Revenue from sponsors of events and buyers of marketing solutions are the lifeblood of many of MPG’s clients. We see every day how critically important it is to deliver excellent value for customers who often pay large sums annually to reach the audiences and engage with communities that B2B media & events are so good at creating.

Renewing these sponsors so they come back year after year is essential for a healthy and sustainable business, and typically we see strong renewals as relatively easy to achieve if the events, content and solutions hit the mark. 

However, what usually proves difficult for most sales teams responsible for hitting sponsorship revenue targets is acquiring new sponsors, and making sure they are the right sponsors so they renew after year 1.

It seems many B2B media & events businesses are still expecting their sales people to use ‘cold outreach’ methods to find new sponsors - even though this is highly inefficient and severely limits reach into the total pool of potential new sponsors.
 

Commercial marketing - when done well - is one of the best ways to grow sponsorship revenue

When commercial marketing is consistently well strategised, planned and executed, sponsorship revenue will be more profitably, reliably and sustainably generated due to:

(1) A steady stream of high quality leads being fed to the sponsorship sales team - from ‘always on’ multi-channel marketing campaigns targeting companies most likely to buy sponsorships, year-after-year.

(2) A strong conversion rate of these leads to ‘closed won’ - as good commercial marketing entails strong collaboration with sales and warmer, more relevant leads as a result.

(3) Increase in average order value from new sponsors - because sales and marketing work together to ensure the value of the packages being sold is very clear and consistent at every touchpoint.

(4) Shorter (more efficient) sales cycles - because sales people are only contacting companies that have already expressed an interest in sponsoring.
 

How commercial marketing is done separates the winners from the losers

Most event organisers and marketing solutions focused businesses don’t take the right approach to commercial marketing. 3 typical mistakes they make are:

(1) Expecting audience focused marketers to also deliver commercial marketing. Different methodologies and workflows are needed for audience marketing vs commercial marketing. It is not reasonable to expect the same marketer to be expert in both and accommodate both in their day-to-day work. The best commercial marketing outcomes come from highly focused resources who live and breathe commercial marketing.

(2) Not using a robust, multi-channel, fully optimised commercial marketing approach. Simply putting up a ‘sponsorship opportunities’ page and sending out a few emails to try and generate leads is no longer enough. Relevant web pages need to be fully optimised for AI discovery and conversions, while multiple channels including multiple formats of Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads must be used in conjunction with email to generate a steady stream of good leads.

(3) Not having their sales people involved enough in their commercial marketing. Salespeople will have the most valuable insights and guidance for commercial marketers, and far too often we see commercial marketers ‘sitting in a corner’ and not collaborating well with their salespeople. At times salespeople are at fault for not supporting the commercial marketing in the right way. This relationship needs work and careful management. Strategic commercial marketers will get this right. 
 

Get in touch to have a chat about your commercial marketing strategy

In future blogs we will cover in more depth:

• How commercial marketing is different to delegate marketing, and why this is important to consider when putting in place the right resources for commercial marketing.
   

• The strategic approach to commercial marketing: focusing on what sponsors are actually buying (revealing MPG’s SOAP model).
   

• Key metrics and benchmarks that should be captured, analysed and reviewed regularly to ensure commercial marketing is optimised for a strong ROI.
   

• MPG’s framework for successful commercial marketing - sharing the steps Team MPG takes to consistently deliver a steady stream of high quality leads for sponsorship sales teams - week-after-week, and how the approach we take increases lead conversion rates, increases average order value and reduces average sales cycles. 

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