Marketing Strategies for an Event Planning Company
The success of an event planning company is mostly based on getting new orders and people to its doorstep. You must organize significant events to impress clients and turn them into returning customers and true conversions for the company. You may believe that your events have great speakers to promote your company, but you must also use the right marketing strategies to differentiate yourself from competitors. You have to make efforts to get new clients, make them loyal, and go long-term with the company.
Organizations hire event planners to make their events memorable, organized, and disciplined. Different events are unique in terms of budget, target market, and lead time, like a wedding event or conducting some seminars online and in person. So you have to gather different types of audiences by providing them with the right content. But as you know, the purpose of the event planning market is to inform the target audience about the event. But some marketing strategies are common for all types of events, as you can read in this blog. You can enhance the growth of an event planning company by following these suggestions. Let's get started.
Create a Website
A website should be the first and foremost priority, as it can help to build a strong connection with your target audience. Most people use the internet to search for an event planning company, and you can grab more audience by creating a captivating website. It ensures the event management company's online presence and increases customer engagement. It can help you reach your target audience. It does not restrict your company to a geographic location; it takes you from the national to the international level. Furthermore, you get more chances to grow with the website by introducing your business to a wider market.
Now that you know the importance of a website for your event planning business, you need to learn the essential things it should contain to make it sound and prosper. It should consist of the following:
The landing page or home page of a website for an event planning business should be very attractive as it creates the company's first impression in the minds of potential clients.
Make an excellent portfolio with photos of the events you have arranged. Make sure these are presented in an organized manner, i.e., section all the events like birthdays, seminars, webinars, weddings, and others. Be sure the design is attractive. Please don't mess things up; keep it simple.
Keep the process of contact and registration compact, as the complexity and higher number of steps required to proceed to registration can lead to losing potential interest in your website. You should include your contact and address information. The forms should only ask for the name, email, contact information, and events your clients want you to organize. You can make a contact form part of your website or provide a link on a website that directs to a separate page.
Make a photo or gallery section where you will add photos of different events. It will affect the decision-making process, as most of your prospects love to watch. It will add traffic to your site.
Add testimonial videos of your prospects for social proof to attract the target audience.
Add an "about us" section where you can inform your prospects about the types of events you plan and the history of your company.
Be sure to cover all aspects of your website to attract a potential audience.
Social Media Advertising
Social media can expose a brand to a wider audience. It can help you stay connected with your current customers and attract new ones. There are a lot of opportunities on social media to grow a business. People spend half of their daily time on social media, which is why capturing your potential clients and making more prospects is great. Event planners can engage their clients by sharing high-quality content, pre-event details, videos, and photos from an ongoing event. They can also share feedback with their prospects about an event. It will increase the brand's value in the eyes of customers.
Use different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Keep sharing updates with your potential clients. Ask the potential customer to leave comments and reviews that socialize your brand and make it a significant brand.
Advertise on event planning sites
Partnership always pays off, and you can do more business by partnering with other businesses or organizations that share the same target market. Being an event planner, you should look for an event planning site with the same audience and advertise your services on their sites. You can pay them to promote your business or cross-reference their business using your website. It will be beneficial for both businesses. If you plan birthdays and educational events, you connect with event planners and ask them to run ads for their events on their website. This way, they will encourage their clients to consider your services when they need event planning. It will increase traffic to your website, which leads to more sales and conversions.
Make connections with wedding planners and photographers
Event planners work with others, so you must collaborate with wedding planners and photographers. An event is only complete with photographers, so you should connect strongly with them. It can also help you promote your business because when clients come to them for event planning services and need a photographer, they will also refer your event planning company.
If you are establishing a company in a physical location, choose one that is close to these businesses. Building strong relationships with these businesses will increase brand exposure and allow you to enter their doors and reach their customer base. Networking can earn visibility and credibility for your company, as well as allow you to move forward with other known companies that share related prospects.
