by Karen Pomazal

Created on: October 08, 2008

Effective Event Planning for Corporate Special Events

A Focus on Brand Identity Leads to Successful Events

Let's face it: events are expensive undertakings. Events are also among the most effective mediums for business success. Where else can you find your entire target audience in a single venue for quality face-to-face time? For this reason, a clear event marketing plan is essential.

Where to begin? Invitations, post-cards, Evites? The answer, actually, is not wrapped up in the tactical marketing pieces, but by stepping back and thinking about your brand identity. Simply put who are you as a company? Buttoned-up and professional, edgy and exciting, roll up your sleeves and folksy, or something else entirely? Getting your arms around your company's identity is the first step in effective event marketing.

Once you have considered your brand, think about the goal of this event. Increase sales, improve name recognition, or enhance employee satisfaction? Once you have a clear picture of your company's brand identity and the goal of the event, the overall strategy is complete, and it is time to consider the tactical executions.

For example, one company wanted to hold a cocktail reception for clients and prospects in conjunction with an industry event. The brand identity was that of a professional consultancy. The goal was to announce that they were a major player in the industry. The company developed a sports theme to complement the "player" agenda.

The two-member marketing team worked with the salespeople to develop a clear understanding of these customers: Chief Financial Officer-level people with large incomes. The team realized that there are some things that have a trophy and value that is almost universally high autographed sports items. A perfect match for the theme!

The team developed custom-shaped invitations with quotes from famous sports figures and promoted a raffle drawing for autographed baseballs from those players Willie Mays, Ken Griffey, Jr., and an autographed and framed boxing robe from Ali. All creative centered on being perceived as an industry player, and it complemented the brand. The autographed items created huge word of mouth buzz before, during and after which achieved the goals of the event.

Events provide an excellent opportunity to communicate with your audience multiple times, on multiple levels. Electronic communications can be an effective and inexpensive tool for this task: Save The Date, Reminder Notices, and the like. Beware, however,

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