I was talking to an advisor about the rather large marketing budget for his smaller firm, and he said the biggest spend was event marketing. I asked about his return on investment, and he explained, “I have great events -- my mother-in-law is a party planner. She has a ton of creative ideas!” Poor guy -- that is a no-win situation. In fact, marketing events should not be confused with parties. If you are trying to grow profitably, a big event can be a terrific strategy or a money pit that takes a lot of time and funds away from other profitable endeavors.
Here are my top five ideas for successful (and fun) event marketing:
1. Have a rock solid plan
OK, that sounds boring, but it will make the difference. Your plan should clarify who is your target audience, what is the offer and define the call to action -- and don’t forget to determine how you’ll measure success. That’s your event strategy.
Now you’re ready to plan the event details. There are four planning phases for a good event -- each one deserving a checklist with assigned duties.
• The event plan and budget (location, food, costs, speakers and flow)
• Invitations (the list, your invite, your follow-up plan to confirm)
• The day of the event (on-site logistics, roles of team members, any speaking points)
• Event follow-up (thank you notes, appointments and evaluating your results)
2. Keep it social
You may love listening to your CIO, but chances are your clients find that boring. Seminars and workshops have a place (for instance, pre-retirees may want education), but for prospecting, social events are 10 times more productive. Financial material is not fun, despite how good your wine is. Think about your audience (clients, target market) and your brand, but don’t be afraid to push the envelope! What would entice you to give up an evening or a Sunday afternoon and talk about it with friends afterwards? It doesn’t have to be lavish, just memorable.
3. Make it friendly
Personally, I hate going into a room full of strangers. There are clever ways to encourage your clients to come and bring a friend -- voila, a prospect. A lot has to do with venue and content, and what audience you are going after. Yes, tickets to a box at an NFL game are prized, but super expensive. Some of my all-time favorites include an event held at a spa with manicures and pedicures, an evening at a cooking school, or an art event where regional artists were painting in plain air (outside) and you could watch. That’s just me. If you think about what will wow your audience that will make them more willing to bring a friend too.
4. Reduce stress
Whatever the obstacles are for attendance, show that you care by smoothing things over. Let’s say you want to do an event and your target audience is parents in their 30s and 40s: Offer a certified babysitter and a play room so they don’t have to worry about the kids. Or you may have clients who really enjoy big-city museums, but hate the hassle of driving and parking: Offer a mini-bus and have a picnic on the way. Really think about how far people need to commute, and what happens in foul weather, so you can minimize cancellations (which can be 20 percent or more for larger events).
5. Get lively
Too often, events have the standard wine and cheese, a short speech and maybe a museum tour. Instead, encourage interaction and get people engaged with each other. It can be as simple as having them write on their name tags the answer to a question like, “Favorite vacation spot?” Or fill in the blank, “In my next life I will be _______.” Those are conversation starters. Better yet, create a situation that gets people engaged. I’ve done events with competition stations -- like putting or shooting baskets. One very successful event let clients and prospects try out all kinds of musical instruments and then had a few comments from the orchestra conductor. People loved it!
Once you’ve had a great event and people are talking about it, your real work begins. You must have a solid follow-up plan that results in some measurable gain for your business -- or it’s a party, not marketing. You’ll be tempted to dive back into normal work, all that event pressure behind you. Instead block time on your calendar before the event for the important post-event follow-up. You’ll need a few hours blocked the day after the event to circle back with people who had questions or requests. Now is also the time to set up meetings with those prospects you just wined and dined, before the afterglow fades! By the third day after you should have sent thank you notes -- perhaps with some photos -- to each attendee. Invite their ideas and feedback to make the next event even better.
What can you do with your mother-in-law, the party planner? Well you can put her to work building a great marketing event, not a party. If you have a plan and a process with clear business objectives, then the creativity has a roadmap to follow. Enjoy!
Gail Graham is chief marketing officer at United Capital, a national partnership of private wealth counseling offices. She is responsible for all aspects of marketing, branding and lead generation as well as business strategy and planning.