Branding
Building reputation and credibility |
This post is directed towards people who are launching products, offering services or simply providing their own event management services. If you’re running your own firm, you can focus entirely on getting business instead of pleasing supervisors. This usually equates to getting customers and making sure they are happy. The issue is that it isn’t always as simple and easy as it seems. Unless you are in a very specific niche, chances are you’ll have competitive sharks swimming in the water as well. Those businesses that thrive on reputation based sales become very competitive.
The good thing about today’s time is that you can channelize multiple forces to carve a stronger foothold on the market to make sure that you can get as much business as possible. Here are some quick tips to get you started:
Drive competition away
The best and surest way to earn reputation is to find what sets you apart from competition. What value does your product or service offer which is different and can be highlighted? Don’t restrict yourself - be creative.
Quality and consistency
Secondly, focus on ensuring quality and consistency in your services. I’d say, set high standards and consistently meet them. Your work has to be good, your services have to speak for themselves, your web presence has to be top-notch, how quickly and well you handle customer queries has to be right on. Don’t compromise on quality and wonder why your business is not where it potentially can be.
Endorsements
When you know your competitive edge and have provided high quality services, make sure you request for feedback and reviews from your customers. This is extremely important in building credibility in business. People trust what others have to say, especially if those “others” are people they look up to. So, if suppose, Micheal Arrington says something good about a new startup, people will check them out.
If your product or service isn’t something people can find and write about themselves, at least you can request testimonials from your existing customers. You have invest time in building your reputation, it doesn’t just happen by itself.
Get more visibility - Create a following
All of that effort can go to waste if people don’t know about you. Once you have all of the other pieces together, you spread the word. Start a community and build a following instead of just marketing your services. Like anything else, you need to build credibility first. You can use different tools like blogs, microblogs (e.g. twitter) and social pages (e.g. facebook) to build a community of likeminded people (or potential customers). This will definitely get you more visibility and will help in building your reputation.
Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)
Today’s tip! Twitter delivers Events Listed more traffic than Google search on any given day. Become immune to the Google slap by managing your Twitter campaign professionally.
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Each event is a brand - Part II |
This post is a sequel to my previous rant on the importance of building your event’s brand story. This topic is so important that I can’t stress it enough. A lot of people still don’t ‘get it’, so I thought I’d discuss it in a little more detail.
I see this mistake over and over again: People think that when they’re doing a launch the story is about them. They are WRONG! The story is always about their PROSPECTS.
This is something you have to get right. I’m going to walk you through the process of getting to your prospect’s story and tying it with your launch story.
I’m sure that this probably sounds all hippy-groovy granola right? Trust me it’s not - this is critical stuff and it’s all about creating a crushing event launch for you. In fact, this could even be the single leverage point that changes everything.
The first step is to truly understand the value of your product or service. This will involve answering questions like… “is it really useful?”, “who can benefit from it most?”, “how is it different from other options that already exist?”.
Next, based on the value, imagine the ideal prospect that can benefit most from your product or service. Marketing folks also call this step “brand personification” - but the idea is simple. If the brand of your product or service was a person, what would he/she look like and how would he/she feel. Understanding your market is key to being able to communicate with them effectively. Put yourself in their shoes.
Once you understand your ideal prospect’s story, link that story to your brand’s story so that its a perfect fit and see the magic happen.
Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)
Today’s tip! If you want to source the best JV partners in your niche, you need a software that sources those selling the most product’s in your niche!
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Client relationship tips for event managers |
Here are some quick tips to help you in maintaining relationships with your customers and prospects.
1- Give options. If your clients want their events to be different, offer ways of customizing them to the nth degree. Be consultants, not just organizers. Give your full attention to what they want and then propose solutions and options to them.
2- Show that you care about them. Offer complementary services or gifts for bigger events to build relationships with regular customers. These can be anything from a picture album of the event to free bartenders. This depends on your budgets and resources. But a good gesture goes a long way in building lasting relationships.
3- Keep marketing material handy. Always have case-studies of successful events that you did and present them in an attractive way for prospects. You can short fliers or brochures printed or online PDFs. Make sure you can demonstrate your capabilities as great event organizers.
4- Never forget your lists. Keep in regular contact with previous clients, prospects or audiences through emails and occasion-based greeting cards. You can setup reminders for yourself to invest a few minutes each month to do this.
Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)
Today’s tip! A novel way to rise above the noise is to send prospects or associates a video mail as an alternative to email.
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Creating experiences for your events |
We discussed earlier how to build brands for the events that you plan. The idea there was to help you to turn the event into an entire experience for all of the people who participate in it - the audience, the attendees, the clients, the guests. The experience should be seamless right from the beginning, even before the event actually takes place. If ordering an iPhone is an event in your life, then the experience begins from the moment you go to their website to place an order, to how the package looks like when it arrives, to the promptness of their customer support staff. Similarly, for organized events, the experience begins from the moment people find out about it, all the way till after the launch. The smoother the flow is, from the start to the end, the more memorable the experience will be.
I recently got an invitation to a wedding with the most beautiful invite card that I’ve seen. Everything from the font, the graphics, to the feel of the card texture was wonderful. It also had a small personally addressed hand-written “looking forward to” note attached to it. Just the invite made me feel honored to be invited and excited about being a part of it. For me, the wedding’s first touch moment was perfect.
So the idea, is to turn your events into experiences that everyone would want to remember and feel special about. It also comes down to simple things, like making it simple for people to get back to you with regrets or RSVPs. Make it easy for them to find locations and venues. Give offers, discounts and giveaways. Also remember, that your event doesn’t just end at launch - the post-launch phase is just as important.
Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)
Today’s tip! One stop shopping for all your event marketing in social media needs you can’t go past my Events Listed networking and marketing platform. It’s invite only, here’s a backdoor pass on me.
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Each event is a brand - do you have the right story figured out? |
Every event that you plan is like a separate product - each event requires its own brand and identity. Its sad to see how people keep on launching events without giving thought to the event’s brand story. Today, I am briefly going to talk about ways of building brand stories for your events, whether they are small soccer club gigs or huge global conferences. The essence is always the same - does the brand of the event make people want to brag about and be a part of it?
There are different approaches to building the brand story, but I like the simplest approach the best. Its more genuine and honest and takes up less time.
Step 1: Understand what sets the event apart
The first step to building your brand story is to understand who your ideal attendees are. What are there thoughts, fears, requirements, ideas? What gaps exist in other events that you will be filling? Once you understand your targeted attendees, you will be able to identify things that you want to highlight about your event that fills their needs. This can be anything, from better payment terms to cool merchandise. Write down the things that set your event apart. Let’s call them the brand attributes.
Step 2: Build a story based on your brand attributes
Now that you have the brand attributes written down, it’s easy to build a story around it. A story is a description of how the event idea came about, in layman’s terms. The story doesn’t have to be a fabricated knit-up but it should be positioned in a way that is easy to remember and repeat. A story could be: “we were furnishing our baby’s room and couldn’t find good economical furniture for small baby rooms in this town. First we looked around then, we decided to take things in our own hands and custom build them. They turned out so great and everyone loved them. We now have a small furniture outlet in our own garage for other parents like us where we arrange bi-monthly meetups for parents to share ideas and come up with designs. Our little get-togethers are open for all expecting or existing parents and even furniture designers.” This is a story people will not only remember, but spread to every parent that they know.
Step 3: Tell the story to your audience
If you have been following my posts, you probably already have a community (audience or list) that you are actively building a relationship with. When you are ready to share your story with your community, just tell them the exact story that you have spun in the previous step and let them absorb it. Never push anyone to your events, let them get lured themselves.
Step 4: Make references to your story and encourage others to spread it
Make it easy for people to share your story with their friends. A great way to do this is to have materials ready, that they can send to their networks. Also, keep referring to different aspects of the story or different analogies of the story off an on, as a subtle reminder to the community. For example: “you know how we have this great little garage all set up”, or “we are avid believers or DIY home products..”, or “our babies in a cute and inquisitive stage these days..”, or “its interesting to see how great ideas can be generated in fun brainstorming sessions..”, etc. These references will revive the entire story in the listeners mind and will make sure he or she doesn’t forget it.
Just like product brands require special attention, your events deserve the same level of thought into designing them. Good luck.
Simon U Ford (SUF.EDBD)
Today’s tip! If you want to source the best JV partners in your niche, you need a software that sources those selling the most product’s in your niche!
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