the end goal is to get them to convert and register for your event. Those conversions can happen in many different tools, depending on your event tech stack. We’ve separated registrations out since not everyone manages them from their event website CMS tool.

Your Online Registration Platform

There are many different tools you can use to take and manage your event registrations. (We wrote this blog on event registration software if you need help finding the right tool for you.) However you manage them, the data you can pull from them will help you understand more about the attendee experience. You’ll also be able to understand if you’re targeting the right audience with your event.

If users are making it partway through your registration flow and then bailing out, that could have a few meanings. Maybe your registration flow is too long. The flow could potentially get confusing. Or worse, maybe it’s broken! These are all things you need to follow up on and look into in order to ensure people are making it through your registration flow.

If users are bailing from your form, maybe it’s too long. Or maybe you’re asking questions people aren’t comfortable answering so early on in your ‘relationship.’ Only ask for the minimum amount of information you need to get the user registered. You can ask them more questions about themselves AFTER they’ve registered.

If your website visitor numbers are high, but conversions are low, consider doing some testing on different elements of your page and form to increase conversions. Wordstream is a great website with data-backed blogs on landing page optimizations, among other marketing tactics.

With Attendease, you can choose to just use our online registration tool as a standalone feature, or you can use it with our full suite of event management tools.

Your Virtual Event-Hosting Platform

If you’re hosting virtual or hybrid events, there’s a lot of juicy data to be had to help you understand how your event performed in your virtual event platform analytics. Check for engagement statistics when you share polls, Q&A, and chat, for instance. What percentage of people are engaging? How often are they engaging? What types of things are they engaging, more or less, with? Does the drop-off rate increase as your event goes on? What sessions are people staying to the end for?

The types of event data you can dig into with virtual events seem almost endless. You can use what you discover from your virtual event data to improve future virtual and hybrid events.

If you’re using a comprehensive event management platform such as Attendease, all of your event data analytics can be found in one place. 

  • TIPAnother (free) source of important online performance data is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is available to you no matter what type of event planning software you use.

Question 2: What Data Can I Get From My Email Outreach?

You can learn a lot about your pre- (and post-) event marketing by digging into your email analytics. There are endless email automation platforms on the market that event organizers use. The easiest way to manage it is to have email automation capabilities available in your event platform. Another way is to find one that integrates easily with your event platform.

Check for open rates on your emails first. Of all of your emails sent out, how many are getting opened? The more people who open your emails, the more you know you’ve found the right audience. And if a lot of users are clicking on the links in your email, that’s an even better indication you’ve hit your mark.

Open rates can also often mean that you just hit the nail on the head with a great subject line. What you really want is people clicking through on the registration links in your emails.

Check for unsubscribe and ‘marked as spam’ rates next. If you’re getting a lot of these, you’re emailing the wrong people. The good news here is that this can ultimately help your open rates in the future. The more people you get off your list who will never open your emails, the better. The bad news is if too many people unsubscribe, it could hurt the future deliverability of your emails, as you’ll get marked as spam by email providers.

  • TIP: Don’t send your emails out to everyone in your database. Segment your list and only send it to people you truly think would be interested in your event so you don’t ruin your email deliverability.

Question 3: Why Is The Net Promoter Score So Important?

Feedback from event attendees is key in gauging the success of events. A robust event management platform will allow you to easily gather useful data, such as the “Net Promoter Score” from your attendees after they have experienced your event. This particular analytic is a gauge of loyalty and customer satisfaction. Net Promoters are your most important influencers and well worth knowing inside and out.

  • TIPNet Promoters are your loyal fans who will sing your event’s praises to their friends and colleagues. They generally account for about 80% of your referrals. Net promoters can also help you close new sponsors or exhibitors with their passion for your business.

Event data analytics will provide you with actionable information and deep attendee insights. Data on how your prospects and attendees interact with your marketing efforts will help refine your future marketing outreach. Get ready to take action on these insights. You’ll be able to translate them into responsive marketing strategies and create your most attended event yet!

For more about how to develop an analytics-rich event strategy featuring your event website, registration, and event apps, download our FREE Ebook Event Analytics: The Fundamental Guide to Executing Your Event Right

Attendease is a cloud-based marketing automation solution for corporate event managers and teams. We’re a modern, feature-rich event software that enables you to manage a wide range of events of all types and sizes.

