Start with objectives
Why are you organising the event? What are your objectives and have you quantified them?

If you don’t have a clear purpose for the event it’s doomed to failure. If you’re taking a brief from someone else push them to set very clear objectives that you can both sign up to. Obviously you need to make sure they are realistic – but make them challenging too.

Think about the event alongside the other marketing activity you are undertaking, how does it complement these other activities, are there any areas of conflict? If so, resolve them before moving ahead.

How will the event support your business objectives and also think about whether the event is primarily about raising your profile, meeting new clients, making sales or saying thank you to your existing clients and important suppliers.

For many events the answer will be a combination of these things – but do try and be as clear as possible when setting your objectives. And make sure the event will generate sufficient benefit to make it financially worthwhile.

For example, if you are planning an information seminar to discuss a topic that you think your clients and prospects might be interested in it’s probably unrealistic to expect to generate direct sales as a result. In this instance you probably ought to be setting objectives in terms of the number of new contacts made, number of existing clients spoke to and maybe the number of follow up appointments arranged or agreed to at the event.

If you’re planning to attend a major trade fair, used by buyers in your industry sector, then your targets will no doubt be set in terms of the number of new buyers you meet and demonstrate your product to, the number of orders taken etc.

You will know what these targets should be. You just need to instil the discipline of setting them (in clear quantifiable terms), sharing them (with everyone involved in the event) and sticking to them (which means making sure you have systems and processes in place to measure whether you’ve achieved your objectives).

Here’s a list of some of the things to consider when setting your budget:

1. Where will the event be held?
What type of location and how much do you feel is reasonable to pay for the venue itself? A similar question is relevant to exhibitions – where within the exhibition do you need to be, how large a space and how do you want the space decorated?

TIP: Why not think about holding the event on your own premises, or maybe at a customer or supplier’s to save on venue costs? If this isn’t appropriate there are cost effective alternatives to hotels for seminars – try your local authority and find out how much they rent out rooms for in the Town Hall for example.

2. What type of event is it?
Is it a high profile product launch which needs to be professionally presented and managed to create the right impression, or is it more low key, with an emphasis on the people rather than the setting or the stage set. TIP: Using an unusual venue can make your event more attractive.

3. Who will you be inviting?
And what are their expectations? It’s probably not appropriate to hold a business meeting in a local church hall or library but these venues might be ideal if you’re organising a consumer event targeting women at home, villagers or retired people.

At some point you will need to quantify the number of people you expect to attend. This can be tricky – but again your objectives should at least give you an idea of the numbers you’d like to attract. Don’t forget to allow in the budget for refreshments, especially if your event is over lunch time or early in the morning.

TIP: You can often save on refreshment costs by realising that only about 90% of people that say they are going to attend will actually do so, unless they’ve paid to be there. On this basis you can order for smaller numbers. There are risks involved here but normally a decent venue will be able to help you out if you need extra refreshments on the day.

4. How will you invite people to attend your event?
You might want to produce invitations and mail them out, in which case don’t forget to allow for postage and possibly a telephone follow up. Or you may be planning to advertise – so there will be any copywriting and design costs as well as the advertising space itself.

5. What will happen at the event itself – what’s the agenda?
Do you need to employ professionals to write or produce a presentation for you? Do you need to have an exhibition stand or brochures available? Do you need to allocate budget to employ extra staff or pay overtime for your own team to man your exhibition stand?

As you’ve probably gathered by now to plan a successful marketing event you need to combine strategy – setting clear objectives, with a tactical, hands on approach to the detail to make sure you’ve thought through all the angles and that the attendees go away from the event with the right impression of your business.

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