Live events are some of the most effective ways to sell your products to services. Companies have been using events as marketing strategies for a long time. A well-organized event creates opportunities to engage prospective customers. Also, consumers get to interact with your brand. During a live event, you can tell your target audience what you are offering and allow them to learn as much as they can. It’s a chance to build brand identity and relationships with consumers.
According to expocart.com, successful live experiences are, however, hard to create. It takes more than a beautiful venue, the best lightbox display and a fun lineup. Whether you intend to host a trade show, virtual shopping or exhibit, you should know how to get the most out of the live event. The following tips should help craft a solid plan.
1. Set Measurable Goals
It’s not enough to host a live event, you must know how well it performed. For that, you need objectives. Establishing goals gives you metrics by which to measure your event success. So, decide early on what you want the organisation to achieve. Are you looking to improve demand for a service or product? Do you intend to introduce a new brand? Is customer education the goal? Understand the reasons for holding a live event because you will use them to come up with a good strategy. Your objectives determine how you plan an event. If the outcomes satisfy the goals, then you might consider hosting it again. Alternatively, unmet objectives will help you evaluate what went wrong and how to correct mistakes.
2. Focus on the Content
When drumming up attention for a brand, it’s easy to get carried away by the offerings rather than the content. However, if your live event is to have the intended results, pay attention to the material. Give your audience relevant, valuable and shareable content. The idea is to make the adventure as memorable as possible, whether it’s a live stream, webinar, workshop or conference. The show you put together should align with current events and attendees’ interests. Provide consumers with entertaining and educational content that leaves them wanting to learn more about your brand.
3. Boost Engagement with Audiences
As the host, you can’t afford to leave guests unattended. Your employees double as brand ambassadors during live events, and they should know how to perform those duties. Encourage people to interact with audiences to answer questions, get opinions and forge relationships. Proper engagement allows you to turn curiosity into interest. Potential buyers who may have been on the fence about your brand could consider purchasing it because a worker took the time to explain a bit more. You can even have offers and discounts during the event to encourage spending.
4. Don’t Forget About Secondary Audiences
Secondary audiences refer to people who are not physically present at an event but still have an interest in it. They may be located in different parts of the world, have scheduling conflicts or prefer to watch events from the comfort of their own homes. Ignoring this audience can lead to missed opportunities to expand your reach and generate more engagement.
When planning an event, it’s important to consider the needs of secondary audiences. This can be achieved by providing live streaming options, social media updates, and other interactive features that allow them to participate in the event remotely. This can help to increase brand impressions and engagement, as well as promote future events.
Live streaming is a great way to connect with secondary audiences. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Periscope make it easy to stream events in real-time and engage with viewers through comments and reactions. Social media updates can also help to keep remote viewers informed about the event and build excitement around it.
In addition, encouraging attendees to share the event on social media can help to increase its reach and attract more viewers. This can be achieved by offering incentives for sharing or creating shareable content, such as branded hashtags or photo opportunities.
5. Market Your Live Event
Marketing is a crucial aspect of any successful live event. Without proper marketing, even the best-planned event can fall flat, with low attendance and little impact. It’s essential to create a buzz around the event before the day of, in order to attract your target audience and generate interest.
One effective way to market your live event is through social media. By linking up with influencers in your industry or niche, you can leverage their reach and engage with their followers to promote your event. Social media also allows you to create targeted ads and reach different consumer groups, as well as share updates and build excitement leading up to the event.
Another effective marketing strategy is email marketing. By building an email list of potential attendees, you can keep them informed about the event and send out updates, reminders, and special offers. This can help to keep your event top-of-mind and increase attendance.
In addition, targeted ads can be a powerful way to reach potential attendees. By using data and analytics to identify buyer profiles, you can create ads that resonate with their interests and needs, increasing the likelihood of them attending the event.
6. Do a Post-Event Analysis
A big mistake some companies make is thinking that marketing is complete when an event ends. You need to take advantage of the connections built with prospective customers. Relationships with buyers are ongoing, and they take time to flourish. Therefore, include post-event communication in your marketing plan. Follow up with attendees to get their feedback. You can learn about the elements of the event that appealed to them most and which ones they thought required improvements. Surveys are effective in sourcing feedback. You can also create post-show engagement by posting short clips of the event on your socials. People who didn’t attend can see what they missed, which could draw interest in the next event you host.
Conclusion
Live events help businesses expand their reach, solidify relationships with existing customers and build recognition. When looking to increase brand awareness, live events are tried and tested strategies. Take the time to learn event planning best practices to organise live experiences that help market your brand as desired.
