Event Marketing

Today's post is targeted to business owners and corporate managers. Perhaps some of you have incorporated event marketing into your marketing plans in the past. For some of you, this may be a totally new concept. Either way, I'd just like to explain what event marketing can include and how it can round out your marketing efforts.

First of all, if you have a brand new product or service, there is no better way to introduce it to your market than actually showing it to your clients and prospective clients. If you are launching a new product line, put that product to work, demonstrating how it can help those business owners better meet the needs of THEIR clients. For example, if you have developed new software for the restaurant industry, invite all the local restaurateurs to your office space for a free catered breakfast or coffee break. Have several stations with your software hooked up on laptops so these interested people can actually have a hands-on demo assisted by a trained tech. This is your opportunity to sell them on why your product is the latest technology available, and how you can adapt it to fit their situation.

If you've just moved into a new location, or renovated your old one, let everyone know it. Send e-mail blasts, use all the available social media to notify the world that this change has occurred. But more importantly, with these notices, invite everyone to see your new place and how it is designed to better serve your clients or customers. Designate a date and time to have your "open house" and be ready to show off your new digs.

These are just a couple of ways you can use event marketing to create and/or build your business . You can't expect to build it and have people come. You've got to create interest, demonstrate the effectiveness of this new product or location, and let the world see, hear and touch it. The only way to do this is to bring people TO the product or location, not take it to THEM.

One of your most important markets is your staff. You may have one employee or one hundred. Whatever the situation, employee events are the most overlooked opportunities for a company to let the people who are the bones of the operation know how valuable they are. Whether it be a company picnic, a holiday party or employee incentives, everyone likes to be rewarded and recognized. Your client relations are definitely important, but don't forget your employees. They are the voice of your business.

All this being said, any business can profit from event marketing, whether you are a service related business or a product related business; whether you are focusing on clients, prospective clients or employees Let's sit down and discuss the event that can create public awareness and create a buzz about your business.