Marketing events are a great way to showcase your brand, products, or services, and to connect with your target audience. But how can you make sure that your event is not only informative, but also engaging and fun? Here are some tips to help you plan a marketing event that is both educational and entertaining.
Before you start planning your event, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. What are the main messages you want to convey? What are the pain points, needs, and interests of your audience? How can you provide value and solutions to them? Knowing your goals and audience will help you tailor your content, format, and activities to suit their preferences and expectations.
From the onset of event planning, break out your goals and audience segments and brainstorm what good storytelling content looks like. Then shape that content with an eye towards catering updates and content from your event towards getting people to take the action you need.
In my experience working with large corporations, many departments come with different goals - the reality is you can't make all of them the priority. What you CAN do is tie your marketing events to your brand purpose and trickle your goals down from there - does this activity amplify your brand, does it grow market share, does it shift perceptions? I always start with purpose. Next is impact - how will we know if we are successful? And this is where all the stakeholder goals can come to play. You may measure different things in different ways and that's amazing in terms of insights - you just want to bake them in from the getgo.
A theme can help you create a cohesive and memorable event that stands out from the crowd. A theme can be based on a topic, a trend, a problem, a solution, or a story that relates to your brand and your audience. For example, you can choose a theme that showcases how your product solves a common challenge, or how your service helps customers achieve a desired outcome. A theme can also help you come up with a catchy name, a slogan, a logo, and a visual identity for your event.
To make a marketing event both educational and entertaining, it's crucial to strike a balance that keeps attendees engaged. Start by identifying the core educational objectives you want to achieve. Incorporate informative presentations, workshops, or demos that provide valuable insights and practical takeaways. Consider interactive elements such as gamification, live entertainment, or guest speakers to add an entertaining dimension. Furthermore, use multimedia content, including videos, infographics, and dynamic visuals, to convey information engagingly. The key is to add value for the attendees. We often consider what will the attendee journey be.
The theme often arises from the event itself. However, a good tip is to focus on exciting speakers. And to develop the topics together with them. Many people make the mistake of looking for topics and then speakers who might be better suited to a different topic. In a joint exchange with speakers, insanely great new topics can emerge. And one thing is for sure: If a speaker is on fire for a topic, he or she will also create a presentation on a new topic, as long as he or she is given the freedom.
One of the keys to making a marketing event both educational and entertaining is to mix different types of content and formats that appeal to different learning styles and preferences. For example, you can combine presentations, workshops, demos, panels, Q&A sessions, quizzes, games, and networking opportunities. You can also use different media, such as videos, podcasts, infographics, case studies, and testimonials. The idea is to create a dynamic and interactive event that keeps your audience engaged and interested throughout.
Once you understand the audience(s) you’re targeting and your goals for action after that audience encounters your content, it’s time to get granular on the use case for each piece of content going out. For example - Is the goal of the content to entertain your engaged audience? Or lower the bar for entry so a new audience has an on-ramp to your brand/product? Understanding WHO your content is for will help shape the narrative flow of your content programming, and allow you to tell more comprehensive stories overall.
Know your who. Know who you are designing for. And - debate if content truly is king. If it were, there might be fewer ad hoc meetings in the hallways. Think of your content mix like a DJ's set list - you want strong beginnings, some ebbs and flows, some high points, you need to get the people engaged and to feel something - we don't remember what we hear, what we see - we remember how we feel.
Another way to make your marketing event more entertaining is to add some fun and surprise elements that spice up your event and delight your audience. For example, you can invite a guest speaker, a celebrity, or an influencer that your audience admires or relates to. You can also organize a contest, a giveaway, a raffle, or a prize draw that rewards your audience for their participation or feedback. You can also use humor, storytelling, or gamification to make your content more fun and relatable.
Giveaways are low lift ways to drive a lot of attention on a given subject. They should never be cornerstone activations, as they often cheapen the brand and event, but they can be useful when trying to make noise outside of your typical audience segments.
Finally, don't forget to get feedback and follow up with your audience after your event. Feedback can help you measure the success of your event, identify what worked and what didn't, and improve your future events. You can use surveys, polls, or social media to collect feedback from your audience. Follow up can help you maintain the relationship with your audience, nurture them along the buyer's journey, and encourage them to take action. You can use email, phone, or social media to follow up with your audience and provide them with relevant and valuable content, offers, or referrals.
Proper evaluation and follow-up is the key. It is important to listen to the feedback of the visitors. Often you only look at the negative feedback, but the positive feedback is worth just as much.
To answer the initial question, you need to create a transformational experience. That involves three key phases, diagnosis, delivery of the experience and then follow through. Go read Joe Pine’s book on the Experience Economy if you want to know more.