Many SaaS founders and marketing leaders find themselves in a tough spot with Saas event sponsorship ROI. The decision makers understand that event sponsorships can be powerful, but proving that value to investors? That can get tricky, and might be something some readers are afraid to even talk about publicly.
Measuring SaaS event sponsorship ROI is crucial for justifying marketing spends. But, with so much happening at events and in business, how can you attribute business benefits solely to sponsoring events? This article explores tried-and-true methods for maximizing and accurately measuring your returns.
Table Of Contents:
- Why B2B SaaS Companies Invest in Events
- Making the Most of Your SaaS Event Sponsorship ROI Spend
- How to Measure and Boost Your SaaS Event Sponsorship ROI
- Conclusion
Why B2B SaaS Companies Invest in Events
B2B SaaS companies sponsor events for many reasons. The most relevant depend on your company and your specific goals.
Think about B2B SaaS marketing channels. Events often stand out because they allow for face-to-face interactions and first-party data collection; this data provides valuable insights.
Pipeline Expansion and Revenue Growth
Events provide opportunities to connect with decision-makers from your ideal customer profile (ICP). The valuable thing is the type of first-party data they give, helping you to get accurate info, such as behaviors.
Having a booth on a show floor offers the ability to collect leads. You get in front of potential customers and show what your product is all about.
Hosting workshops are also popular. It gives your experts a hands-on chance to do demonstrations and have interactions.
Boosting Brand Awareness Through Events
Appearing at industry events gets your product more media exposure. Showing off the features helps to boost direct sales. Building brand identity goes hand-in-hand when your team is interacting with potential customers at an event.
Freeman, a global events company, did a survey. They showed 77% of attendees trust brands more after live interactions at events.
Consider sponsoring engaging activities. SaaStock, a global community of SaaS founders, executives, and investors, had events with some special activities, including things like barista coffee stands.
Strengthening Customer Bonds and Gathering Feedback
Events aren’t just about attracting prospects. Use events to catch up with your existing customers, gather their feedback, and strengthen those relationships. You will be amazed at how people open up at in-person events compared to phone calls or even video conferences.
Customer conversations help reveal areas for cross-selling or upselling. You are finding new ways to add value while showing customers you’re focused on their growing needs.
Networking and Building Powerful Connections
Sponsoring events gets your business recognized within a professional community. Networking and getting involved will grow a business.
Think about the possibilities, too. Meeting peers who understand daily challenges, forming new partnerships, and meeting investors could be just some outcomes of a good event.
Real-time Product Insights and Market Smarts
Think of events as a live feedback loop for a business product. Chat with event attendees, observe reactions, and refine a product based on instant input.
Events allow the monitoring of competitors’ efforts. You will witness first-hand market evolution and keep ahead in SaaS advancement by gathering this intelligence.
Making the Most of Your SaaS Event Sponsorship ROI Spend
Appearing in the right places makes your product seen and heard by ideal customer profiles. Here are more ideas to increase those advantages.
Take a good look at all possible attendees. Check out speakers, or local businesses nearby, and connect for appointments ahead of time.
Align and Prepare Your Team
Make certain every member of your group knows your objectives. Your event staff should be friendly and know their way around things.
Team members approaching visitors shows that they care about customer engagement. Briefing staff on leads generated allows an opportunity to show product value in conversations.
Good follow-up actions stop opportunities from going to waste. Staying in touch keeps momentum and keeps contacts current.
Consider if using post-event materials gets conversations going with contacts. Create focused discussions by nurturing the contacts by sharing relevant content and things you talked about.
How to Measure and Boost Your SaaS Event Sponsorship ROI
Measuring sponsorship effectiveness is hard in the B2B space without some preparation.
B2B sales often involve longer cycles. It can also include many contact points; attributing direct results will be challenging for all in the sales cycle, even with shorter timeframes.
Some event interactions happen off the record. Calculating that will require extra ways to learn things.
