I love event marketing! Your attendees/ delegates/ whatever you call them are engaged, there’s huge potential for creativity, and, if done well, it builds your reputation and credibility.

Many companies and charities shy away from event marketing because they perceive it as high risk and expensive. Events can be … unless they are well planned and executed. Aubrey has extensive experience creating amazing and effective marketing events – get in touch if you want to talk about an event idea you have.

When planning an event, Aubrey typically asks:

• What type of event is it?
• Why do we need it?
• Who is it for?
• Where will it be?
• When will it be?
• How will we do it?

Let’s unpack these questions to see how they can help you plan your marketing event.

What?

This should be an easy question which you should know from the start, even if you need develop it. Frankly, you can’t organise anything until you have this one answered.

There are many types of event you can host, here are a few ideas:

• Formal dinner in a prestigious location
• Business breakfast
• Supporter briefing
• Celebration/ party
• Working lunch
• Networking event
• Webinar
• Award ceremony
• Working party

The list can go on and on! Hopefully you can see just from this short list that a marketing event needn’t be expensive or complicated.

Why?

Although it is second on this list, I believe that if you can’t answer this question well, then an event is probably not the way to go.

If your answer is because you always do an event or similar organisations do events, that’s not good enough. If you are holding an event because you want the chance to look important and use your theatrical training, just stop!

Your attendees want to know that they are not wasting their time by attending. Having a clear purpose will demonstrate your respect for the attendees, enhance your credibility and amplify your message.

When you are planning out the details, you should be able to align every aspect of the event with this question.

Who?

Anyone who is a regular reader of Aubrey’s blog will not be surprised to see this question here. We must always consider the importance of the target audience. Identify who you want to see at your events – this will make it easier to target them and it’ll also help you avoid inviting the wrong people who will only be a drain on your resources.

Please don’t think that your event will only be worthwhile if you get over a certain number, this leads to a high drop out rate and low engagement. Better to hold an event for three engaged people than an event for 3,000 who are there for the freebies.

Where?

With your previous questions answered, you’ll be in a much better position to think about where you will hold your event. The needs of your target audience, the purpose of the event and the type of event will largely determine the location of your event. Don’t forget to think about other factors like:

• Practicality – Is the venue suitable if you want to demonstrate a product?
• Cost – Don’t be dazzled by pretty or big venues if they push the budget.
• Impression – Your public image will be shaped by the event and venue. If you have a charity supporting those in poverty, it might not be the best idea to host an event at a swanky hotel (caveats apply!).

When?

Like the question above, thinking about choosing a venue, this question is best answered when you know the purpose of the event, the type of event and the target audience. You will need to think about how much notice you’ll need to give your invitees and choose a day and time that the majority will find convenient.

Resist the temptation to set the date too soon. An event requires a good deal of planning and the coordination of many moving parts. Then your target audience need time to consider, plan and RSVP. Rushing just looks unorganised!

How?

This is the last question and essentially covers everything else. With everything else decided, there is now space to plan the details of the event, allocate the workload and budget. I like to create a Gannt chart at this point as it helps me track progress.

This is the last opportunity to make sure that the event is workable before the invites go out and contracts are signed. Therefore, make sure that everything is in place for a great event.

Conclusion

Marketing events do require careful planning. Events also need to be tied into other marketing channels to maximise their effectiveness.

An event is an excellent marketing opportunity. When it is well planned and executed, an already warm audience will provide leads and conversions. The reputation and recognition of your organisation will be enhanced and reinforced with your audience, and partners and other stakeholders. Best of all, a great event will send people away with a smile and a positive impression created – this added value can’t be underestimated.