How To Grow Your Business By Planning & Hosting Events
Event hosting is a great way of promote your business as it helps you build trust with your targeted customers. Businesses should plan and host events to attract and cultivate relationships with their clientele. Many small business owners perceive that this strategy only works for large corporations, but any business can profitably increase sales through strategically planning and hosting events. Even if your business is small or has limited available resources, you can encorporate event strategies there are strategies to develop valuable relationships that spark business growth.
Your event doesn’t need to be extravagant with hundreds of people in attendance; it is still beneficial for your business even if ten people show up.
Why should your business host an event?
1. Improve Visibility
As a business owner, you might be wondering how could you improve your brand’s visibility. Hosting an event is the best opportunity to accomplish this because your business name will gain visibility as you advertise your event. Keep in mind there are numerous event calendars that can provide cost-effective visibility that you would not otherwise have if you were not running an event. Making the event fun, educational, and memorable will only increase this benefit.
2. Educate Your Targeted Customer Persona.
Your targeted customer persona will attend when your digital marketing is strategically executed. Therefore, you can build your brand by educating your clientele to position your business as a thought leader. Presenting as much valuable information as possible with a special offer at the end of the presentation will only increase the success of your event.
3. Develop Trust In-Person.
The face to face interaction between your team and your event’s attendees builds trust in your business. In turn, the trust built from these in-person interactions will help you convert prospects into clients.
Here are our top tips for hosting a successful event:
1. Ensure Your Registration System is Easy to Use.
As you plan your event, ensure that attendees can easily register for your event. People will easily lose interest if you make it difficult to register for your event. Note that registration forms with fewer fields help encourage more people to register for your event. However, data that attendees provide during the registration process will enable you to better manage your event and drive business results. In addition, use this information to easily market to your event attendees in the future.
2. Keep Your Target Audience in Mind When You Plan The Event.
Your event should appeal to your target market. For example, if your target customers are freelancers, you could plan and host a seminar about how to more effectively get new work. Bear in mind that you will build your brand as you provide more valuable information, and the goal is for them to feel they have learned something of value.
3. Serve Refreshments
Serving refreshments increases the level of hospitality as food and drink often leads to an increased level of shared conversation, fellowship, and ideas, which can only lead to an increased capability to develop business relationships.
Adding some creativity to your lineup of refreshments will help your event become more sucessful. You could be creative by offering a make your own salad display with creative toppings instead of a traditional sandwich display as many attendees will appreciate having healthier options. Setting up a family style meal also leads to an increased level of conversations amongst guests.
4. Capture Photographs and Video of the Event.
Capturing photos and videos of your event projects a stronger impression of your business as it builds social proof that your business is involved in the community. In addition, posting your photos and videos online will provide elevate your brand, which will attract new prospects to your business, and will encourage your brand’s followers to attend events in the future.
If your team does not have the capacity to execute events to a high standard, there are a few alternatives to consider:
1. Hire a Consultant.
You may want to hire a consultant to help you plan and host your event. This will keep your staff focused in running your business, while putting the process of running an exceptional event in the hands of experienced consultant.
2. Sponsor Another Event.
Partner with an event that is complementary with your niche. Sponsoring an event will help your business increase brand visibility, and you can discuss setting up a table or incorporating a speaker from your company. If there is no event within your niche, consider reaching out to professional associations within the industry or functional area of your business so that you can explore how you can partner with them.
Reflect upon these considerations to ensure the benefit of your company’s investment in hosting events are maximized. Partner with the right company that will plan and execute events to a high standard that attracts, converts, and retains customers. For more information on top quality professional event management services, please call Prime Marketing Experts at 617-651-1457 or email us at michael@primemarketingexperts.com.
