When you host an event (or a series of events) in your organisation, you are activating one of the most important marketing tools for your business.
Events are one of the best ways to connect with existing and potential customers, but more importantly it will help cultivate and build your relationships with them.
Whether it’s professionally or personally, relationships are fostered by shared experiences, so every event helps in playing a major role in building your business connections.
The best thing, is that events are a perfect way to showcase your business, your staff, your products and your services on a much more intimate level.
It is an interactive way to directly involve your potential clients and customers and get them to engage with your business and your brand.
Why is running an event good for your business?
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Face-to-Face interaction
There is no substitute for meeting someone in person, shaking their hand, looking them in the eye, and establishing a real relationship.
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Goodwill
When you get invited to something special – a sporting event, a nice cocktail party, a rented-out venue – you *feel* taken care of and special. You remember it. It goes a long way for months and years, more so than remembering an email from last month.
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Sales and prospecting
When utilized properly, an event makes you and your sales team stand out. It makes you memorable, unforgettable in a very short-term-memory world.
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Credibility
Showcasing your products, services, staff and capabilities professionally adds a huge amount of credibility to your brand. Having advocates in the room that can confidently endorse you face to face with potential clients is invaluable.
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Brand awareness
What better way to engage with your stakeholders than in a fun and interactive way that provides a chance to control all the messaging about your organisation to a captive audience.
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Product sales
Depending on the format and the message you are trying to deliver, events give you the chance to directly sell/promote your product /services to your ideal market/customer.
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Business expansion through partnerships
It is okay to partner with other like-businesses when hosting an event. Allowing other businesses to participate at your event could lead to countless business opportunities. It allows additional exposure, increasing your brand awareness across a plethora of customers.
A HUGE misconception about events is that there’s no ROI to them. You spend money, hold a great event, and never see that money again. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You control the guest list, you control who is there and you control your follow-up strategies.
If you’re not thinking about events as moneymaking, you’re making a mistake.
A well thought out and strategically planned event can make a significant, long-lasting impact on your business. Your event should align closely with your business goals, whether they are to drive sales, increase profits or simply communicate a message.
And if you’re concerned about all that had to go into an event, tomorrow we’ll tell you how to make an event foolproof!
