You’re throwing your event to do all sorts of very exciting things for your business, right?
You want to increase your credibility, raise your visibility, get some industry attention, grow your list, position yourself as an expert, create a memorable and fabulous experience for your clients, attract new clients, build buzz, and oh-so-very-much more.
Oh, and of course, we all know that you’re hosting this event for one big reason – to make your offer and profit from it!
Guess how you can make all of these very exciting things happen?
That’s right, through your event brand!
The key to getting the results and profitability you want from your event brand is to go about designing your brand strategically.
You can’t just create some pretty pictures for your event and expect that you’ll get the full benefit you could from a planned-out event brand.
These are the first 3 secret strategies that you need to plan before you design anything for your event:
1. What’s the feeling you want to create in your event?
From the first time your audience hears about your event, you want them to begin feeling a certain way about your event.
Maybe you want them to feel excited and like they’re at a party. Perhaps you want them to experience your expertise on a deeper level. Or you could be going into this event to create an aura of respect and credibility for you.
Well, your designs are your big chance to start creating the feeling you want around your event.
There’s a reason that “look and feel” is another way of saying “design”.
It’s because your audience will feel a certain bundle of emotions the instant they look at your designs.
Decide how you want them to feel first. Then, design your materials to exude that feeling.
2. What’s the impression you want to make?
You’re going to be making a big splash with your event – with your newsletter subscribers, clients, attendees, your speakers, your competition, and of course, everybody in the universe who’s on Facebook.
And here’s the thing – you get to design the impression that you’re making.
If you want to make an ultra-professional impression, showing you’ve “got this all together”, you just have to put the pieces in place to make sure that your event brand looks, sounds and is very well-put-together. That things are consistent and every detail has been attended to.
If you want your event brand to make a more “real”, down-to-earth or authentic impression, then you have more room for flexibility. You can go with the flow a bit more.
The impression that you make, though, will filter directly into strategic secret #3, so choose wisely!
3. What’s the value of your offer?
Chances are, you’re making an offer to your attendees to continue working with you. In fact, your event’s probably designed around that offer.
You want your event brand to position that offer in a way that creates value and justifies the price – and even makes it a no-brainer.
The quality of your event brand has to be in alignment with the price and package you’re offering from the stage.
Let’s look at a branding scenario where that alignment’s not happening:
If you’re offering a high-end mastermind package, and your signup forms are cheapie black-and-white copies on flimsy paper held together with a bent-up staple.
Attendees make up their minds about what that offer is worth to them before they even flip to the pricing page – and then nearly fall out of their chairs when it’s a five-figure investment.
The packaging of the offer isn’t in alignment with the pricing.
The same can be said of every piece of your event branding strategy – from the sign-up website, to the posters or banners on-site, to the quality of your PowerPoint slides and even your handouts.
If your offer is high-end, then your event brand has to be high-end as well.
Taking the time to strategize on these event branding secrets will pay off!