The Hidden Costs Of Using The Wrong Event Technology (Or None At All)

  • Event Management
The Hidden Costs Of Using The Wrong Event Technology (Or None At All) Blog Banner

No one in the event world likes to change their event technology. When you’re used to doing things a certain way, the thought of trying something different can be scary – even if what you’re currently doing isn’t really working for you. 

We’ve talked to many corporate event planners stuck using clunky, outdated software. We’ve also talked to corporate event planners who still use spreadsheets to project manage and keep track of their event analytics (if you’re making the scream emoji face, we are, too). 

What’s kept these event professionals from making a move to something better? 

Here are a few reasons:

  • Time needed to learn a new tool
  • Cost of upgrading 
  • Lack of buy-in from the top

If you’re feeling stressed out by a lack of event planning support, and these roadblocks stand between you and your most productive self, this post will help get you unstuck. We’ll address each obstacle head-on so you can make the case for getting the needed resources. 

Time Needed To Learn New Event Technology

Suppose you use multiple tools to manage landing pages, emails, and registrations. In that case, you’re constantly downloading reports and updating spreadsheets, or you’re spending a lot of time on the phone with customer support; you’re spending your day performing repetitive tasks. 

You will never see a return on that time, and what’s worse, you will likely feel constant frustration knowing there’s a better way. When considering the hidden cost of maintaining the status quo, consider it like renting an apartment vs. buying a house.

Sure, learning new software takes time. From onboarding to watching a few how-to videos or consulting a knowledge base or FAQ page when you try out a feature for the first time, you must dedicate some time to learning the new system. But the time you spend learning is an investment; once you’ve mastered a platform, you won’t have to go through the onboarding process again, and all the time you save is yours to keep. 

Consider that technology has come a long way, and there are many tech solutions available that are user-friendly and easy to learn. For example, some of EventUp Planner’s enterprise customers were able to launch multiple events across the world within a month of signing up with the new platform.

Cost Of Upgrading 

Naturally, pricing will play a significant role in getting approval for new event planning software. If the solution you’re looking at costs more than what you currently pay, you’ll probably meet with resistance. But the cost of doing nothing is actually more expensive in the long run.

Here’s the key. When making the case for an upgrade, focus on the benefits and how they translate to savings. You may be excited about event cloning capabilities, marketing tool integrations, added functionality, customizability, or better attendee experience. However, to justify a more significant upfront investment to your boss, think about the following: 

  • Does the new event planning software replace any tools you are currently paying for?
  • Will access to automation allow you to manage more events (therefore driving more revenue)?
  • Can you reduce reliance on your marketing/design team (freeing their time to work on lead-generating activities)?
  • Can you cut down fees per ticket sold charged by some event tech platforms?

It’s much easier to argue for paying more for better event technology if the ROI is higher than your current one. Oftentimes, the ability to launch just a couple more events per year will offset any upfront cost increase. Doing the math will help you make a far more compelling case for upgrading your current event management system

Lack Of Buy-In From The Top

As we’ve discussed above, framing your argument for investing in better event management tools in terms of time and cost savings is one effective way to get buy-in from decision-makers at your company. Another is to present them with the results from other businesses using the platform you’d like to switch to. 

Change is much less risky when well-known organizations have tried the software you’re pitching and have had tangible success. Rather than worrying about the cost of making a mistake, your boss will realize that inaction means leaving money on the table and that taking action can have other benefits (like being regarded as an innovator and a changemaker within your organization). 

Here are a couple of ways to incorporate social proof into your software proposal: 

  • Include testimonial quotes from other corporate event organizers focusing on time or cost savings. You can find these testimonials on the organization’s website or from comparison tools like G2Crowd.
  • Share case studies where the event planning software has had a positive impact on large-scale revenue

This will make it easier for your boss to get aligned with your plan to upgrade your event technology.

Being an event planner is a stressful job; there are many things you can’t control, like vendors or deadlines. But you can advocate for better resources and the ability to spend your time on the things that matter most. All it takes is a dedicated focus on what matters most to your boss and the understanding that the cost of doing nothing far outweighs the cost of taking a chance on new event technology. If you want to learn if EventUp Planner (formerly Attendease) is a good fit for your organization, download our Platform Overview.

Navigating Important Event Analytics Hidden in Your Registration Site

  • Event Management
Navigating Important Event Analytics Hidden in Your Registration Site

Event analytics can be found in obvious and not-so-obvious places. One undervalued place is your registration data. Buried inside your event technology platform is a whole constellation of event registration analytics just waiting for you to explore. And you won’t believe the kinds of insights waiting for you there. For instance, information that can help you improve your marketing and event planning efforts. Also, data that can help increase your overall registration, both for your current event and in the development of future event marketing campaigns.

