Winning Your Competitors' Sponsors and Sponsor-Partners
One method of absorbing sponsors is to identify the sponsors of your competitors' events and offer them to collaborate with you.
From the market research, you have already concluded that you have some advantages over your competitors. Find out who the sponsors, exhibitors, and participants of your competitors' events are and which companies and organizations have been involved. Make a list of them, notify them about your event, and offer them to collaborate with you.
Move forward using a proper strategy and provide them with interests which would persuade them to work with you. This is a simple process. The same advantages which persuaded you during the market research to enter the market despite the presence of your competitors are the same points you have to make for your competitors' sponsors.
Make it clear for them as an advantage that you are one of the best ways of promoting their company in the market, and that they can participate in your event and gain a huge profit instead of attending several events per year. Note that badmouthing your competitors is not a decent thing to do and you need to articulate your own advantages.
Another interesting and special method is to absorb companies as sponsor-partners. Let's assume that there is an event that requires two million dollars. A company provides this amount of money and receives a part of the profit made in the event in addition to gaining the profits as a sponsor. Sometimes, the entire investment of a company is returned to them. Depending on the event type, you can absorb several companies using such a method.
To invite companies to work with you, you can send a presentation of your event, do in-person marketing, and follow up in an interesting way. Start with making phone calls, sending emails, negotiating in person, and reminding them of previous communications from time to time.
When inviting companies, prepare an exclusive presentation for each company. To absorb sponsors or exhibitors, you need a kind of introduction that is different from what you introduce to the visitors.