Building a strong brand is an ongoing conversation between you and your clients or customers. This conversation enables you to discover new ideas about strengthening your brand so it resonates even when stacked up against your competitors. Hosting a branded event allows you to grow your company’s visibility while building loyalty and prominence in your industry.
When hosting your branded event, you must leave an impression on your attendees by making it one they won’t forget. Consider these points to make your branded event a hit.
Set Your Purpose and Theme Upfront
Aside from being memorable, your event needs established goals to help you understand whether it was a success. Without an objective for your event, you’re flying blind. Knowing what you hope to accomplish upfront will help inform everything from the event venue and attendance size to the marketing plans. Examples of some event goals you can set include:
- Bringing new thoughts and ideas to your industry
- Introducing new products and services
- Connecting with a particular segment of your audience
- Growing loyalty amidst your existing customer base
- Providing demos to generate new leads and sales
Having a clear goal helps you create a more relevant theme. Build your theme around a tagline that resonates with your event’s target audience and reflects the overall objective. Make your theme concise, relatable, and easily understood so that you create buy-in with your attendees.
Immerse Your Guests in the Experience With Fresh Creative Ideas
Once you know your intentions, it’s time to get creative. The creativity of your event features will add personality and set it apart. Each event feature should create opportunities for engagement and offer a break from the same monotonous offerings that your attendees have experienced at other events.
Since it’s a branded event, make sure you’re incorporating plenty of your best products. A few creative ideas you can put into motion include:
- A scavenger hunt that uses branded notecards for clues, leads attendees to toys and games for clues, and culminates with the ultimate branded gift pack of rewards at the end of the hunt
- Icebreaker games like miniature golf or a golf range simulator that uses branded clubs and golf balls
- A casino night that uses your company’s branded playing cards and poker chips
- A paint-and-sip event where people can drink wine from your branded glasses and create personal works of art
- A talent show where you give out plaques or other awards to the winners
Consider filling downtime with trivia questions about your company or information relevant to the subject matter of the event. This keeps people engaged and attentive and cuts down on lulls in the action.
Master the Guest List Ahead of Time
Every branded corporate event should have a set budget and carefully crafted guest list. This not only helps you figure out how much to spend, but dictates the venue, how you will set it up, and how the itinerary will play out.
Plan your event at least a year out so that you have time to finalize these details. Create a system for RSVPing so that you can easily keep track of who will attend and correspond with them leading up to the event. You can use RSVPs whether you’re making it a strictly exclusive event or one that opens up to the general public.
Market Your Event to Unleash Its Full Potential
Allow ample time to market your event to increase attendance and grow engagement with the people you’re already expecting to attend. This will help you hit the ground running on the day of the event and make a better use of everyone’s time.
While you’re still building your guest list, make sure to sell the features of your event and build urgency. You can create exclusivity by having different tiers of prices for people who register earlier. Sweeten the pot by offering free gifts for people who register by the early bird deadline. Some enticing gift ideas that you can use include:
- Branded t-shirts and other clothing items
- A branded mug or glass
- Backpacks and tote bags
- Keychains and branded lanyards
- A free pen and notebook
People love free items, and the more incentive you build to register early, the more likely you are to have an excellent turnout.
Make the Memory Last with Giveaways and Keepsakes
Make it a memorable experience for attendees on the day or weekend of your event by taking every opportunity possible to share branded merchandise. This increases the number of brand impressions that you create over time and makes it more likely that people will leave your event with your brand on their minds.
You can give away valuable items like memory sticks and charging cables that your attendees can use during the event and in their travels.
To take the next step, use bigger prizes throughout the event for people who participate in demonstrations. This can include fun items like portable Bluetooth speakers or a branded hoodie. For your guests, the opportunity to win valuable items adds to the fun and excitement of the event. For you, it keeps your brand at the forefront the entire time.
Hire a Reliable Team to Lean On
Your branded event requires the best available help to pull everything off successfully. This means shopping around for the best caterers if your event includes meals, hiring a quality DJ when needed, and staffing photographers and videographers to capture it all.
Work with an event coordinator that can help you plan and execute everything point by point up to the completion of the event. If you have them available, enlist the help of quality volunteers that are enthusiastic about your brand and willing to dedicate their time and efforts. Everyone working the event should also wear branded apparel and should have enough knowledge of the brand to answer simple questions or direct attendees to where they can get answers.
Ready to Throw a Branded Event Your Guests Won’t Forget?
Time to plan, perfect, and party on!
So much brand equity is gained from well-planned events. A branded event can help your company accomplish its sales and marketing goals while finding tomorrow’s customers. It’s an ideal way to solidify your brand identity while engaging with the people who matter most to your organization. Start with these tips as a jumping-off point and stock up on all the branded merchandise you need to bring it all together.
Myron offers plenty of useful, personality-filled items to help you stick the landing with your branded event. Check out our most popular products.