Event Analytics in the Registration Funnel

First things first when it comes to event analytics. Visitors pour in to your site from your event marketing. Your goal is to turn as many of these people as possible into event attendees by enticing them to register for your event. If at least 25-30% of your visitors become registrants, then you are doing great! This percentage is known as the registration conversion rate, and obviously you want this to be as high as possible.

But there are a few steps along the way to reaching the goal of a solid conversion rate. First, many visitors to your event website will never do more than lurk around for a while. Fair enough. Next, some will venture a little further into the registration funnel and begin the process of signing up for your event. Great! These are people who are interested in your event and responding well to your event landing page.

Should You Forget About Incomplete Registrations?

Now, here’s where we hit the next level. Some of those folks mentioned above will go all the way to the end of the registration process and become fully registered event attendees. Ding ding ding!!!! Success! But a fair amount will abandon the process part of the way through. This could be for a number of reasons including:

  • The instructions were not clear
  • Th user realized the event wasn’t really for them
  • They discovered that the pricing was too high for their budget

In any case, these incomplete registrations become the next part in your registration funnel. You can address the abandoned or incomplete registrations by reaching out directly to these folks in a series of emails. For instance, gentle reminders that their registration hasn’t been completed yet. Another option is to offer assistance with the process. Lastly, you could even offer a reduced rate to entice them to commit to your event.

Studies have shown that a concerted effort at targeting these abandoned registrations through personalized outreach can convert at least 20% of your incomplete registrations to completed. It’s a fairly easy way to boost attendance among the people who have already shown interest in your event. This is often much easier than trying to find new potential attendees who don’t already know about your event.

Event Analytics Insights

Examine your registration conversion rate and launch a campaign to re-energize incomplete registrations through direct outreach to improve your event analytics. A strong re-engagement campaign is definitely worth the time and energy. It will likely boost attendance at your current event and it will give you plenty of actionable data to apply to all your future events.

Here Are Some Tips To Improve Conversions:

If your conversion rate is low, then perhaps you haven’t targeted your audience properly. 

Have you properly identified and effectively reached out to the correct buyer personas for your brand? Is your social media messaging on point? If your conversion rate is exceedingly low, then it would pay to revisit these aspects of your marketing campaign to ensure that you have focused your efforts in the right place.

Take another look at your event website, and in particular your event landing page. 

Is it well written, clear, accurate, and exciting? Does it inspire you to want to get on board and register for this fabulous event right away? If not, then see how you can improve the content until it really shines.

Review and test your pricing

Is it possible that you have overpriced your market? If you think this could be a factor, then you can try offering a discounted rate to your incomplete registrations and see what kind of a response you get. If more than 20% of the people you contact register after the price has dropped, then you can bet that was a key factor in them not completing the registration process in the first place.

Event Analytics Takeaways

Your event management software is designed to not only perform a key role in the event planning process, it’s designed to give you feedback in the form of analytics to help you iterate your process as you go along, and learn lessons for future events. Event planners take heed, you have a great tool at your disposal to help you boost attendance at your events, as long as you take the time to respond to the information it gives you.

For more information on how Attendease can help you make the most of a robust event website, contact us here.

Getting the Most Out of Event Email Marketing: A Mini Guide

  • Event Management
This mini guide will cover the basics of event email marketing.

Event email marketing is one of the most powerful online strategies to promote your events. By sending well-crafted marketing emails, you can regularly check in with your audience, increase registrations, secure sponsorships and speakers, and grow your brand visibility. 

This guide provides everything you need to consider when creating an effective email marketing strategy for your event. 

Event Email Marketing Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Before you prepare promotional marketing materials to boost your event, you must familiarize yourself with the key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure campaign performance and success. Here are some metrics you should consider measuring for your campaign:

  • Open Rate: Rate of subscribers who open your emails. Divide the number of people who opened the email by the number of people who received the email. 
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Number of subscribers who open the email and click on the content that links to their following action, such as navigating to your registration page. Dive how many clicked on your email by how many people opened the email. 
  • Unsubscribe Rate: Rate of people who unsubscribe from your email sends. Divide the number of unsubscribed users by the number of emails delivered, then multiply that number by 100 to get a percentage.

