Hosting a business event builds community awareness and enhances brand name recognition. Finding the right mix of fun and information requires attention to detail and knowing your target audience well. At any time, consumers have dozens of local events from which to choose. Making yours stand out requires taking things to a whole new level.
Fortunately, creating a unique experience for potential customers doesn’t require rocket science. Here are the best ways to ramp up what you’re already doing.
1. Focus on Customer Experience (CX)
In a recent Forbes survey, around 76% of Americans said they’d drive out of their way or make more effort to buy from a brand with excellent CX. Roughly half of them said experience trumped price.
A business event is your chance to show people what they can expect when interacting with your brand. Think through every touchpoint. Make sure registration is seamless. Greet people by name when they arrive at the event. Figure out a way to send them home with additional information to expand their knowledge of what your brand offers.
2. Feed People
Who doesn’t enjoy great food? While feeding people who attend might add to your costs considerably, it will also make your business event go over well. If you’re on a budget, host the occasion between meals, such as from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Avoid serving a full dinner and just offer snacks.
Another idea is to go with a breakfast buffet, as those foods are typically much cheaper to prepare and serve than a dinner menu. Make an elegant table display for food by putting things at different heights and adding simple table decorations matching your theme.
3. Choose Speakers
Who presents at your business event can leave a lasting impression. Once you have an idea of the information you want to share, seek naturally outgoing people and enjoy getting up in front of a crowd.
Select someone in your company who knows the information inside and out. You could also pay for a public speaking course to ensure they have the tools to give a good talk. Encourage speakers to use visual aids and pull users into the experience.
4. Add Amazing Displays
You want to generate buzz and excitement with your occasion. When people first arrive, do they see an area with beautiful digital displays that draws them into the room? Even if you host the event outdoors, you can utilize LED panels to add light and draw interest.
If people are sitting far from the stage, consider the resolution of the LED screen. A higher pixel pitch keeps images sharp and crisp even from a distance. The color contrast and even the font and text size you choose can all impact the CX. Choose carefully and test the results before the big day.
5. Bolster Bathrooms
Unless you rent an event venue, you must consider whether your space has enough bathrooms for increased traffic. You may need to rent some portable toilets or enlist the help of neighboring businesses to ensure you have enough space for attendees.
Consider the demographics of your business event and how that impacts the restroom situation. For example, if you host a party for primarily women, you don’t want them to stand in an endless line for the bathroom. Can you convert any of the male-designated bathrooms into female-designated restrooms?
Bathrooms might seem like they should be the last thing on your list to double-check, but not having access to them can turn an entire event into an unfavorable occasion.
6. Stick to a Color Palette
Colors have a psychological impact on people. Choosing the proper hues can send a subtle message. There is a reason blue is one of the most common design colors. Most people like blue and respond well to it. It can have a reassuring impact.
A lot of banks use blue to elicit trust. Brands promoting health or pure beverage options, such as Fiji Water, utilize the hue to show clean, crisp products.
Choose a palette similar to your brand’s style guide to create cohesiveness. It’s okay to add an accent or theme color for each event. Think about what pops against colors you already utilize, such as your logo.
7. Select Promotional Giveaways
When people attend a business event, they expect to get goodies. You can hand out some promotional items to generate buzz and keep your company in people’s minds–even after your party ends.
What ties into the work you do? A heating and cooling company might hand out personal battery-operated fans with their name and phone number on them. A fitness company could offer water bottles with their logo. The giveaway must make sense and be something people refer to when most interested in your product.
8. Invite the Right People
Select your guest list wisely to make maximum impact and get the publicity you’re seeking. Invite local celebrities, news media and your top customers. If there are businesses you coordinate with, invite the owners and a few of the employees. Include all types of media–newspaper, radio, local blogs and television.
One example might be a local restaurant that teams up with a theater. The two offer discounts for showing you bought from the other business. Invite the other brand’s team to your event. Both companies host separate events and promote each other for some added exposure.
Ask any news media if they’d like to come early for access to company leaders, one-on-one interviews or photos before the event begins. Provide them with press packets containing all the details they need to write a feature.
9. Follow Up
After the event, take the time to follow up with attendees. Ask what they enjoyed and what they might like to see you do differently next time. Feedback on how well you did helps improve each subsequent gathering until yours stands out from any other competitor in your area.
Reach out to the media to see if they have follow-up questions. You’ll learn which ones plan to write or talk about your business event. You may refine your guest list over time based on which ones are excited about what you’re doing and willing to share it with their viewers and readers.
Prep for Your Business Event
Leading up to the big deal, you should eat, sleep and talk about your business event. The more details you add, the more yours will stand out as something special. People will talk about it and generate some excitement in the community. Take the time to tweak some of the little details mentioned above, and you’ll see how well guests respond to the extra effort.
Eleanor is editor of Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.
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