Sponsors who are sacrificing their hard earned dollars for exposure for your next REALTOR® Association event are most likely thinking whether they should renew their booth, ad, and level for next year. Budget, market opportunities, and past successes influence their decision so my question to you is…
“How can we as REALTOR® Associations can give more back to our sponsors without having to increase the amount they donate to support our organization?”
My purposes of the these ideas are to:
- Inform sponsor of ways they can receive more exposure from events, classes, and expos they participate in.
- Allow REALTOR® Associations, meeting planners, and education departments to learn what tools and content they can share in the social media space to build sponsorship value.
Let me share with you some out of the box ideas that may push your sponsors over the edge so make them write that next check for your REALTOR® Association Event.
1. Blog post for upcoming event. 
Every single blog post or blog page is its own website or web page. A blog post can include many different forms of links and multimedia that turn your REALTOR® Association website into a PLAYsite. Links may include links to online registration forms, downloadable PDF forms (uploaded to www.Box.net), and surveys. Multimedia examples include video, PowerPoint, and audio. Let me be more specific in future items of discussion.
2. Video
shared by email, social media and blogs.
There are three different types of promotional videos you can use to sell more tickets at the door for your REALTOR® Association event. Create an online profile at www.Animoto.com to upload pictures of past events and pictures of call to action references. Secondly, create a screen capture video of how people can sign up online for your next event based on how the website was designed. In other words, people can watch a video that shows them where to click, when to click it, and where to enter in the credit card information. A third video can involve combined video testimonials from the past, videos of speakers, or a video produces to inform sponsors what they get as a result for investing in the event. Since each video, if uploaded to YouTube, can be shared by hyperlink it can be copied and pasted into social media status updates, or sent by email marketing.
3. Pre-Sell PowerPoint.
Produce a PowerPoint presentation that includes 15-20 slides that will help you sell your next REALTOR® Association convention. Each slide must contain a picture, bullet points, and hyperlink. Use royalty free photos found at www.CrystalGraphics.com for your PowerPoint presentations or photos from your digital camera. Just make sure you have the rights to use the photos. The photo should be seen as a visual description of what people will receive as a result of attending the session. Bullet points should be written as questions to challenge thought, reference statistics, and identify learning objectives that the student will be able to implement as a result of attending your session. Finally, add hyperlinks in your PowerPoint presentation that direct people to calls to action, downloadable forms, or other sites that match the event. Be sure to link sponsor logos, names, and bullet points to sponsor websites for maximum exposure. If the PowerPoint presentations are shared on www.SlideShare.net they can now be share by email without sending attachment, social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter, and be embedded into your blog or websites.
4. Template for pictures taken from REALTOR® Association event. 
A picture is worth a 1,000 words because they express emotion, point of reference, and who was included in the picture. My suggestion is to create a template or visual frame that includes the words “sponsored by your company” and maybe a sponsor logo that you can attach to each picture. Furthermore each picture will have to be edited using a picture editing software. Once the final picture has been edited to include the sponsor information then you can start to share these pictures on social media sites either before or after the events. For pictures after the events, sponsors and meeting planners can share these pictures on blogs, www.Flickr.com, Facebook, and www.Animoto.com.
5. Add sponsor logos to speaker slides.
Sometimes the REALTOR® Association event sponsor may pay for the speaker fee so the speaker will earn an income if an only if the sponsor chips in to make the event a reality. Ask your speakers to send you the PowerPoint with the sponsor logo inserted into the Slide Master (the header/footer of the PowerPoint) or ask the speaker to send you the PowerPoint so the REALTOR® Association can do this. The PowerPoint presentation when shared on www.SlideShare.net can now have the event sponsor appear on every slide which can also be shared by email without sending attachment, shared by Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter to maximize the exposure of the sponsorship.
6. Add sponsor logos to handouts, flyers, and other online downloads.
Most events, education classes, and meetings, include either a printed or online version of the document others can download from an email message or email. Most REALTOR® Associations have to check with their IT department to upload a document online which wastes valuable time when you as the meeting planner can now do it yourself without having to contact anyone. Take the documents you want to share electronically, and upload to www.Box.net. Every document uploaded to www.Box.net can now be assigned its own web page. Furthermore since every document is its own web page it can now be linked from our website, blog, email message, and shared by Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter status updates.
7. Book a good speaker.
I have been a bad speaker before and the best speaker in the history of the client so I have seen the effects my performance effects of sponsorship renewal. When poor speakers performed poorly they do not get asked back and the sponsor does not return. When good speakers exceed expectations then sponsors not only renew their investment but they receive business as a result because the attendees who implement what they learn as a result earn more money and can attribute the success from engaging in a REALTOR® Association sponsored event.
7.7 Re-Interpret Value Forever.
Sponsors must be thanked continuously by REALTOR® Associations right from the beginning offering of the program all the way to forever. I mean that the shelf life of sponsorships usually last in the moment when attendees when attendees are fully engaged. Incorporating a social media strategy to where content including videos, PowerPoint presentations, audio interviews, and event recaps lasts the lifetime of the web. Since each form of content is included as its own unique web page, others can share them to their own preferred method of communication.
The Best Part!!!
The only investment required for the REALTOR® Association to build sponsorship value for their next event is time, not money.
Someone has to produce, upload, and share the content using multiple social networks to optimize the media channels and inform others about sponsor participation. The assignment of responsibilities should be clear to staff, sponsors, and speakers to make sure they are actively promoting the event as well.
Do you have a spreadsheet that let’s your sponsor what their return on investment will be? Download this excel spreadsheet to help you with the calculations.
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