Event Marketing (3 of 3)

by Chris Law

In my previous two entries I discussed tips/pointers regarding event marketing.  Today I’m going to talk about two real events, one that went very well and one that didn’t.  I won’t share which was successful and which wasn’t, but I’ll bet you won’t have to think too hard to figure it out.

Event 1:  Dance Studio Open House

This dance studio contacted me looking for a marketing idea to help boost sing ups for their fall dance class schedules.  Like many businesses in the area they were struggling somewhat at attracting new customers, and their current customers were attending fewer classes, on average, than they had in previous years.

We kicked around a few ideas before settling on an open house event.  After discussing the options, we settled on an ideal time--Friday afternoon/early evening.  It was the week before lessons were to start and also the end of the first week of school for local students.  This meant we had a good chance of catching mom and daughter together in the car.  We set up a radio schedule the week leading up to the event, the studio printed flyers and posters to hang in their location and prepared and sent a mass email to their mailing list of current and former students.

Once we had a plan in place to let people know about the event, we began to plan the event details.  We decided the best strategy to boost new signups were to get current students to bring in friends.  We came up with a generous referral bonus for existing students as well as a discount package to promote multiple class sign ups.  To further encourage existing clients to come in, we set up the event similar to a student teacher conference night.  Each dance instructor was in his/her classroom and they gave free demonstrations to parents, current clients, and potential clients.  Lastly they ran promotional pricing in their retail dance shop for apparel and dance related items.

Event 2:  Restaurant Grand Opening
A restaurant contacted me on a Tuesday afternoon regarding advertising for a grand opening on Friday of that same week.  Like many new businesses, the build out was running a bit behind schedule and they were anxious to open the doors to begin generating revenue.

I was a little nervous about the short notice, but they seemed confident they would be ready to go.  We settled on a custom radio schedule within their budget to promote the event.  We also discussed other methods of promotion including sending out a mass email to customers of a previous restaurant and successful catering business.  While they saw some benefit of doing this, they ultimately decided they were too busy with putting the final touches on the restaurant itself and decided not to invest the time needed to promote the open house in any other way.

Once the date and schedule was set, we began to discuss creative ideas for the commercial itself to generate as much traffic during the event as possible.  We explored many options including free deserts, free appetizers, buy one entrée get one free, one free kid’s dinner with purchase of each adult entrée, among others.  The restaurants ownership group decided they liked those ideas but were uncomfortable with the amount of discounts.  They settled on $1 off appetizers and ½ off dessert with a purchase of two entrees, and ½ off kid’s meals.

The big night arrived and a decent crowd came with it.  The restaurant looked terrific on the outside, but behind the scenes was a different story. One of the cooks did not show up, there was a glitch with the new ordering system and computer, and one of their vendors failed to make a delivery that morning, leaving them without several key menu items.

Final Result:

One of these events went really well and partly as a result they are enjoying a solid, if not spectacular, year.  One these events went poorly and partly as a result the business is under new ownership.

The bottom line is this.  Events, when executed properly, can be an outstanding way for you to showcase your business to new and existing clients.  When executed poorly they can actually lead to, or at least hasten, a business’ failing.  If you are thinking about doing an event for your business, perhaps it makes sense to place a call to your favorite media rep.  Even if you aren’t using his/her station to advertise the event, chances are they will be willing to share their thoughts to help ensure the event itself is a success!