How To Use Events To Grow Your Business

What are your business goals for the rest of the year and how do you feel you can achieve them?

In this blog, we are considering events and how they can be a really powerful strategy when it comes to achieving goals, meeting targets and obtaining new business.

Events are wonderfully flexible and can accommodate all kinds of different business goals and if you have considered one before, you just might after reading the below..

Generating Leads:

Simply put, events are a brilliant way to fill your sales pipeline full of qualified leads!

If you’re going to run events primarily for lead generation purposes, it’s important to get your sales or business development team involved. You probably already have have a long list of prospects to invite, and a really specific understanding of the types of people who should be there.

It’s also a good idea to pre-qualify event sign-ups using custom questions, so you have a better understanding of who will be attending, and what their interests or challenges are; in doing so, you can tailor your event to interest your prospective business clients.

Another key tip here is to communicate regularly with any sign-ups, so the event stays top-of-mind despite everyone’s busy schedules, and they’re periodically reminded why they signed up in the first place (i.e. keep reiterating the value of the event, not just the logistics of when and where it takes place).

Finally, if the event is free, you should expect a reasonably high dropout rate, so either overbook the event (or provide a waitlist), or consider charging people a nominal fee up-front.  You’d be surprised how even a small financial commitment will encourage people to turn up (and it reduces your expenses too!)

Convey a brand message

Events are a brilliant way for any business to reinforce or create and deliver a brand message.

There’s a reason why fashion and lifestyle brands regularly use parties and similar events that speak to the value of their brand or product.

Educate an audience

For some companies, the key goal of an event is to educate their audience.

It may be that you’re at the vanguard of a brand-new technology or industry (like cloud computing a few years ago, or cryptocurrencies now), so you actually need to educate an entire market about the possibilities that your disruptive solutions offer.

If this is the case, then conferences, exhibitions, breakfast briefings, round tables and panel debates are all great events to host for this type of objective.

Often, the need to educate an audience will be more straightforward than the above scenario.  For example you may need to educate your sales force on a new product update, resellers and agencies on a new solution you’re bringing to market, or customers on how to use a new feature properly.

Webinars, workshops and training sessions are all good ways to reach this goal. Remember, as long as you are having fun and passionate about your brand or product, the listener will be too!

Retention:

Events are also a great way to improve your retention rates, by recognising key people and using the event as a way to say ‘thank you.’

Whether it’s staff, clients, partners or suppliers that you want to retain, events are a great way to extend a personal touch and make them feel special. If people feel valued they are more loyal to a brand or company.

Content Marketing:

‘Content marketing’ is a huge buzz phrase right now, and one reason is because it works.  Online, everyone from consumers to businesses are reaching saturation point with banner ads and sales messages.

The way to cut earn your audience’s attention and grow your business is by producing and sharing great content.

Events are perfect places for quickly building up a library of high-impact content that you can use in your on-going marketing strategy.