A THEME THAT WOWS
Your event theme and content will form the crux of your event’s appeal. While the ‘wow’ factor might not have the same pull as a social or leisure event – you still need to offer a strong ‘value add’ to busy executives to validate their time. Inviting a keynote speaker that is an expert in his/her field is a great way to spark interest. Additionally, exploring an issue that is facing your industry such as changing regulations, a skill shortage or tightening market conditions is also likely to generate interest. Pulling this all into a cohesive theme that is easily understood by your intended audience helps your event brand get traction.
YOUR POINT OF DIFFERENCE
In other words, give people a good reason to come along! In a study that surveyed 7,000 people, the top 3 reasons that people attended events included:
- Education: What content will attendees be exposed to? Does the event theme align with business, industry or personal interests? Investing in an engaging and ‘on-trend’ keynote speaker can play a huge role in the success of your event.
- Networking opportunities: Will there be an opportunity to connect with industry relevant people, or business opportunities at the right level?
- Location, location, location: Is it accessible? Are there any special and unique features about the location?
It’s fair to say from the outset that you need to provide an educational opportunity with some great opportunities to network, and hold the event in a unique, accessible and desirable location.
For live events, your point of difference could be a free meal/refreshments, or exciting networking opportunities, while for a virtual event such as a webinar, the incentive could be a special offer exclusively for attendees, or the chance to engage in a live Q&A with a notable speaker.
Make it clear what people stand to gain from attending your event, in order to persuade them to take time out of their day or night to show up.
EVENT BRANDING MATTERS
Building a brand identity is a very effective way for your event and event marketing to stand apart from the noise. Expanding on the overall theme, naming your event and creating a tag line that is memorable is also a good idea. One of the most famous examples is TED ‘Ideas worth spreading’. Other design elements including a logo, brand colours, event website, graphics, images and typography. These elements combined will make your event a success!
Many businesses indicate that their greatest barrier to b2b lead generation success involves a lack of resources in their staff, budget, or time. If your team is coming up against these as a barrier to running a targeted event, we can help.