If you’re looking for sponsors for your event, you’ll probably end up with the task of defining sponsorship tiers.
They’re the most important part of your sponsorship proposal! After all, they answer the main question every sponsor will have: “what’s in it for me?”
For that reason, sponsorship tiers deserve your full attention and need to be defined carefully.
But don’t worry if your biggest question right now is how much to charge for a sponsorship tier! In this article, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know:
- What are sponsorship tiers?
- How do you find good sponsors?
- How do you set the price of your sponsorship tiers?
What Are Sponsorship Tiers?
Put simply, sponsorship tiers are “packages” offered to companies interested in supporting your event financially.
Basically, these tiers guarantee the funds needed to make the event happen. In exchange, they offer benefits to the sponsors who purchase them.
Typically, sponsors receive booths, speaking opportunities during the event, exclusive discount coupons, opening credits in videos, and similar perks.
It all depends on the tier purchased! Tiers are usually split into levels based on the benefits offered and the amount invested by the sponsor — think silver, gold, and diamond packages.
What Is a Sponsorship Proposal?
If you’re wondering where your sponsor will actually see your event’s sponsorship tiers, I need to quickly tell you about the sponsorship proposal.
A sponsorship proposal is a document that describes your event and all the benefits offered to a sponsor.
It includes information such as your event’s goals, your target audience, the advantages of investing in the event, and the sponsorship tiers themselves.
This document is what gets presented or sent to the people responsible for sponsorship deals inside a company.
For example, larger companies often have staff dedicated specifically to this role within their marketing or public relations teams.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure where to start — the key is building a clear, well-organized proposal and reaching out to the right companies.
How Do You Find Good Sponsors?
Choosing sponsors comes down to three areas that will help you land on the best options: your event’s target audience, your finances, and the market.
Your Event’s Target Audience
Your sponsors and your audience need to be aligned! That’s a win for everyone involved.
So get to know your attendees deeply — their interests, behaviors, and preferences.
Look at demographic data like age, gender, and location. Also consider lifestyle, values, and interests.
Once you have that picture, you’ll be able to identify the brands that have the strongest affinity with that audience.
Reach out to sponsors who are aligned with your audience and are trying to reach that same niche. They’ll almost certainly be interested in investing in events that attract their target customers.
In fact, according to research from Archrival, 55% of Gen Z (ages 13–25) engage more with brands that sponsor events they want to attend or already go to.
Have you thought about offering that kind of value to your sponsors?
Finances
Your event’s finances are another crucial factor in choosing your sponsors.
After all, your event’s total budget will directly affect how much each sponsorship tier costs.
That’s why this tends to be a heavily scrutinized point for sponsors. They want to know what percentage of the event’s costs they’d be covering, and whether that makes sense for them.
If your event is fairly expensive, it’s important to look for companies that can afford higher-priced tiers.
So take a close look at your finances, review your sponsorship tiers, and seek out companies that can realistically invest at that level.
Market
Finally, put together a list of companies that could sponsor your event.
But don’t stop at just two or three, okay? Having a solid range of options is key to making a good selection.
At this stage, take a close look at the market your event and your prospective sponsors operate in.
Start by studying your event’s competitors and the companies that have already sponsored similar events. That can help you grow your list!
Then, identify both large and small companies among your potential sponsors.
Small companies obviously won’t be able to invest the same amount as a large company. So your tiers — and your approach — should vary from one company to another.
Also study the current market context those companies operate in, so you can build a sponsorship proposal that offers exactly what they need right now.
How Do You Set the Price of Your Sponsorship Tiers?
1. Map Out Your Event Costs
As mentioned, your event’s costs will be essential in defining your sponsorship tiers.
So map out expenses for venue rental, catering, equipment, your events platform, your organizing team, and anything else involved.
It’s always worth showing sponsors these costs so they understand the event’s finances.
If your event has received public or institutional funding, show that approved amount as part of the cost as well.
That said, you shouldn’t let your event be defined by cost alone.
After all, some of the work behind an event doesn’t cost anything directly but takes an enormous amount of effort, right? Think about your planning process, the relentless search for great venues, speakers, and unique experiences. It’s only fair to charge for that too.
