Holding your own event is a great way to meet new people and allow them to sample your business in a low-risk setting. A face-to-face event allows you to build trust quicker than many other marketing methods, and trust is almost always required before a sale can be made.
Types of Events
Some of the more popular types of events you can hold include:
A seminar or class
An open house
A neighborhood sale
A networking meeting
A reception or party or celebration or festival
A conference
If you’re new to holding events, start small and/or join with another business so that you’ll have a larger number of people to invite.
Participants
Once you’ve decided on the type of event you want to hold, you’ll want to determine who you will invite. Will it be clients only? Will you join with other businesses and combine your lists? You’ll want to invite a larger number of people than you might think. If the event is free, there may be several no-shows, even if they have RSVP’d. The more formal the event, the fewer the no-shows.
Topic or Purpose
For the best turnout, choose a topic that’s interesting to your clients as well as relevant to the services you offer. Provide education that the customer needs, a new money-making strategy, a new product or service roll-out, or something that will affect your customers’ well-being, and you’ll experience the best turnout.
Spread the Word
Now that you’re ready to hold your event, it’s time to get the word out. Plan on sending multiple emails (more than you might be comfortable with) to let people know about your event. Email is a good way to notify people, but if you have the budget, mail invitations. Call the most important people and let them know you want them at your event.
Have Fun and Make Money
Be sure to have a high ratio of staff to guests so that more than one of your staff can meet each person. Enjoy your event, and hopefully, you’ll be able to get to know many future customers there as well.