The Five Keys to Executing a Successful Event
Hosting an event for your customers, clients, or employees is a great way to increase engagement and loyalty, pique interest in your latest offerings, and meet your business KPIs. In fact, 87% of B2B marketers say in-person events are critical to their company’s success. With such a significant investment in your brand comes the need to execute well. Below are five key steps you can take to ensure your event is on track for success.
Build Your Program Around Your Audience
As you begin planning your event, ensuring it speaks to the audience you want to attract is essential. We have touched on the importance of data and using that to your benefit when event planning, and this is a crucial step to wield that information and make it work for you. Analyzing data from your audience will help you answer several questions that allow you to build a tailored and personalized event. What are your ideal attendee’s interests? What industries do they work in? What type of engagement are you hoping to receive? What are their demographics? What is something they don’t even know they want to experience?
These questions will inform your type of program and location, how you will communicate with your attendees, how you advertise, and how you encourage engagement.
Understanding your audience will also help you decide whether your event should be virtual or in-person. Is your audience scattered around the world or more centralized? With the rise in the availability of virtual events and the expanding technology to increase engagement remotely, this might be the perfect option to reach your stakeholders more efficiently and at a lower cost for everyone involved.
The most important thing you can do is meet your audience where they are, and offer them something that shows you understand their wants and needs.
Secure a Can’t-Miss Experience
Driving excitement around your event comes down to the experience you are offering your guests. Offering exclusive once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for your stakeholders will significantly impact who attends your event and, ultimately, your return on investment. Creating a special moment for your guests that ties your company to a pleasant memory will provide something more substantial than a new deal or partnership — you’ll deliver a deep connection to your brand that drives positive sentiment and brand loyalty through affiliation.
At Best.Day.Ever, we are committed to providing you the opportunity to give your guests the VIP treatment, with next-level access to celebrities and experiences that leave a lasting impression. Whether a virtual cooking class with a world-class chef or a meet-and-greet with champion golf pros, there is an ideal experience for every audience.
Align Your Event Goals With Your Business Objectives
When planning a corporate event, setting goals to track that aligns with your business KPIs can make all the difference to your success. Setting these goals ensures you are making informed decisions, focusing on the parts of the event that matter, and investing dollars where it counts. Setting goals allows you to measure your wins and losses, making it easy to read the data collected and understand if there is space for improvement for your next event.
At BDE, we ensure your business and event goals are in lockstep throughout the planning process and commit to a thorough follow-up process to be sure no lead is lost. Every relationship gets the attention it deserves, and every business objective is met with a robust strategy.
Communicate Effectively and Drive Engagement
As you send out initial invitations, begin advertising the event, and work through the logistics, communicating effectively with your intended audience is crucial. Understanding how your audience best receives communication can make or break your event experience. Ensuring your guests have all the information they need at every point of the event will make the experience more enjoyable for them and open up their ability to fully engage with the program.
Driving engagement throughout the program ensures your guests are actively participating and experiencing everything you have planned to the fullest extent. Whether this is done through discussion prompts, gamification activations, or some other means — reaching your guests and driving conversation in-person and online can make all the difference for your event’s success.
Ensure Flawless Event Execution
Nothing gets in the way of a great experience like an event logistical oversight or unorganized planning. We get it; planning an event requires a lot of time and attention that often comes on top of many other job responsibilities — but taking the extra time to lay out the event itinerary and go over every detail can make all the difference.
Utilizing an event planning agency is a way to ensure your guests receive a white-glove experience at every touchpoint. At BDE, we love the details, because we know how effective a detailed experience can be in driving returns.
We are hospitality experts, driven to increase engagement and ensure your organization remains top of mind by seizing every opportunity to create a unique branded experience.
We’re ready to be your skeleton key to success — unlocking every event best practice to provide your guests with an experience that speaks to them with next-level hospitality and engagement opportunities. Let’s work together for your next event.
