Blogger Sponsorship for Conferences: Part 1 – What Do You Have to Offer?

If you’ve been attending conferences for the past couple of years, you may have noticed some bloggers have sponsors paying their conference entry fee and other expenses. In return these bloggers are helping to promote their sponsors. For bloggers who can’t scrape together the funds to attend conferences, this can turn out to be a mutually beneficial solution. I spent the past month researching and seeking out my own sponsorship – mostly to report here, but also to help defray my costs.

Before you begin the hunt for a sponsor for blog conferences, make a list of what you have to offer. If a business or brand is going to kick in a couple of grand to fly you across the country and put you up at a hotel, you’ll have to  give them something in return, otherwise, why would they bother?

Here are some suggestions:

• Blog advertisements - It goes without saying your sponsor will expect some for of advertising on your blog.  This can amount to a small banner or large sidebar widget depending on your agreement.
• “Sponsored By” blog posts -  A “sponsored by” banner or boilerplate for a certain amount of blog posts each week or month.
• Live blogging from the event – You can live blog on your sponsor’s behalf.
• Live tweeting from the event – Ditto. Every now and then mention your sponsor (without being spammy).
• Handing out promotional material at the event – If your sponsor has any promotional material to give out, you can do so at the event.
• Wear your sponsors shirt - Hey if that space is for rent, go for it!
• Interviews from the event - You can put your sponsors logo in the bottom corner of the video.

These are only a few ideas of what you can offer to your sponsor. In the upcoming days, we’re going to go over how to choose the perfect sponsor and how to write up a proposal.

Keep in mind, once you sign on the dotted line, there’s not going back. If you decide to seek sponsorhip, you have to be willing to go the distance and put in the work. Sponsors don’t send bloggers to conferences for nothing, they expect promotion, and some heavy promotion at that.

So what do you have to offer a sponsor?