
Introduction
Does your organization feel uncertain about how to make the most of sponsorship opportunities in your continuing education webinars and live event streaming? If so, you’re not alone! 72% of organizations don’t offer online sponsorships for virtual events, costing non-dues revenue and valuable partner opportunities.
Don’t let your continuing education program get left behind! Read on for helpful tips on effectively selling and incorporating sponsorships at your continuing education webinars and live event streams.
How to sell and incorporate sponsorships at your continuing education webinars
Are you ready to level up your organization’s approach to sponsorships? Follow these strategies to improve the sale and incorporation of sponsorships at your continuing education webinars and live event streaming:
1. Get to know your sponsors
Does your organization have a sponsorship program yet? If not, it’s easy to begin. Build yours by asking sponsors about their goals, what benefits they’d like to see in a sponsorship package, and what audience they’re interested in reaching.
Consider calling your sponsors to ask these questions directly. Phone calls can foster a relationship with your sponsors. You can also try conducting an online survey to reach more sponsors and establish a baseline for your data and reporting purposes.
2. Best sponsorships to offer
When it comes to selling sponsorships at your continuing education webinars and event live streams, consider the following opportunities for your organization:
- Thought leadership opportunities. Sponsors might be interested in providing professional development opportunities, industry best practice tips, or sponsoring unique continuing education credit offerings.
- Lead opportunities. Consider offering attendee information to your sponsors or generating hand-raiser information through attendee polls in exchange for your sponsor package.
- Branding. Consider where it makes sense for an organization to sponsor your webinar and be intentional with how involved you want your sponsors to be in your live stream. Do you want all your sponsors’ logos crowding the learner’s view throughout an event? With sponsorships, try creating the best experience for your learners.
3. Posting a sales kit
Make it easy for sponsors to find your organization and sell even more sponsorships at your next webinar or event livestream by creating a sales kit. Begin by starting a document and detailing your organization’s description and continuing education program. Provide relevant information about your mission and member demographics so sponsors can understand your learner audience. Highlight your learning management system (LMS), showing potential sponsors how features like AI-generated closed captions, multi-language subtitles, and interactivity functionality boost learner engagement to increase positive webinar and event live stream outcomes and drive sponsorship ROI.
You’ll also want to provide a list of sponsorship opportunities, including benefits and prices for your continuing education webinars. Make it easy for companies to purchase sponsorship by providing your contact information. Consider posting your sales kit on a separate sponsorship page on your website and emailing sponsors about any new or upcoming sponsorship opportunities.