Sponsoring WordCamps : How to Make it work

Sponsoring a WordCamp empowers the local community and helps grow your brand. However, you need to think outside the box and make your booth memorable. Network and form relationships with your customers, influencers, and other sponsors.

A personal note from Leo Koo, lead organiser of WCMY24, WordPress developer and blogger at Leokoo.com

My first WordCamp, WordCamp Kuala Lumpur 2017, left a lasting impression on me. It was held in a swanky hotel in downtown KL and featured memorable talks. At WCKL2017, I discovered new brands in addition to established brands like GoDaddy and BlueHost.

I learned about Jerry and his blog, WebHostingSecretsRevealed, Divi Framework, and RunCloud among others.

RunCloud was just launched in 2017, and sponsoring WordCamp Kuala Lumpur that year became pivotal for them. It gave them exposure and feedback from the vibrant WordPress community. RunCloud has grown from strength to strength and is one of the top recommendations in various WordPress-focused Facebook Groups when developers look for a Cloud Control Panel for their agency needs.

Like RunCloud, your brand can benefit from sponsoring a WordCamp near you. Interested to find out how? Perhaps you have been frustrated with your ROI from sponsoring. Read on as we unfold how to sponsor WordCamps the right way.

How to Sponsor WordCamps the Right Way

Can sponsoring a WordCamp work for you? Definitely. But how about sponsors who don’t see a return on investment? Well, it’s subjective. Even with the right crowd, sponsoring a WordCamp (or any other event) might not give you an ROI. So, what can you do to stand out?

I’ve been to multiple WordCamps and engagement matters. You should buy more tickets to have enough staff to engage the attendees. You can always ask the organizing team if you can have more seats at your table. Or have some staff stand around the booth to engage with others.

While swag is essential, how you tie it into your marketing activities matters, too. The swag must be valuable enough for attendees (I took home four water bottles and six T-shirts from WordCamp Asia 2023). However, you don’t want to leave it on the table for everyone to take without engaging your team.

Focus on Viral Marketing

Beyond T-shirts, keychains, and tumblers, could you give away free one-year or lifetime licenses (for plugins and software) or one year of free hosting (for hosting companies)? If lifetime is too hard, how about a free one-year license followed by a locked-in lifetime discount?

While that might seem excessive, what we want to do is to run a viral marketing campaign that creates the word-of-mouth effect long after the event. Giving out a free one-year license will allow attendees to try out your offering.

SiteGround grew by giving away free accounts early on at the various WordCamps it sponsored. Now, it is one of the largest hosting players globally.

How about if you need more resources? Sponsoring a WordCamp is more than just the cost of the booth. You must secure your flight tickets and hotel and order and pack your swag before taking a long, arduous journey to a distant part of the world.

The time and effort cost might be substantial at times. For smaller outfits, this also means sacrificing time that could be spent improving the product or marketing.

Why Consider the No-Booth Tier?

At WordCamp Malaysia, we understand your frustrations and have a no-booth tier. You can sponsor the upcoming WordCamp Malaysia without setting up a booth.

But how can you make a no-booth tier work? If you are still coming for the WordCamp, you can wear your brand T-shirt to proclaim your presence and still engage some attendees during the breaks.

However, the key is the swag. At WordCamp Malaysia, we allow you to place your swag on the self-serve swag table. Consider creating promotional cards with unique coupon codes that give the attendees a free one-year license if they redeem from a specific URL of your choice.

You can then engage the attendees when they visit your URL. You should include explainer videos, screenshots, and a feedback form. It all depends on your creativity. Remember, we want to create a viral marketing effect for your brand.

Finally, keep sponsoring a WordCamp near you. Without sponsorship, WordCamps can’t run. It’s a symbiotic relationship as WordCamps empowers and energizes the local WordPress community.

I will leave you with a quote from Tony Perez, the co-founder of Sucuri, on how GoDaddy made WordCamps work for them.

You are building relationships, sharing experiences, and engaging influencers (remember the power of influencers). Whatever you might think of the brand today is nothing compared to what it was a few years ago. WordCamps has been a critical piece of their strategy to make this work.

WordCamp Malaysia Sponsorship Packages

TIER 1 – Gold Sponsor	SOLD OUT
TIER 2 – Silver Sponsor	3 available
TIER 3 – Bronze Sponsor	3 available
TIER 4 – Iron Sponsor	16 available
Microsponsor	7 available

We have various sponsorship packages for the upcoming WordCamp Malaysia 2024. As expected, Gold sold out as it gives our sponsors the most value for money due to the placement and size of booths.

However, we booked a more extensive and comfortable hall for this year to ensure a more relaxed environment for attendees and better engagement for sponsors.

Our Call for Sponsors ends on Monday, 11/11/2024. Come grab yourself a sponsorship slot before it ends.

Updates: I’ve written an updated general post about Sponsoring WordCamps that applies not only for WordCamp Malaysia, but other WordCamps as well.