As event organizers, we all love and need the support of our sponsors – but during this time, it can be challenging to come up with ways to highlight them outside of the physical event world of mile markers, finish line chutes, and more. As always, the Race Roster team is here to help! We’ve put together some actionable ideas on how you can showcase the sponsors of your virtual event.
Get creative with your sponsorship package
Offering booths, logo exposure on photo backdrops, mile markers, finish line chutes, and other physical structures is not really possible in the virtual event space, but there are still plenty of enticing offers you can include in your sponsorship package! Here are just a few ideas:
- Finisher certificate branding – After crossing the virtual finish line, participants are excited to showcase their accomplishment with their friends and family. Finisher certificates are a great share-worthy asset that participants will cherish, and you can customize yours to highlight the sponsors you work with! Add a background image and display sponsor logos across the bottom of your certificate.
- Official sponsor of your virtual event playlist – Offer up the official sponsorship for your virtual event playlist and include their logo on the album artwork.
- Add sponsor logos to a Facebook frame, Instagram event geotag, and Snapchat event filter – Create a Facebook frame, Instagram event geotag, and Snapchat event filter for your event that includes event branding and sponsor logos. Participants love to share event photos and social media frames are a great way for them to capture and share their event experience!
- Official sponsor of your awards ceremony – Provide a title sponsorship opportunity for your virtual awards ceremony (e.g., “Seawater Stride Awards Ceremony presented by Shoeys”)! You can use Race Roster’s awards tool to create and assign awards, then you can announce the official winners in a LIVE virtual ceremony.
- Products & packaging – Collaborate with sponsors to add their logos on products that will be shipped out to participants. You might even have the option of including sponsor logos on the packaging!
Showcase sponsors on your event details page
Your event details page acts as the homepage for your event. It’s where participants can view event information, register, volunteer, donate, and much more! This also makes it a great place to showcase your sponsors. Here are a couple great places you can display sponsors on your event details page:
- Dedicated sponsors section – Leverage our sponsorship management tool to display sponsors in the dedicated sponsor section of your event details page — where you can create more awareness for your sponsors and direct page visitors to their website by setting their name or logo as a link. Additionally, you can sort your sponsors into groups to categorize them (e.g. platinum, gold, and silver sponsors) and customize the order in which they are displayed.
- Add a new section to display all sponsors – If you have a very long list of sponsors, you might not want to display all of them in the ‘dedicated sponsors section’ mentioned above. In this case, you can create a new section on your event details page and make a collage of sponsor logos to increase their exposure.
Customize your registration flow
- Registration questions – Set up registration questions to ask optional questions on behalf of your sponsors and determine if participants are interested in hearing directly from your sponsors.
- Registration confirmation page – Every person who registers for your event will land on your registration confirmation page. This page is a great opportunity for you to give your sponsors additional exposure. Add sponsor logos to this page and include a link to their website or another place that highlights their promotions.
Customize your high-traffic results page
Turn your virtual results page into a full page sponsor takeover! Add a banner and a background image that reflects your sponsor’s branding and links out to your sponsor’s website or run specialty store! These customizations are a great way to get your participants connected with your sponsors. Encourage participants to shop for gear to wear at their next event and include a promo code they can redeem on your sponsor’s online store.
Check out our knowledge base article for instructions on how to brand your results page.
Leverage the Race Roster email campaign tool
There are a number of campaigns you can create by leveraging our easy-to-use email campaign tool! Here are a few ideas you can use to land a sponsor highlight in the inboxes of your participants.
- Sponsor appreciation campaign – Highlight each and every one of your sponsors by putting together a sponsor appreciation campaign! Give each of your top tier sponsors a section of their own to create content that can be displayed in front of your participants. Include a section to display all of your sponsor logos as a thank you for all of their support! If they have a website, be sure to link their logo out to it.
- Virtual event kit – Build an email campaign to act as a virtual event kit. Include third-party coupons and promo codes to drive participants to local take-out food sponsors, grocery stores, or to your local run specialty store’s website!
As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to director@raceroster.com. Our dedicated customer success team is here to help!
