Don’t Tell People Your Dreams, Show Them
Events are a fun and incredible way to reach out to your clients and customers, both new and old. This is why we think you should start thinking about why you need be having more of them. There are several reasons events are useful to your business but the BIG one you want to focus on is they help to create and maintain relationships. Events are a place to introduce yourself to new clients and customers, a friendly and fun environment for people to get to know you and your business in an experiential way, away from the office. Events at their base level offer networking and showcasing what you are all about. Events will help you offer an experience that will not soon be forgotten and a level of connection seldom achieved by other marketing and PR tools. People prefer to buy from a person, its our human nature! Look events are tiring and a big ordeal – but worth it when done RIGHT!
Perfect your Purpose
When trying to create the perfect event for your needs you need to ask yourself - what is the purpose of the event? Are you trying to gain new clients and customer bases? Is it the launch of a new product? Or is it an event to keep up morale within your internal relations or suppliers? Knowing the reason for the event is a critical part to consider when organising.
If it is a networking event, where you want people to mingle, get to know you and your business it is important to consider factors such as movement of guests, a seated event can restrict the kind of free moving conversations you may want, instead it would be better to consider a cocktail and nibbles style event, where people can roam from group to group. Events are the closest PR tool we have to getting 1:1 interaction with the same PR dollar.
Don’t be a Failure to Launch
Look we loved the movie, but you don’t want your product launch to flop! The main consideration would be how to demonstrate your new product, the branding around it, who you want to endorse or speak about the product/service and how people can spread organic hype around the launch by incorporating social media and other event tech into the product launch, this could be custom snapchat or Instagram filters, hashtags or custom locations for Instagram, interactive selfie stations or imarras, along with party favours, demonstrations and interactive experience stations.
Simple additions to your event like these can add a lot mileage to your product promotion as well as plenty of content for future marketing efforts plus if you throw a killer party, people will talk about it for months to come!
Thank you, Maybe?
Sometimes it is also important to say thank you to all your current clients and customers. Having ‘Thank You’ events for not only your customers, but your suppliers and staff (and never forget the media!) helps bring about loyalty and strengthen those relationships. By giving back to those that are loyal, you are much more likely to keep them around and they are more likely to promote your business just because they love it! Curating relationships with people to the level of brand advocates should always be your ultimate client relationship goal. These kinds of events should feel friendly and warm, like a family, sit down dinners, open bars and a dance floor to get everyone enjoying themselves and their time together with their work friends are great ways to boost morale, and get positive chatter amongst the community and into the wider world. Built in bonus, your staff and going to have a great time too!
Don’t change who you are
When organising an event, it is important to always stay on brand. Events are meant to bring brand awareness, and if the guests are unsure about what the brand is, then the event has not done its job. This means choosing a venue that suits your business or the product you are launching, if you are launching swimwear you could have a beach house backdrop, not a ballroom in a CBD hotel. You need to have company branding, glasses, napkins, backdrops for photobooths, even getting alcohol being served at the bar relabelled. The colour scheme and aesthetics also need to represent you. Other factors to consider are the time of year, dress code, what food and drinks will be served, the entertainment including whether you want to have live music, a DJ or ambient music being played over speakers around the room.
If you still don’t know where to start, or just need a little help getting in the right direction, our team are full of event professionals who can provide guidance at any level to ensure your goal is not only a success but also hits all these key points!
Contact us now