Planning an event for your business can be very stressful, especially if you are uncertain about the steps you should take to ensure its success. So much work and time goes into an event, and it may feel like you aren’t getting a return on your investment, but when properly planned and executed, an event can generate awareness for your company and even drive revenue.
What exactly should you be doing to ensure you are setting up your event for success?
Start with the basics.
What is the purpose of your event? Most importantly, does the purpose of the event line up with your brand identity? Determining your purpose will be the guiding light of the planning process. It can be a helpful key to finding your “target audience”, or who are you trying to reach.
For example, let’s say you own an engineering firm, and your company needs interns for the fall. So, you decide an event is a perfect way to get the word out and bring applicants in. Then the purpose of your event would be, intern recruitment, and your target audience would become engineering students.
Now that you understand what you are trying to achieve, it is time to research!
Get to know your audience, how can you reach them? Where can you find them? What interests them? What dates will they be available?
These things are important to know because they ensure you the best chance of having a successful event. You wouldn’t want to schedule your intern recruitment event during an important test week by accident and have no one show up.
Research is the key to planning successfully.
After you have researched thoroughly and set up a budget, finding a venue, planning food options or entertainment will be much easier. This step relies heavily on the groundwork you already did, so take what you have and run with it. Choose the perfect day, book your venue, make the catering order, book the guest speaker, and set everything up for a great time.
The next step is one of the most important.
It’s time to get people excited about what you’ve been doing. Promote your event!
You are offering something people need, so let them know exactly how you can help them and why they should be interested. You want to reframe the purpose to interest the reader.
No one cares if your office will benefit from new interns, but they might care about gaining hands-on experience and networking with accomplished professionals in their field of study.
Now that you’ve got their attention, give them something to do. Make sure you include a call to action in your messaging. Include a link to RSVP for your event or encourage them to check out your website.
Once you have a clear message and call to action, distribute it effectively (This is where your research comes in handy).
Instead of wasting resources distributing your message to every media platform available, use what you learned about your audience in the research stage. Aim those efforts into a couple of media platforms that will reach your intended audience and get your message across effectively.
You’ve done all the hard work and now all that’s left to do is have a fun and successful event. Stay calm and remember you’ve got all the tools for success, and if it ever gets a little too overwhelming, we are always here to help.
Are you looking to take your event to the next level? Contact us at info@sammisochoa.com or 210.390.4284 and let’s discuss!
By Jocelyn Sandoval
Sammis|Ochoa is San Antonio’s fastest-growing public relations and digital marketing agency. The firm is headquartered in San Antonio and serves clients in Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Email mario@sammisochoa.com or call 210.390.4284 to amp up your PR game!