As you track metrics, use these insights to optimize your email strategies and improve your performance. For example, keep track of your unsubscribe rate and adjust your actions if the percentage becomes too high. Consider sending messages less frequently or increasing the value of the messages to the users.

Consider other KPIs according to the goals you need to accomplish. For example, you might also track:

  • Ticket sales
  • Event registrations
  • Sponsorship inquiries and signups
  • Speaker inquiries and signups

You’ll have a more focused perspective of your marketing results when you track indicators relevant to your event goals. Keep an organized record of these metrics to identify areas of potential improvement. Incorporating this data into your event marketing strategy will ultimately lead to more effective methods of promotion that resonate with your audience.

Event Email List Segmentation

Sending the right message to the right person at the right time is the best way to guarantee the success of your event email marketing campaign. Use an email append service to ensure your contact information is correct while focusing on the details of your messaging and branding.

While an email append will ensure you send messages to the right people, you should also consider the steps you can take to send the right messages. Different groups will require different messages to feel motivated by your content.

MemberClicks’s guide to event planning recommends identifying shared characteristics of your audience members to determine how you can create relevant email lists. 

For example, you’re trying to secure sponsorships for your upcoming event and want to send targeted messages to various companies. Here are a few lists you can create to attract more sponsorship interest:

  • Companies who demonstrated interest in sponsoring one of your events in the past have yet to do so.
  • Companies who sponsored your events in the past but haven’t sponsored any recently.
  • Companies who sponsored your last event.
  • Companies who would be a good fit to sponsor your event.

The beauty of segmenting your lists is that you can personalize and craft targeted messages. This may yield more responses than a generic email. Similarly, you might also segment your attendee list, for example, by job title, industry, and ticket type.

Email Subject Lines for Event Promotion

Once you’ve determined who your audience is, you’ll need to decide how you’ll grab their attention. When sending your message through email, a well-crafted subject line can define the success of your entire campaign. Without an attractive reason for people to open your email, your contacts may end up not even reading what you say. 

Studies show that shorter subject lines yield higher open rates, but you should also consider wording that generates curiosity and inspires action. Here are some strategies and ideas for subject lines to promote your event:

  • Fear of Missing Out: “Last day to grab your tickets to the ABC Conference!”
  • Curiosity: “Lineup for the ABC conference is out!”
  • Funny: “All-you-can-eat muffins (and a great conference too)”
  • Vanity: “Become a better marketer in 1 step!”
  • Greed: “2 for 1 tickets. One day only. Go!”
  • Sloth: “3 steps to become a better marketer”
  • Pain Point: “How to drive more sales through email marketing.”
  • Retargeting: “The ticket in your cart is about to expire.”
  • Personal Subjects: Hey John, will we see you there?”
  • Straightforward Subjects: “ABC Conf 2018”
  • Top Subject: “Upgrade to VIP”

As you consider ways to draw readers to read your message, be as specific to your audience as possible. Rely on your metrics to determine what is most important to your recipients, then use this information to craft targeted subject lines that will pique their interest.

Email Call to Action (CTA)

If you want readers to take action (and we know you do!), tell them what you want them to do. Less is more regarding email structure, so focus on one clear call to action in each message. The best way to do this is by adding a button to your email. 

For example, if you want to urge readers to visit your event registration landing page, create a button for your email that links to your webpage. 

Follow these tips to create a call to action that your readers can’t ignore:

  • Use a color contrasting with the other colors on the email to stand out from the rest of the page. 
  • Pay close attention to the copy you add to the button, ensuring it has a clear message. For example, avoid generic messages, such as “click here,” and write something more direct, such as “Get Early Bird Tickets Today.”
  • Add the button close to the top of the email so users don’t need to scroll down to see it. Consider adding one call to action button on the top portion of the email and another one on the bottom.

You might test out different button colors, messages, and locations to see which performs best. Ensure your calls to action are cohesive with the email’s overall design.

Event Email Design & Branding

Your company likely creates branded materials for all of its outreach efforts. For example, a hospital might create branded eCards to wish their patients a quick recovery. Branding helps an audience associate the message with your organization, and the same can be said about events. 

One of the primary objectives of running an event is to generate brand awareness and create a memorable experience. Make sure your email design is consistent with your event branding. Consider these elements for your email design:

  • Color
  • Imagery
  • Language
  • Layout

Keep your organization, event, and email branding consistent to generate excitement over your event. A loyal audience will gladly support an event associated with your organization, and new audiences will have better insight into your work when they experience your brand through an event.

