IDEAS FOR WEBCAST SPONSORSHIP
The real estate of the webcast page itself provides opportunities for a sponsor to be showcased. This is undervalued but highly effective and by extending the sponsorship opportunities. Leverage the website and individual pages for the live and archived event to continue to provide engaging ways for the audience to interact with the content. The obvious and conventional approach has been a “Sponsor” section – maybe a larger and more desired placement of banners and logos but really how much value you are extending to your sponsors? Provided below are a few ideas on how you can better showcase your sponsors and drive up the value you can bring when webcasting your event:
Free Stuff – Everyone loves free stuff! Provide downloadable coupons, free trials, give-aways, etc.
Calls to Action – Give you sponsors real world leads by creating calls to action for your viewers such as sign ups for a newsletter/mailing list, direct links to sponsor website, info on products, request a meeting/call, get a quote.
Commercials – Take a conventional broadcasting approach and offer the playback of commercials either in between sessions, during breaks or even automated pre-roll before a viewer’s video starts
Speaking Engagements – This is a common approach taken for in-person events but extend that to the webcast as well. Use pre-recorded video that can be played back or even create a virtual tradeshow area where each sponsor can pre-record their elevator pitch
Sponsor Shout out – This would normally be done for in-person events but it only makes sense to extend to the webcast audience. Use breaks between sessions to highlight all the organizations helping to make your event possible
Graphic Overlays/Lower Thirds – Use the lower third graphics area to showcase a sponsor. Every time a new speaker is shown on camera – so will your sponsor’s brand
Polls, Quizzes, QA, Slides, etc. – Polls ”brought to you by Company X” is another great way to highlight a sponsor’s brand. Leverage all the engagement tools you plan on using and folding them into a sponsorship package
Sponsored Sessions – Provide sponsor recognition of the webcast itself – by day or session or the entire conference
SUMMARY
When webcasting your event, you have a captivated audience which provides many opportunities in camera or on the webpage itself to draw the viewers’ attention. Utilizing a live stream for an in person or virtual event you can lean into some of these rarely used strategies and create compelling sponsorship packages. Heck – the sponsors may come up with their own suggestions as to how they would like to be presented to an audience and webcasting your event gives you a lot flexibility to accommodate. Use any or all of these sponsorship ideas to monetize and create a new revenue stream for your virtual events!