Setting Clear Goals Is Step One
Tracking event ROI means knowing what a win looks like. Starting with clear goals improves the ability to assess things later.
Setting practical goals keeps the event impact measurable. Figure out what an acceptable achievement for the sponsorship cost would be.
Determining the expected amount for pipeline earnings versus cost gives a measure to determine what value success will have. Using defined Key Performance Indicators will let all see an image of if achievements were met.
Different Ways of Thinking of ROI
Events costing a company large amounts needs the ROI shown. Different perspectives of results make sense.
Consider pipeline expansion. The total of significant meeting arrangements goes into a value that includes appointments booked in advance or at any time, and the meetings could take place whenever is feasible for your company.
A number of contacts collected goes into the calculation of things. Some businesses will see a demand for refinement and qualification.
An assessment of overall expenditures and a calculation per contact happens next. You can check the cost-effectiveness of sponsoring an event against other ways to obtain new leads.
Brand Recognition
Measuring website visits provides good info. Seeing extra action shows event visitors going to your site.
Tracking social media use helps to calculate media exposure. Check for posts about your brand to gain a sense of event audience awareness levels.
Following a business event, assessing comments will offer information about opinions and brand visibility. Positive things are good, but pay attention to things you can change, also.
Events improve hiring, too. Applications usually go up a lot for businesses right after participating in event sponsorship.
Customer Connections
Figure out total discussions you have with the attendees. Evaluate how sponsoring the event helped the conversations.
Find sponsorship opportunities for more customer sales and services; it could have been through an offer or a special plan.
Tally amounts of more business from discussions. Calculate what expansion and increased sales were due to the sponsored event.
Use reviews, and analysis of them, as suggestions. Apply what you can to marketing strategies and for improving what you do.
Analyzing Leads by Channel Origin
Determining where new leads find you helps attribute value to events.
| Lead Source | Number of Leads | Conversion Rate | Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) | Revenue Generated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organic search | 82 | 3% | $12,000 | $29,520 |
| Referrals from another business | 64 | 4.5% | $12,000 | $34,560 |
| Local business sponsored event | 121 | 5% | $12,000 | $72,600 |
| Email promotions | 73 | 3.2% | $12,000 | $28,032 |
| Social promotions | 36 | 1% | $12,000 | $4,320 |
Calculating SaaS event sponsorship ROI figures gives the value of total customers from that marketing. Totals earned versus how much was spent is next for the return amount.
Ways to Get an Advantage by Sponsoring Events
Getting attention and advantages requires making sponsorship packages for sponsorships.
Evaluate priorities using surveys done before sponsoring a big event. Make different categories to attract business needs for all groups to join. The adaptable method results in more robust relationships, with everyone achieving desired outcomes.
Give your sponsors ways to feature products using signage or things like special displays and exhibit space, which increases their brand awareness. Events provide additional chances for a positive connection.
The online environment for SaaS changes rapidly. Sponsors doing things in the virtual realm increase attention with web advertisements and company recognition, which all provide many impressions. Using online connections during all time periods builds interest and brings chances for more event success.
Keeping honest discussions and being trustworthy improves all connections. Expectations must align; provide updates and updates to follow through with the requirements, building a connection that brings more consistent mutual benefit in future years.
Make sure tracking of sponsorship endeavors occurs; you’ll gain insights about results. Use it to enhance future ROI and experiences.
Tips for Higher Local Recognition with an Event
You will want to pick events that get the business noticed more in an area. Focus on sponsoring community involvement.
Increase SEO by adding backlinks with event support by getting local event sponsorship.
Connect with neighboring groups and create an audience bond. Pick locations fitting the area’s image and objectives.
Conclusion
Every B2B company must consider whether an event is right for their group. Sponsoring events depends on figuring out reasons.
ChartMogul focuses on ROI and branding for its reasons to attend events. Businesses should think of what fits and find benefits from sponsorships when thinking of SaaS event sponsorship ROI. Implementing the appropriate strategy builds brand awareness with the right people at gatherings.
