Guidelines for Conducting Marketing Events

• We can organize our own exclusive events or we can sponsor some events which connect with our product and our target customer segment.
• All marketing events allow a very powerful interaction with the customers and a huge opportunity for word of mouth publicity. But this is possible only if they are executed very well. A badly executed event generates equally negative word of mouth publicity.
• Through events, we can show our product or service in a tailor-made setting without any distractions. Using events as a part of our marketing strategy is a very effective way to reinforce our brand building process interactively. So we must carefully design this interaction for maximum impact.
• We must keep the number of invitees limited to make sure that everybody who is invited is properly attended. Events allow for a customer’s personalized face-to-face engagement with the brand. Events can develop mutual trust and allow us to build long-term relationship with the customers. If the clients are not attended properly because of a large number of participants, it will adversely affect the relationship.
• We must take care that the theme and tone of the event match with the personality and image of our brand and the tastes and preferences of our customers.
• The event must be relevant to our target customers. If all our target customers are mature individuals, of above 40 years of age, inviting them for an exclusive DJ party will not be effective. Similarly, inviting teenagers for a sponsored 2-hour lecture on spirituality is not a good idea.
• We should be clear about the objective for holding or sponsoring an event. The event should match that intent. An event without an objective will remain ineffective, even though it may be well attended and very well executed.
• The venue must be chosen with care, to suit the event, the type and size of the audience and the time or day of the event. In fact, the venue should be such that it attracts and ensures attendance.
• If we are going to serve food at the event, the menu must be chosen very carefully, keeping the audience preferences in mind.
• The schedule and timing of the programs at the event must be very thoughtfully decided and executed with the presence of mind to ensure proper impact. E.g. suppose at a product introduction event, we had scheduled a musical orchestra performance of around an hour starting at 7 pm, followed by an hour of our product introduction. After that, dinner was to be served which was to be by 9 pm or so. Now, suppose the event started one hour late due to some reason. So, by the time the orchestra performance got over by 9 pm, the guests realized that it was dinner time and the dinner was ready, so most of them headed for dinner, deserting our product presentation, for which the entire event was organized! Such mismanagement can be avoided by careful rearranging of schedule as per the situation and ground realities of the moment.
• The composition of the invitees must be kept as uniform and homogeneous as possible. We should not mix different types of customers at a single event, unless it is a very large event. If we invite too many or different types of guests, each with different tastes and preferences, some of them may be disappointed, annoyed or feel neglected. We must take care of avoiding such a mismatched crowd. Having one specific audience makes our event more effective and much easier to manage.
• Remember, events are live programs, with too many factors and variables which may affect the overall quality of its execution. We must ensure that our event is least affected by such uncertainties and if something goes wrong, we have a backup plan ready to minimize the impact.

Unless we regularly organize such events for our company and we have an in-house setup to organize such events, we should outsource event management to the expert agencies, to avoid any unpleasant surprises. The only thing that must be ensured is that the agency is competent and experienced to handle the assignment as per our expectations.

(Expert advice to GROW your business wherever you are, whenever you want.

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