Event Email Content

Although the email’s design and user interactivity are essential, its content is the most crucial part of your promotion. Use the content to set the stage for the action you’re asking your audience to take. For example, consider these key messages when planning your event email marketing calendar:

  • Save the date message
  • Early-bird tickets on sale
  • Notifying of price increases
  • Promote speakers
  • Promote workshops
  • Accommodation, transportation, and tourist attractions
  • Special offers
  • Photos and videos from previous events
  • Sneak peek of the key takeaways from the event
  • Post-event survey
  • Follow up with a discount code for the next year’s event

Promotion of each of these tasks will be dependent on their timing. For example, you’ll want to send a save-the-date message early enough so your attendees can mark their calendars and clear their schedules. Reduce the stress of managing your timeline by putting together a calendar to help you outline and schedule the critical pieces of information that you need to communicate with your audience.

You can also incorporate relevant themes for your messages. For example, construct a short message to follow up with attendees after an early December event. Then, use eCardWidget to create and include a fun holiday card, wishing your attendees a fantastic close to the year.

A Strong Event Email Marketing Strategy Yields Event Goals

Event email marketing is definitely a science, but it’s not a difficult one to master. Follow the steps in this guide, and you can put together a solid email strategy to meet your event goals.

Event Marketing Automation At Your Fingertips with EventUp Planner (formerly Attendease)

Promote your meetings and events with integrated event marketing automation tools. Easily launch and promote your events, interact with registrants, and track your campaigns, all from one place. The EventUp Planner marketing suite is a planner’s best friend. EventUp Planner will automate repetitive tasks, creating efficiencies for you and a more personalized experience for your audience.

  • Streamline and automate communication.
  • Deliver fully branded experiences.
  • Gather data that matters to you.

Supporting Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives: 7 Event Ideas for Businesses to Consider

  • Event Trends
Supporting Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives: 7 Event Ideas for Businesses to Consider

Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is broadly defined as a company’s efforts to improve society in some way. These corporate efforts can be as small as implementing an environmentally friendly policy change or as large as managing a major event.

Corporate social responsibility is not mandated in the U.S. Rather, it’s an extra effort to make the world a better place by benefiting the community as a whole. CSR efforts can look different depending on the company, but the overall goal is the same—to increase positive social value.

In this article, we will cover the benefits of corporate social responsibility and offer 7 CSR event ideas for your company to try out today. Let’s get started!

What Are the Benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility

From a company’s perspective, CSR can sometimes feel like an extra task to check off, but a robust CSR program can reap some significant, tangible benefits beyond the obvious of helping to fill a need in society. These benefits express themselves along several different dimensions: 

  • Increased employee engagement. Double the Donation found that 71% of employees prefer to work at a company that participates in philanthropy. Advertise your corporate social responsibility initiatives to recruit and retain a passionate, engaged workforce.
  • Increased customer loyalty. A company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives act as a major differentiator for current and potential customers. In fact, customers are more likely to become long-term brand ambassadors if they support your give-back efforts. 
  • Positive public perception. Supporting corporate social responsibility initiatives is one of the best ways to further your company’s public image. A company that invests its resources to further social good stands out against its competitors. 

Aside from corporate advantages, CSR positively impacts nonprofits and communities. Nonprofit organizations receive grants, donations, and volunteer hours from companies to further their missions. In turn, local and global communities feel the positive ripple effects. 

Top 7 Corporate Social Responsibility Event Ideas for Businesses

There is certainly not a lack of need when it comes to economic, educational, or philanthropic causes. Because there are so many corporate social responsibility opportunities, choosing to support meaningful ones that align with your corporate values is essential. Think about it this way — your CSR initiatives are evidence of your company’s ethics at work.

Here are some examples of simple yet purposeful corporate social responsibility event ideas for your company to try out to get your feet wet in the philanthropic world of giving back:

1. Launch a Sneaker Recycling Program

How many employees have an extra pair of running shoes? They or their growing family will most likely have a couple of extra shoes to spare. Partner with a fundraising provider like Sneakers4Good to raise support for an organization of your choice.

Simply collect gently worn, used, and new athletic shoes. Then, use Sneakers4Good’s pre-paid shipping bags to ship the collected sneakers to the Sneakers4Good warehouse. From there, the athletic shoes will be distributed to micro-entrepreneurs in developing nations. Sneakers4Good will also send your company a check for your sneaker-collecting efforts, which you can then donate to the nonprofit of your choice.

