4 Reasons Why Events Really Work (and can make your customers fall in love with your brand)!

Back in medieval times before Event Planning was an official job description, I landed a great job coordinating events and conferences. I wasn’t called an event manager or anything fancy like that. I was simply a marketing assistant tasked with coordinating a myriad of details for corporate events across the country. I thought, not bad for a pretty young thing with no experience!

I remember calling my mother, giddy with excitement, to share the news.

But like any loving parent concerned for her child’s financial future and perhaps lack of good judgment, she said, “Oh, honey, you might want to look for something else. I mean, how much money can there be in throwing parties.”

Well, we now know that the events and meeting planning industry contributes over $395 billion dollars to GDP totals and requires advanced management skills equal to an engineering project manager.

Sorry mom, but special events today are nothing like the swanky little soirees that you and dad use to throw for your friends.

Don’t get me wrong, my parent’s den parties were pretty epic. Lots of dancing, drinking, and tasty hors d'oeuvres which my mom spent all afternoon making. But if you share my mother’s belief that events are just about throwing parties with fancy finger foods, you’re ignoring one of the most powerful marketing tools on the shelf.

Events are one of the best marketing channels to reach your target audience.

In this impersonal digital age where customers are demanding more authentic connections, here are four reasons why event marketing works and should be at the top of your ‘to-do’ list:

1.  A well-produced event allows your brand to get intimate with customers and create moments. There is nothing more impactful than standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a client, as they experience your product or service or talk with you one-on-one. This is a chance to engage with clients and share details and insight that you couldn’t possibly do online. The bonus is you usually reach more than one client at a time.
2. Special events provide a stage for telling your story and a place to demonstrate what the brand stands for and let people know the people behind the brand. There is no better platform for telling the “why” of your business and to create unbreakable bonds than breaking bread together. Remember, facts tell, but stories sell – and this alone can grow your business.
3. If branding is the sum total of the customers’ experience, and it is, then events are an essential key to branding. Immerse your customers in unique and transformative experiences, and they will remember your brand forever.  People are no longer coming out for long presentations with wine & cheese. By invoking all five of a customer’s senses, you’re guaranteed to receive, ‘thank you from the bottom of my heart’ responses – these moments cannot be duplicated in a print ad or digital medium. Engaged customers will post, share and talk about their experience with others.
4. Events are the perfect binding energy for people to coalesce around – creating an ideal environment for collaboration with others. The gathering of a cool brand, customers, and a worthy cause will spark conversations and create synergy. I often partner my event with a charity to create a buzz that also attracts media attention – a win-win for everyone involved.
   
   

Even if you produce just one or two stellar events a year, this can intensify the effectiveness of your marketing – increase your SEO and boost your social media presence. Special events should be part of every savvy marketer’s integrated marketing strategy, complete with targeted goals and sophisticated messaging.

The people of Spain have a beautiful, almost untranslatable word called, sombremesa. This word embodies the concept of lingering table talk after a meal, digesting and savoring both the food and the friendship. My parents were the experts at excusing the kids and creating an atmosphere for adults to connect after dinner. And in dating, as in business, this intimate time is where the ‘make or break’ of the relationship is determined.

 If you want to cut through the noise in a crowded marketplace, gather people together for an event and entice them to stay for a little la sombremesa.

Salute!

5 Ridiculously Simple Cures for Your Boss’s Marketing ADHD

Here’s how it typically goes. First, there’s a vital targeted email that must go out. This is quickly outranked by an important digital letter addressing global news.  Then invitations to an impromptu top client event take priority, just as you realize that you have a great idea for your next blog post, which by the way, needs to go out immediately.  When will you write content for your website or newsletter? Which project is more important today?

Sound familiar?

If you find you or your team jumping from one “critical” marketing campaign to another or trying to accomplish too many initiatives, across too many verticals at one time, you could be suffering from what I call, MADHD or Marketing Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The Attention Span of an 8-year-old

My oldest daughter was diagnosed with ADHD when she was younger. Extremely bright and bored by routine unchallenging work, she would bounce around the class, interrupting the teacher and students alike. As her parents, we had to find creative ways to harness her boundless energy so that she could focus and be successful. Business leaders can experience the same familiar symptoms as my unruly third grader, including hyperactivity, impulsivity, irritability, and even anxiety.

While MADHD may not be a board certified clinical diagnosis, it is a real psychological disorder none the less. And based on my conversations with small business owners, it is the result of having an agglomerate of creative ideas, that keeps them hopping from one marketing campaign to another. A costly distraction that could keep a business from reaching their goals.

In fact, author Gary Keller said, “success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time.”