In fact, it’s that “extra” value that justifies sponsorship tiers priced higher than the event’s raw cost. And that cushion can save you if you don’t manage to sell every single tier!
So it’s time to talk about the overall value of the event.
2. Define the Value of Your Event
Your sponsors will likely compare the price of your sponsorship tiers against your costs.
So prepare for that in advance, and also communicate the added value your event brings.
That means its relevance within the market, its target audience, and the quality of the experience it delivers to attendees.
Events with broad reach, meaningful impact, and high engagement generally carry more value in a sponsor’s eyes.
These factors can justify higher-priced sponsorship tiers.
By now it should be clear there’s no universal “average price” for your tiers.
What you need to do is build them so the investment covers both your costs and the overall value of the event.
It’s also important to create a range of tiers so you’re not left at a loss if you don’t sell everything.
3. Get to Know the Sponsoring Organizations
Before setting the price of your sponsorship tiers, it’s important to understand the organizations you plan to approach as sponsors.
Research their financial capacity, marketing goals, and history of sponsoring similar events.
That way, you can tailor your sponsorship proposals to better match what those companies actually need and expect.
Remember that your pricing should match the scale of those organizations.
For example, it’s usually not a great look to offer very cheap, low-benefit tiers to very large companies.
On the other hand, if your focus is on small businesses and independent entrepreneurs, your approach will look quite different.
In those cases, it’s better to create several cheaper, simpler tiers so sponsors can buy in according to their financial reality.
4. Define the Sponsorship Tiers and Their Benefits
Now for the moment you’ve been building toward! After all that research, you probably already have some numbers in mind.
Now it’s time to create your sponsorship tiers, splitting them into different levels of brand exposure.
This variety lets different companies choose the tier that makes the most sense for their business.
Common benefits include participation in event activities, networking opportunities, booths, brand activations, and more.
A good structure typically looks like:
- Silver or Tier 1: the most accessible price, with simpler benefits, such as branding on certificates;
- Gold or Tier 2: a mid-range price, with benefits involving direct contact with attendees, such as booths;
- Diamond or Tier 3: the highest price, with high-commercial-impact benefits, such as lead generation.
Just make sure every tier offers a fair, attractive return for sponsors, based on their marketing goals and the perceived value of your event.
5. Build a Solid Marketing Strategy
Once your tiers are created, you’ll need to promote them.
You’ll also need to put your plan into action to give visibility to the sponsors who have already agreed to support you. All of this happens through your event’s marketing.
That’s why it’s important to organize your strategy and your calendar of actions in advance.
Be sure to include email marketing strategies to bring your sponsors closer to your attendees.
You can send emails with discount coupons for sponsor products, presentations, exclusive materials, and more.
You can also promote sponsors on social media, in ads, and on your event website.
In short, your marketing needs to deliver on what you promised your sponsors — and show them the results.
6. Review Your Tiers for Every Event
As your event evolves, it’s important to review and adjust your sponsorship tiers.
After all, they need to stay financially attractive both to you and to your sponsors.
So remember to realign expectations with sponsors for every new edition.
Also analyze the results from previous editions’ sponsorships, and gather feedback from sponsors and attendees alike — satisfaction surveys are a great tool for this.
Finally, always make the changes needed to improve your sponsorship offer with every new edition of the event.
7. Put Together a Strong Presentation
As a final step, all you need to do is present the information above in your sponsorship proposal.
But make sure the presentation is convincing! Be sure to include:
- The event’s theme and goals;
- The characteristics of your target audience;
- Success data, such as number of attendees, leads generated, and organizations or cities reached by the event;
- The costs of running the event;
- The overall value of the event and the exclusive benefits for sponsors;
- Sponsorship tiers, with detailed information on the return on investment;
- If you have them, results and outcomes from past sponsors;
- A contact channel for questions.
It’s also important to tailor each proposal to the specific needs and goals of every company you approach.
That way, you’ll be able to show exactly how the partnership can be a win for them.
Take Your Sponsorship Program Further with Even3
You don’t have to build all of this from scratch, and you don’t have to manage it manually either.
With a complete events platform like Even3, you can create your event website, showcase your sponsorship tiers, manage sponsor benefits, sell tickets, and track everything from one place — giving your sponsors a professional, organized experience from the very first contact.
