Guide to writing event sponsorship emails

Successfully securing event sponsorships necessitates the careful building of connections and fostering of relationships, but it all starts with a well crafted pitch. Here, we look at how to write the perfect event sponsorship email.

Guest post by Randi Zimmerman of the Symphonic Blog

When it comes to securing event sponsors, it’s all about connections and maintaining relationships. Not only that, it all starts with a great pitch. To do this, you’ll need to write emails with your proposal and be able to navigate the conversation smoothly. Here’s how to do it.

How To Write Event Sponsorship Emails

Of the top five categories of celebrities or public figures followed, musicians and bands lead the way with 57% across all platforms. These figures should convince any brand to work with and sponsor musicians. Click To Tweet

Let’s get started…

There are a couple scenarios in which you’ll get an introduction to this process. Maybe you attended an event, met someone from your target brand, and hit it off. In this case, you’ll need to follow up accordingly. On the other hand, maybe you know which company you’re interested in but you need to reach out cold. There’s a way to go about that too.

If you’ve already met someone at the company and are writing a follow up email, try this: 

• Start with a great, engaging subject line. Something like, “Met you at (event name here). Let’s connect!” works great.
• Don’t be offended by this, but they may not remember you right away… Jog their memory with a quick line about how you met. This doesn’t need to be your life story here, just some context to help reinforce your relationship with them.
• Give some insight into why you’re interested in them. It never hurts to hype them up a bit with a compliment about their work or something specific that they do that interests you.

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Learn more…

5 Brands That Partner with Musicians 

Quick Guide to Taxes as an Independent Musician

4 Ways to Get Endorsements as an Independent Artist

8 Types of Repurposed Content You Can Create From Your Music Videos

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If you need to do reach out fir the first time, try this instead: 

First, do your research. You need to find out who works there and who is the best person to reach out to for your request. Once you’re ready to actually craft the email itself, here’s how it should look.

• Focus on the value your event brings to their company/the industry. What is your audience looking for? Does this correlate with the sponsors’? Even if you’re just think about this single event, your email should maintain the theme of working together long-term. You want a meaningful relationship with this company, not charity work.
• Keep it clear and concise. — This email shouldn’t be a million paragraphs long, but you do need to keep their attention. Engage their interests and always relate your mission to their own.
• Always include one or two sentences with a detail about their work. They want to know that you are actually invested in their company and know a little about them. (This goes a long way, I swear.)

What’s next?

Once you’ve sent that first email and have talked a bit with them, it doesn’t end there. Now you need to get them to commit to your cause. It’s time to set up a meeting. — Whether it be via a phone call, zoom, or in person (safely, of course!), asking for a good time to connect further creates a call to action. It means you mean business and you’re ready to get to work. Nobody is interested in all talk and no action.

Quick Tip: The key to getting a meet up is to not be complicated. Don’t give them one option and call it a day. This makes it way too easy for them to just say no and move on. Give them multiple times and options that work for them. As a partner in business, you want to make their life easy not hard. 

In Conclusion…

Even if you send an amazing email, they might still say no. Its just a part of the process. It’s important not to give up on your first try. If you’ve got a great event in mind, there’s a plethora of companies out there who are willing to sponsor your efforts. It’s all about trial and error.