Event marketing is an awesome way to increase visibility of your brand, engage existing customers, and teach new customers what your brand is all about. The tricky part is deciding what sorts of events you should host and how to coordinate them.
The key to executing the perfect marketing event is to plan them in accordance with your business’ goals. You wouldn’t want to host an event where you teach something completely unrelated to your unique product or service. That would attract the wrong kind of customers and be mostly a waste of time.
Choose an event that is relatable to your business and one that drives the right sort of customers’ attendance. Once you have that piece figured out, consider giving one of these event marketing ideas a try.
1. Educational Events
Learning-based events are almost always a big hit when done properly. Everybody loves learning new things, and your business likely has a wide array of applicable subject areas to teach. Try to think about what customers in your market may want to learn. If you’re an email marketing firm, why not teach attendees how to get their first 100 subscribers? That would be hugely beneficial and leave them itching to know more.
Big companies like Microsoft use educational events to their advantage, and you should, too. Don’t be scared to get creative with it. The most important thing is providing customers in your field value and increasing the credibility of your brand.
2. Networking Events
Human beings, by nature, are socially-driven animals. Everybody likes to feel more connected to other like-minded individuals around them. Also, when it comes to the professional realm, networking is an incredibly powerful and effective tool for succeeding in just about any field. The value provided by networking events is well-known, and if your brand hosts one, people will thank you for it. A cocktail hour event at a business-minded venue can go a long way to increasing your brand’s visibility and help attendees out in the process.
3. Charity and Fundraising Events
The strength of a powerful brand extends far beyond its core business product or service and into its values. Hosting a charity and/or fundraising event could be a great way to create a positive vibe while opening your customers’ eyes to the philanthropic side of your business. Most people would be happy to attend a dinner party with a raffle if they know the proceeds are going to a charitable cause. These sorts of events are perfect for getting away from the usual business mentality and into the lighter side of things.
4. Host a Party…Just for Fun
Speaking of the lighter side of things, sometimes it’s a good idea to host an event, well, just for fun. This goes slightly against the advice from the opening paragraphs, but hear this out. Parties just for the heck of it can be a great way for your customers to unwind and get to know your true brand. Usually, these types of things work best for family service or children-focused businesses, but they can almost always turn out positive if done in good taste. Companies like Party Swizzle, who literally help create awesome parties for a living, could greatly benefit from something like this to showcase their ability to throw a killer party.
Conclusion
With event marketing, there’s an option for just about every business and everybody. When planned and executed well, the ROI (Return On Investment) is almost always worth the effort. Give one of these ideas a shot and find out for yourself.