At a glance, hosting an event might feel like such a waste of time and resources, especially when operating within thin budgets. Additionally, the work that goes into hosting successful events is enough to nudge you to stay away from it.
However, whether hosting a big or small event, shared experiences with your clients, employees, and other industry players are bound to bring a host of benefits to your business.
Here, we look at eight reasons why your business should consider hosting one.
1. Brand awareness
Hosting an event provides an opportunity to get people talking about your business, which elevates your brand awareness. By implementing creative communication to produce social media buzz about the event in the days leading up to it, you can bring your business in front of many people.
During the event, allowing your guests to interact with your brand at different touchpoints creates opportunities for learning and establishing deeper connections with your products or services.
2. Networking opportunity
Businesses thrive on networking. Moreover, one of the major reasons why people attend events is to meet and interact with like-minded people. Hosting an event for your business can be a great way to bring your industry’s key players together.
For all you know, you can meet individuals who can help your business grow by giving you exciting business opportunities, or mentioning your name somewhere that you have always wanted to be heard.
3. Create a sense of community
Belonging to a community has become very important for so many people, especially after the pandemic. People are looking for places where they can feel like they truly belong. Inviting your customers and employees to an event goes a long way in showing them that they are an important part of the business.
Bringing everyone together in real life gives them an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be part of your community—something that they are likely to hold on to for a long time.
4. Enhance your company culture
Bringing your workforce together outside the workplace can do wonders for your company culture. For starters, it encourages relationship building, which boosts teamwork, motivation, and engagement. In addition, coming together to celebrate success, reward and recognize great work, and educate employees goes a long way in cultivating a positive culture and showing employees that they’re an important part of the greater good.
So, make the experience worthwhile. Bring in things such as an interpretation system, quality sound and visuals, good lighting, and a beautiful stage to enhance the experience.
5. Boost your content marketing strategy
Events are for capturing beautiful moments on photos and videos. If you have been struggling to find content for your marketing strategy, hosting an event helps you with that. Use the opportunity to capture the day’s events on video and photos, and then share them on your socials. You can also consider live streaming the event and engaging your online community. Additionally, you can expect your guests to share photos and videos with their networks during and after the event.
6. Know your audience better
The key to business success lies in knowing your target audience better. Knowing their needs, pain points, and preferences lets you create products that resonate well with them.
Events can be a great time to build relationships with your audience and learn more about them. Use the chance to ask for feedback and engage them on what they want to see in the market. This can unlock insights on gaps in the market that you can take advantage of, as well as opportunities to improve your products.
7. A subtle way to increase revenue
Events allow you to talk about your business to your customers and other stakeholders. Done right, you can leave a lasting impression that would make them want to engage you in the future.
Keep the relationships going after the event. You can reach out with a photo or a thank you note, as well as a lunch or coffee date down the line. This can subtly turn leads into valuable conversions.
8. Stay on top of competition
Networking and learning opportunities in the industry will always be welcome, as people are always looking to grow. Being the one to provide such opportunities puts you in a good place in the industry. Others will see you as an authority and trustworthy brand, which sets you apart from the rest.
Getting the most out of event hosting
The truth is that events take a lot of work, time, and money to plan and host. However, the benefits outweigh these significantly.
Events provide opportunities to connect with your customers, employees, and stakeholders in a more meaningful way. This can mean new and exciting opportunities for growth, highly engaged employees, and loyal customers that turn into advocates.
