the event budget will help in planning for
the event itself.
For any event, the expenses that should be
considered include: Pre-event planning
including telesales, securing vendors,
developing the program, online and
offline promotion, amongst others; Venue
charge; Décor and furnishing; Technical
equipment; Emcee search and hire;
Speaker search and message tailoring;
Photographers
and
videographers;
Mascots; Ushers; Parking attendants;
Registrars; Event supervisors; Give-
aways; Contingencies; and all other
relevant expense needs.
These expenses inform the ticket charges
(where applicable) and event sponsors
that can be approached to offset some of
these costs.
Before approaching event sponsors,
marketers should: Ensure embodiment of
brand values; Ensure that the event theme
and purpose would be a good fit for the
prospective sponsor; Research business
objectives to see how the event will help
meet them; Tailor the sponsor proposal to
each sponsor (This should introduce the
company clearly and what brand is being
showcased for the event.
not asked.
Once it’s been determined what benefits
attendees stand to gain then its critical to
ensure that the target audience matches
that of the brand. Events are not created
in silos; it makes sense to revert to the
brand guidelines and ensure alignment
with the target audience.
The venue for the event is just as
essential. Different spaces offer different
opportunities and challenges. Creativity is
essential when considering a space. Much
as a previous event was a success, a smart
marketer knows they ought not to try to
completely replicate it. Allow your target
audience to have different experiences;
a good way to do this is through the
The building and cementing of relation-
ships is crucial in the event management
space. Whereas product or service offer-
ings can be matched by competitors, the
relationships brands have with their tar-
get audiences can be highly differentiat-
ed here. With most attendees willing to
exchange their personal data with orga-
nizations (referred to as the admission
price), organizations are able to organi-
cally grow their database.
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different venues available.
There are a few critical factors to consider
when selecting a venue. The first is its
accessibility to your target audience.
Beyond just proximity from the audience’s
place of residence/work, one must
also factor in ease and safety of access.
Secondly, marketers should confirm if the
space can comfortably accommodate the
attendee numbers.
It should be obvious, but, this means
physically visiting the space and speaking
to those who’re assigned to oversee the
space. They should be able to give sitting
arrangements available, however, if
not, then it’s best to go with an interior
designer to help map out the space. Other
factors to consider are reputation of the
said venue and the season of the year
when the event will happen.
Events certainly have cost implications;
the more complex the event, the more
expensive it will be to run. Developing
an event budget will help in thinking
through all the elements of the event as
each has to be costed. In essence, creating
Secondly, one should demonstrate how
the sponsor stands to benefit from the
event with clear measures. Thirdly, make
it clear how you’d like the sponsor to assist
you. Finally, acknowledge the sponsor);
and Recommend activities throughout the
event that are in line with the sponsor’s
business objectives.
Before embarking on promoting the
event, marketers should ask themselves
what success would look like. Specifically,
what parameters will be measured to
realize a return from the event. Different
brands have different end goals. Some of
the metrics include sales leads, increased
brand awareness, registrations, gross
revenue, attendee engagement, social
media mentions, better understanding of
product offering, amongst others. A good
post event measure to have is customers
acquired/conversions. This will be a clear
indicator of how many were convinced
into purchasing the product as a result of
the event.
At the heart of event matters are how well
they are promoted. Promotion (or lack
thereof ) determines how many people will
Events, unlike other marketing communi-
cations, allow brands to engage with target
audiences on a much deeper level, evoking
a wider sense range and stirring emotions.
With the opportunity to manipulate sights,
sounds and scents, event marketers have the
chance to leave indelible marks on audience
members. This presents the additional ad-
vantage of word-of-mouth sharing, effec-
tive because people are more likely to believe
those they know and trust.
attend the event. Email is an effective
and inexpensive channel to promote
events. For email marketing, consider
the power of three: 1st Email: Event
announcement and invitation. Include
the dates and venue for the event.
These could be tentative but that should
be made clear. 2nd Email: Give further
details about the event. Include content
that’s related to the event that can be
repurposed later and that’s beneficial to
the recipient. Remind the recipient of
the benefits of coming for the event. 3rd
Email: A reminder email a week or two
to the event. Send relevant details like a
map to the venue, how to pay for tickets,
etc.
Good email marketing campaigns should
ideally have call to actions (CTAs). These
lead the recipient to the event website.
The event website will detail what
attendees expect to gain, event speaker
list and bios, agenda and program for
the day, location and time of the event,
payment details, a countdown timer to
the event, social media sharing buttons
to help visitors help promote the event
and any other relevant information.
Banner ads, paid search and social media
are also effective tools to promote events.
A good digital marketer should be able
to give a clear road map of how the event
will be promoted online plus measures of
success.
Just before the event, like a week before,
ensure all loose ends have been tightened
(or as much as is realistically possible).
Visit the venue once more, confirm all
vendors for the day, have all necessary
promotional material on you, and all other
relevant confirmations.
On the day of the event, remain upbeat.
Take deep breaths, do some yoga,
meditate, whatever works to help maintain
composure. There’s always something more
that could have been done or something
that could have been done differently.
Leave what’s beyond your control to the
hands of your higher power. It’s important
to smile because the vibes you give out will
be quickly picked by your target audience.
After the event, marketers can look
critically at every element of the event to
determine what worked, what didn’t and
what lessons can be learned for subsequent
events. A good post mortem will assess the
pre-event planning phase in detail as well
as happenings on the day of the event and
soon after.
It is important to speak to all who were
present for the event that is, vendors,
attendees and sponsors and get their
opinions on what worked and outline areas
of improvement. Learnings incorporated
means that successive events will be better
as a result.
For the marketer who is interested
in hosting an event for the first time,
collective thinking is the key to preventing
errors. Happy event planning!
Marion Wakahe is a marketing
enthusiast, currently working with
Sapphire Marketing Limited. You
can engage her on this or related
matters via mail at: MWakahe@
gmail.com.