 

Very often, it is in reaction to simple things like poor online engagement or slightly off open rates that can have a company chasing an extensive marketing wish list. But be aware that this can cause MADHD to show up as anger and frustration with the team, difficulty identifying systemic problems and without question, the inability of a leader to recognize opportunities.

Here are 5 simple things MADHD suffers can do to ease compulsive behavior:

• First, prepare a real marketing strategy. Creating a comprehensive plan of the, who, what, when, how, and especially why, will prevent distraction. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of understanding that your why should be the governing impetus behind everything you do.
• Create an “Idea or Creativity Box” (either virtual or hard copy).  Often a brain dump (brainstorm) provides relief from feeling compelled to implement everything that runs through your imagination. Some ideas might be good, but just not for right now – put those in the box for later!
• Measure every marketing campaign by your goals. Will doing this one thing count toward achieving one of your marketing goals? And if so, how? If the idea won’t yield quantifiable results, drop it in the Idea Box or toss the concept completely.
• Get laser focused on your customers’ top three or four challenges – then go about addressing one intentional solution at a time. Concentrating efforts on improving brand performance could reveal opportunities. This is also the perfect time to determine which social media platforms are right for you – your brand does not have to be on every single one of them.
• Let’s face it, everything cannot be a priority. Don’t drag your team on an MADHD roller coaster ride where the priority of every campaign rises and falls based on emotion, anxiety or impulsiveness. This type of ineffective hyperactivity leaves everyone spent and stressed out.

As someone who thrives on producing a plethora of unique and innovative ideas, I know how easy it is to become a bit harebrained when so many creative ideas are swirling around in your head. Just know that MADHD is not code for multitasking or efficiency, but rather a sign that a leader lacks strategy and direction in their marketing, and perhaps their business. However, the way I see it, by concentrating on a well thought-out marketing strategy you won’t be pulled in every direction by every new idea or shiny object. Remember the ancient proverb, “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”

It is CREATIVE!

If you’ve ever sat anxiously in a meeting amongst your peers, each of you doodling crop circles and flowers on a yellow note pad, or if a blinking cursor on a clean white screen sends you day-dreaming about your vacation or what you’re having for lunch, then you know getting those creative juices flowing takes a tremendous amount of energy. What sounds like child’s play is really an acquired ability to push boundaries and work hard at break-away thinking.

Ambitious new ideas, not just a re-hashed modified version of last year’s concepts, mean using imagination for real innovation. Creativity is being able to see what could be and not what is.

Here are three approaches to the question I get asked the most, so how do you create ‘creativity’?

1. Let go of the need to be right. True invention is neither right nor wrong it just is – usually left to the interpretation of the end user. In fact, most visionary ideas are never politically correct – after all, who would pay for a drink of water? Or pay an entrance fee into a retail store? Is there a realtor willing to donate a percentage of proceeds to a buyer/seller’s charity in order to sell more houses? This is the basis for my mantra, “Don’t compete, create!” Stop copying your competitors or coloring within the lines of industry standards. Start focusing on creating something new – let go of the need to be correct or proper. Then you’ll be competing with your own ability to ideate – instead of appearing lazy or worst yet, conforming to mediocrity because you duplicated someone else’s creativity.

2. Be absolutely fearless! Fearless in your thinking, fearless in your capacity to make mistakes and absolutely fearless that no idea is too radical. Without the willingness to look foolish, it’s hard to break idea barriers. Don’t be afraid to explore the ridiculous, the outrageous, or the unknown. Before you declare “it won’t work,” “we can’t do that,” or “it will never fly,” examine it through the lens of “what if.” Apply cross-over concepts from other (non-competing) businesses. Case in point, if hand-held POS check-out works for car rentals, why aren’t they used in department stores? And if I can test a new lipstick or test drive a car, why isn’t there a method to test the acuity of a doctor or lawyer? No, not every idea will be a new iPad®, but can you imagine what Apple's brainstorming sessions were like when someone first suggested this new application? A new idea should make your palms sweat, your stomach churn, cause dizziness and/or insomnia; otherwise you’re probably playing it too safe.

3. Write down all the assumptions you have and throw them in the trash. No, wait! Maybe not in the trash just yet, because you can use them to spawn new ideas. Who said a restaurant’s price point should be based on food cost – suppose it was calculated on time? If I can ride standing on a bus or train, why can’t I ride standing in an airplane? And shouldn’t the price of a movie ticket cost less for a film that’s been on ‘the shelf’ for a month and more for a block buster new release? Or better yet, when will a savvy movie theatre introduce a VIP section (with reserved seating and table service)? Genuine creativity demands that you challenge all assumptions in order to discover great ideas.

Ideate real creativity to set you and your brand apart. By continually looking for new ideas and innovation, everywhere, all the time, you’ll build your creative muscle and break idea barriers. Don’t compete, create!