Hosting a local event is a fantastic way to make your presence known both offline and online. The trick is to make it an event that everyone is talking about before and after it has concluded. This ensures that everyone spreads the word and more people know who you are and what your business is all about.
Choose the Right Event
If you want your event to be a success in all aspects, you have to begin by choosing the right event for your business to host. A grand opening is one option that all new and recently opened businesses should take advantage of. However, you should consider this idea even if you have been in business for some time if you had a major change in your company. Call it a grand re-opening to generate interest.
Here are some other ideas to use:
Special sales or offers – these have to be larger than average sales to create enough interest, but are a great way to get people to your door who are interested in your products or services
New product launch – get people interested in a new product by making it a big event
Training event – teach people about a product or help them with a skill that is relevant to your industry. An example, would be providing a seminar about saving money if you have an accounting business.
Fundraiser – Choose a local charitable organization to support and host an event in its honor. Many people will give to a good cause, especially if fun and food are involved.
Toy or food drive – Even if you don’t have a specific charity to support, your business can host a food drive or toy drive to help the local food bank or other organizations.
Seasonal or holiday parties – if you don’t have any other reason to host an event, pick a holiday or season and let it revolve around that. For instance, if your business is in a college town, the opening home game can be a fantastic reason to host an event and get people’s attention.
Tips to Be Successful
Once you have the event idea planned, the real work begins. You must organize it and promote it to reap the most benefits. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started:
Give yourself at least 30 days to promote the event after you have the date, time and location decided. Choose longer if it is a big event. The more time you give people to plan, the better the numbers in attendance. Have you and your staff relentlessly promote this event. Consider having your staff change the signature within their e-mails to include this event
Use your location if possible to get more attention for your business name and address. If you must host it elsewhere, try to get your address and phone number mentioned as often as possible for local SEO.
Include a #hashtag for your event to increase promotion.
Consider including sponsors for the event. They may give you free stuff for your event and they are sure to promote it to increase their brand awareness.
Create an event page that lists important information and that others can link to or share. Make sure to include keywords that describe your event to show up in searches. Create a clever title for your event but include your company’s name and use relevant keywords.
Use a Meta title and description that tells important information about the event such as date and location. This will encourage them to click on it because it will capture their interest.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to promote your event as much as possible. Use both online and offline methods to capture people’s attention. Provide all of the information they need to make a decision and get others involved promoting it. This includes sponsors, vendors, customers and social media followers.
Create an event people want to attend and then promote it everywhere you can and you will end up with a local event that enhances your company’s reputation both online and offline.
