Event Marketing Strategies

How to Boost Your Business With Events

Are you looking for affordable ways to boost your business? Consider event marketing strategies.

Event marketing strategies can get your company in front of clients so they remember you, connect with you, and most importantly, turn to you first with their dollars.

One good economical approach is to plan your own event. That way you have complete control of the costs, and can target to hit your exact niche.  There are plenty of ways to work around even the tightest marketing budget, and creating meaningful events is essential to your success. Whether you're sponsoring an event or hosting your own, a special event generates immediate interest from potential clients and positions you as a leader in your industry. The result? Brand awareness and maintaining a 'top of mind' status.

Staging an event also offers networking benefits; your company can work with local vendors and develop some co-marketing or co-branding initiatives in the future. One of the biggest benefits of using event marketing strategies is the word-of-mouth effect that ensues; when clients are excited about a sensational event or interesting activity, they are more than likely tell friends, family members and business associates about it - and are promoting your business as a result. Simply put, hosting an event can be a powerful marketing strategy.

Every business owner must understand the importance of building relationships with vendors and collaborative marketing efforts to get in front of the clients by planning vendor meet and greets, client socials and industry expos. By developing one-of-a-kind experiences for your clients, you'll naturally increase your ROI and can measure the success of the event with surveys or tracking purchases. Event technology can easily log client activity to determine if purchases were made after the event, and tally survey results within seconds.

Here are some helpful tips to get you started on your event:

  1. Plan it out. Set attainable goals and expectations for your event and give yourself plenty of time to plan out what you want to achieve by having the event, putting together a budget, and being creative to wow your guests.
  2. Collaborate your efforts. This sets the stage for sponsorships and co-marketing ideas by teaming up with vendors. This is a great way to cut costs, build a relationship and rely on each other for referrals as you both grow your business.
  3. Hire an event planner or dedicated team member. The last thing you want to do is execute a bad event; you want people raving about the experience, not complaining! If you're on a very tight budget, consider hiring an event planner only for the day of your event to make sure everything runs smoothly.
  4. Promote your business before the event. Plan ahead to create marketing materials and get the publicity you need to promote the event long enough to generate strong interest. Call campaigning is a great strategy to personalize the invites by calling attendees to confirm attendance and provides them with the 'ultimate' experience from beginning to end.
  5. Be resourceful and fun. Consider hosting an event at a restaurant instead of a hotel to save on room fees; most restaurants don't charge a room fee for private rooms. Having your event at sites that provide entertainment such as a private charter, upscale venue or cooking school can also help provide a unique experience for your guests.
  6. Host a late-afternoon soiree. If you can't afford to host a luncheon or dinner banquet, consider hosting the event from 2:00 - 4:30 so you can serve lights snacks and non-alcoholic beverages instead.

By building lasting relationships with vendors and clients through event marketing strategies, we can truly see the value in keeping our marketing budgets and seeking opportunity in even the most challenging times. Event marketing strategies should be just one component of your overall marketing promotion plan - also check out this article for some other ideas. 

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