Vjem Events

Event over? Now what?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 | By: Vjem.

Your event was a success! Or maybe it wasn’t? Either way, remember that it’s not over yet. The impact your event had on its attendees, whether positive or negative, will remain with them for a while after. They will take home opinions, freshly made contacts, unanswered questions and more; this can all be used to your advantage. So whether your event was a one off to promote your organisation or a potential annual occurrence, be careful not to overlook the benefits of post event marketing.

It will increase your current exposure and is an invaluable asset to help you move forward. Here are some tips to keep the ball rolling:

1.   You

You, yes you! You are a highly effective post event marketing tool. Actively engaging your attendees in conversation at your event and personally thanking attendees as they leave will make them feel valued as a customer and more directly involved with the event. As a result, attendees can put a face to your name as an organiser, which may encourage them to provide unsolicited feedback and appreciation… be sure to hand them one of those business cards you made earlier! Obviously this wouldn’t work for larger events like a festival, but you could still follow up with a mail shot afterwards. Imagine if all the Glastonbury festivalees received an email from Michael Eavis after the festival? It would be a massive talking point.

2.   The Internet

Although your website is on the business card you’ve been distributing, only a handful of attendees will visit it if they haven’t done so before. However, the growth of digital marketing and social networking has made it easier to reach audiences. The following ideas could not only increase your web traffic, but also provide opportunities to gain invaluable feedback, tips and advice.

Creating discussions in forums enables you to gain feedback on the positive and negative aspects of your event, and provides an opportunity for attendees to offer their advice and ideas. Forums create a sense of community, whose members will discuss and analyse each other’s responses. Voila… one response may create numerous suggestions for you to consider and action.

Got a twitter account? We recommend posting tweets that invite opinions on particular elements of your event. One simple “@mention” can create ongoing threads, attracting those that attended your event and new customer interest. Use tweets to inform your followers of that competition you’ve been considering – you know, that opportunity for someone to win merchandise. Advertising such competitions or promotional offers on social media sites such as Facebook has proven to increase web traffic. Why not advertise your competition with a link to your mailing list? Offering entry into a competition as a reward for signing up to your mailing list will certainly increase your contacts list. Thank people for joining, introduce yourself and remember… segment your mailing list into targeted audiences!

Online surveys… compose one! They not only return responses to those all important questions, “Was the price too high?” “Would you attend again?” etc, they expose your website. By posting links to surveys on social networking sites, a greater number of attendees are prompted, increasing the range of feedback. Be counter intuitive and ask negative questions, “What didn’t work?” for example. Answers to such questions will highlight the event’s main failing/s.

3.    The Best Bits

You’ve set up that online survey haven’t you!? Great! Now your website’s traffic has increased, show new customers what they missed and remind attendees of the best bits. Upload photographs and links to your YouTube channel. Show video coverage of the event itself or film interviews with the artists involved, sponsors and/or stakeholders. Submit a blog entry on how YOU feel the event went. All this will assure audiences that you’re effectively analysing your efforts, are accepting criticism and praise and would do it again.

Post market!