Whether for networking or sales purposes, business events are a great way to attract audiences, spread your company message, and generally get your business off the ground. With an average corporate event ranging anywhere from $500-$20,00, it can also be a surefire way to eat up all of your profits in quick succession.
So, how do you benefit from a big business event without blowing your budget? Largely, you’ll need to work out what you should be spending money on, and how you can spread those costs evenly across your company. Lucky for you, your must-have event expenses are likely smaller than you might think, especially if you can host this event in an existing business space. In fact, once you’ve taken care of location, there are just three prime areas of expense, as we’ll discuss here.
1. Marketing
If no one attends your event, then any money that you’ve spent here will go to waste. As such, it’s worth dedicating a fair amount of your budget to all areas of marketing. Building a social media presence in the lead-up to your event is especially important, as this will probably be where most people hear about your plans. Equally, earning yourself email marketing sign ups can ensure that you have ready access to a relevant audience base who are probably willing to support your event, or at least tell people about it.
2. Entertainment
Like any party, the entertainment will likely be the thing that people remember the most about your event. That’s not to say that you need to hire a clown and a bouncy castle, but you should consider at least some non-business-specific ways for people to have fun. Depending on your target audience, this could range across anything from fancy dress to murder mysteries and even arcade game rental. Where possible, try to tie these things back to what your company offers. For instance, you could use arcade games that offer your products as prizes, or a fancy dress that sees everyone wearing a piece of your product. Either way, make sure that your guests have fun, and that they equate it to whatever you’re offering.
3. Product
Ultimately, your success as a small business will come down to your ability to offer a great product and get people talking about it. As such, it’s well worth spending as much as you can on product development and manufacture in the lead-up to your big event. As well as incorporating these products into your entertainment, and perhaps also offering some freebies to attendees where appropriate, you could then sell your products throughout your event to a willing and engaged audience that can then go on to ensure your expenses here quickly come back around.
Planning any public event in your business is stressful, especially when it’s your first foray into public exposure. But, with your budget in check, this can also be a great way to ensure coverage, reputational boosts, and importantly, great ROI.