Consider hosting a competition by rewarding the employee or corporate team who has collected the most running shoes over a defined period. 

2. Plan a Matching Gift Drive

Initiate a matching gift drive as a part of your corporate philanthropy efforts. If you’re new to matching gifts, it’s a philanthropic program through which companies match their employees’ donations to nonprofits, usually in a 1:1 ratio. However, some companies match gifts in a 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio.

Matching gifts encourage employees to donate to a nonprofit of their choice with a promise of 1:1 corporate donation backing. Employees are generally free to choose which nonprofit to contribute to, and companies reap the benefits of maintaining their corporate social responsibility image while letting their employees take the steering wheel. It’s a win-win for companies, employees, and selected nonprofits. 

3. Host a Virtual Corporate Social Responsibility Webinar

Not sure which corporate social responsibility event idea is right? Research several corporate social responsibility events and have your employees complete a survey concerning which causes they’d like to know more about from you. Also, host a virtual corporate social responsibility webinar to explore different causes and initiatives directly with them. (Note: You can do this using Attendease Virtual Studio!)

Compile your list of survey responses and invite the corresponding nonprofit leaders to talk at an organized webinar. Give these organizational leaders time to discuss their mission and what your company can do to help. During the webinar, plan to answer questions and explore corporate social responsibility event alternatives. 

4. Host an Environmental Clean-up

Make your city sparkle with a dedicated corporate social responsibility clean-up effort. If your office is near the coast, this could look like spending an afternoon fishing plastic off sandy beaches. If your office is located in a relatively spotless part of town, consider reaching out to neighboring cities and lending a helping hand.

Partner with local parks to plant trees and assist with their trash-free initiatives. Or use your outdoor corporate social responsibility event as an opportunity to celebrate Earth Day.

5. Participate in a Nonprofit Fundraising Event

Raise funds and awareness by participating in nonprofit fundraising events. From online challenges to in-person parties, there is a wide range of potential events to consider. Your company can also join in a pre-made event or plan your own on behalf of a charity.

Potential fundraising events could include hosting a trivia night, fundraising 5K, a field day competition, a used book drive, or a silent auction. The event options are endless! Added bonus, if you’re an Attendease customer, you can use Attendease to register people for your event.

6. Volunteer at an Animal Shelter

Are your company employees animal lovers? Volunteer at a local animal shelter as a part of your corporate social responsibility initiatives. Most shelters have Corporate Service Days to coordinate your volunteer hours.

Go online and fill out the related company volunteer request form. Note that many forms also require a donation as a part of your volunteer efforts.

7. Offer Micro-Volunteering Opportunities

If your company can’t commit to full days of service, try out some micro-volunteering opportunities. These volunteer events are short-term, low-commitment events or tasks that help nonprofits get ahead. They could look like attending a virtual event such as a silent auction, providing nonprofit survey feedback, sorting cans at a food drive, or providing pro-bono professional services as part of your regular work.

Corporate volunteer grants are another low-effort corporate social responsibility alternative. These corporate giving programs encourage volunteerism by donating monetary grants to nonprofits where their employees regularly volunteer. 

These grants communicate to prospective employees, customers, and competitors that your company is invested in backing social good causes. 

Social Responsibility Opportunities Exist Everywhere

How will your company use CSR initiatives to back its reputation? Environmental, ethical, educational, and philanthropic event-related opportunities exist everywhere. Share this list with your employees to gauge interest and get started planning your next corporate social responsibility event today. 

Accessible Event Registration Platform – Make your events inclusive to all attendees with these accessibility best practices. 

How to Provide a Seamless Virtual Event Experience – Level up your next virtual event from start to finish with this guide.
5 Strategies to Improve Your Virtual Corporate Events – Make your corporate virtual events stand out with these 5 tips.

Simplify the Complexity of Managing Your Meetings and Events with a Powerful Suite of Tools

Make your attendees gather with ease. From small to large and complex events – plan and manage all of your events in one flexible platform – Attendease.


About the Author: Wayne Elsey is the founder and CEO of Elsey Enterprises (EE) and a Forbes Business Development Council member. Among his various independent brands, he is also the founder and CEO of Sneakers4Funds, which is a social enterprise that helps schools, churches, nonprofits, individuals, and other organizations raise funds while helping to support micro-enterprise (small business) opportunities in developing nations.

Author: Wayne Elsey