As a PR and communications agency, the Agent99 team are constantly asked if launch events are worth the investment. Although events can require a significant outlay from both a resourcing and financial perspective, our answer is yes, as long as you are doing it for the right reason.
So, having spent the last five years organising and hosting strategic launch events for clients, below are my top tips to making them worth the investment:
- Know WHY you are hosting an event
No matter what brand or cause, it’s important to be strategic about why you are hosting an event. Whether it’s to raise awareness about a product, drive sales across a new range, create owned content, or to network, keep that top of mind always. Otherwise, it’s easy to just create a fun party that doesn’t eventuate in any benefit to the company.
- Have metrics for success, and track them constantly
Once you know your why, set clear objectives. If the purpose of the event is to drive sales, how many exactly? If you want a full room, how many attendees do you need? Setting measurable goals and tracking them across the entire project is an important way of ensuring the project had direct business impact, and evaluating the success highlights key learnings for future projects.
- Be strategic with your timing
Hosting an event that isn’t related to a milestone or hook, lessens your chance of sparking people’s interest, so ensure the date ties in to an anniversary, product launch, store opening, or a day that has direct meaning to your brand. Also, make sure you research other events on that night to confirm there aren’t any clashes that could jeopardise your attendee levels.
- Know your audience, and make the event a place they all want to be at
These days everyone is time poor – especially media – so to achieve the success you are hoping for, it’s important to know who your target audience is and offer an experience that appeals to them. Simple wine and cheese nights are no longer enough, so it’s important to think outside the box and offer activities like VR activations, cocktail making classes, interactive stations, etc. But make sure the activities are both appealing to your audience, but also relevant to your brand and what you are trying to promote.
- Amplify, amplify, amplify!
Having a strategy around amplification is paramount to getting as many eyeballs as possible. If it’s a physical event, publish a video wrap up on your social media channels and push it out to your database also. By doing this, the value lives beyond the attendees themselves, and generates great materials that can help promote your brand for years to come.
Ultimately, events are a great way to generate buzz and drive brand awareness – which can elevate sales, business enquiries, and social media followers – so if done strategically they are absolutely worth the investment.
Agent Nic