The OpenWater Blog

Learning Series: Surveying Sponsors

Once you’ve surveyed entrants and judges there are more surveys to send out, and one is to sponsors!

Sponsors help make your awards program possible. And, if you can, it’s important to build relationships and encourage repeat sponsorship so that you aren’t left scrambling each year looking to support the financial side of your program.

With surveys, you can do just that. Read on to learn what questions to ask as they relate to:

1. The prestige of the program
2. The integrity of the program; and
3. Operational goals

Why Survey Sponsors?

There are multiple reasons to survey entrants and judges but just one main reason to survey sponsors: you want them to return next year and each of the ten years after that.

Repeat sponsorship makes it simpler to organize your program each year because you don’t have to reach out to as many potential organizations to finance your program.

Now on to what really matters: the questions you should be asking.

How to Survey Sponsors

Sponsor surveys will look much like entrant and judge surveys as they’ll fall into the same categories.

Prestige of the Program

Prestige-focused questions focus on the benefits sponsors experienced by being at your event and affiliated with your organization.

Some questions you may want to ask include:

• Whether being affiliated with your awards program has bolstered the sponsor’s image; and
• Whether entrants and winners of your program are prospective customers for the sponsor

Integrity of the Program

There aren’t many integrity-focused questions to ask sponsors. In fact, the only one will be whether the sponsor agrees with the finalists and winners.

Operational Goals

Operational goals are amongst the most important for sponsors. Some examples of questions might be:

• Whether sponsors received sufficient recognition during the entire awards cycle;
• Whether sponsors received enough time with entrants; and
• Whether sponsors were able to interact with judges and received enough facetime with judges

What Will You Ask Sponsors?

Sponsors are vital for your organization. Maintaining good relationships with the same sponsors is even more important.

With surveys fashioned in the format above, you can do just that.

If you still have questions yourself, get more information on surveying sponsors in our free online course Awards 101: The Missing Manual for Awards Professionals!

Ashley Surinak

Ashley Surinak is the resident OpenWater expert on all things content. From the blog to guides and beyond, you'll find her at every turn in your OpenWater journey.

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