How to Get the Most Out of Your Event
At Cre8tive Group we have found that hosting an annual event is an effective aspect of our marketing plan. However, to make it worth the investment of resources, there must be effective planning. If you haven't read my introduction article to event planning, you may want to first check out "How does having a party increase business?"
Develop a Marketing Action Plan
Before you even start on your guest list, you need a marketing action plan dedicated to the event that answers:
- What marketing objectives do you want to achieve?
- How will you measure the success of your event?
- Who is your target audience?
Plan, Plan and Then Plan Again
Of all the planning you'll do, high on the list is a plan for how you are going to communicate to your intended audience. As I outlined in the first article, for our event we do much more than just send out invitations with a time and place. This is not like getting a wedding invitation. With a wedding, if you like the people who are getting married and your schedule allows, you'll probably go. For your event, you have to make people interested and answer the question of why they should take time out of their busy work and home-life schedules to come to your event. Yes, having free cocktails and hors d'oeuvres may be incentive enough for some. However, is it truly enough motivation for most people to rearrange appointments, get a babysitter or miss out on family time?
To maximize the impact of your event, you also need a plan for post-event communication. Post-event communication might be sending out "Thank you for coming" emails, "Sorry you missed it" emails, a written recap of the event's highlights, a post-event survey, or personally contacting all of those who attended.
Then Schedule, Schedule, Schedule
Pay special attention to scheduling. Determine the date of the event and then backtrack each of the deliverables. Think through when they need to be ready, and how much time is needed for each step along the way—designing, printing, addressing, mailing, etc. Every little detail should have a deadline and a person assigned to making it happen.
Invite the Right People
Remember that one of the main purposes of the event is to connect with potential business partners or people that could connect you with potential partners—so don't just invite all your friends. Ask some of your key contacts if they know of other people you should be inviting to your event. Better yet, ask them to personally invite someone who might be interested. Aren't you more likely to attend something your friend invited you to?
Make Sure Your Guests Are Comfortable and Enjoying Themselves
Yes, you need to provide food, drinks, ambience, background music, entertainment, etc. Pay attention to the details and make your guests feel well taken care of. Think through things like, "Do we have enough seating? Where will people park and are there enough spaces? Where will our guests put their coats? What if it rains or snows?" Come up with a worst case scenario that could wreck your ambience and plan for what you will do if it happens.
Planned correctly, you will likely find that an event can be one of the best investments of your marketing budget.
by Lauren Marshall
After graduating from UK with a marketing degree, Lauren did marketing research before joining our team as a Design Manager. Drawing upon her experience and excellent listening skills, Lauren is a communicator who builds and maintains client relationships in the best fashion.
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