Use Facebook Ads
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, with more than two billion users, and it is still growing. That is why most businesses use this platform to get their brand in front of a wider market. It can be very productive for your event planning business as well. It will increase brand awareness and exposure, and you can connect with your potential clients here. It is a platform that allows you to create a business profile for free. Although it is very useful to promote your business freely and keep your audience engaged, with the paid advertising option, you can maximize your potential and make real conversions.
Facebook events can be a great way to address Facebook event ads. You must first create a Facebook event in which you must include all relevant event information, and then promote this event using Facebook event ads. It can help to promote your event and lead to increased ticket sales or bookings. Make an ad containing an interest or get an entry pass button to make it easy for potential buyers to book their tickets. You can create Facebook event ads from your account or business profile or by using Facebook Ad Manager. Be sure to follow the below points when creating a Facebook ad.
Create an optimized Facebook event page.
Add a cover photo that speaks about your business or events.
Please choose a unique name or the right keywords to increase its reach to potential clients.
Add relevant information to the ad to drive organic traffic.
Use different aspects of Facebook advertising, like photos, video, messenger, slideshow, and others.
Ask your potential customers to share an event in their profiles to gain more exposure.
Create a Google My Business listing
The event planning industry is tough to market because of immense competition, and a company has to adopt all possible strategies to expose its products and services to the right audience. Google is a place where most prospects find a service. Making a Google Business Profile is one of the best solutions to show your event planning in the searches where you are most relevant. It is an easy and free marketing method. You can control your brand's exposure in search results with a Google business listing. Do it as follows:
Sign up for Google Business and claim your business.
Select the "Event Planner" category.
Add your home address if you are running your company from home; if you have a separate office, add the location. It will help you rank when a local customer looks for a similar service.
Include images of current and upcoming events; they are worth a thousand words.
Complete the registration process.
Add reviews to increase band credibility and build authority.
List all the events that you cover in your event planning services, so only the real clients reach you.
In this way, you can improve the listing of your event planning business and make more potential conversions.
Consider Google Search Ads
Google AdWords is a service of Google that can add fuel to your SEO strategy and help you gain organic traffic to your site. Use the PPC advertising technique that returns you every single penny. In this approach, you should only pay when potential clients click on your ad. It can help improve your ranking in Google search results. Although PPC is a short-term approach, it can improve your listing, which will retain you in the long term. More importantly, Google search ads produce quick results as you launch your campaign. It can be very useful in increasing the visibility of your website, and potential customers can quickly notice it through ads.
Google search ads provide you with complete control over your campaign, and you can change or edit the campaign as and when you want. You can check the likes and impressions on your ad and then take appropriate actions to improve it. You can also mitigate an ad if it is not showing good results. Google Analytics also allows you to track your potential's impressions on various niche keywords. Remember, you should only choose the mid-range keywords because the high-range keywords are complex to rank because there are more competitors with these keywords. It will greatly help you get real conversions.
Ask clients for reviews and testimonials
Clients are your most valuable asset when you are running a business where you are selling services. If you have more happy clients, you can attract more clients. Ask your potential customers to share their experience with your company and leave reviews on your website or social media profiles. You can also make testimonial videos of your satisfied clients and share them on your website to attract more people to your brand.
Be active on YouTube
YouTube can build organic traffic around your event planning company. It can excite your potential customers about your services, and they can be attracted by them. It has billions of monthly active users, so it's a place where you can sell your services. Share the BTS of an event to spread awareness. Create authentic and relevant content to get more likes. Keep sharing short clips with your audience if you only have a little time to make detailed videos. It is essential for retaining your current customers and encouraging new prospects.
Blog blogging for local SEO
With PPC, you can no doubt build organic traffic around your website, but it is a short-term strategy, so you must adopt a long-term product strategy. Start blogging on niche keywords with SEO. It will also improve the listing of your business in local directories. With a regular blog post, you can give yourself and your company an exact name. If you need more time to start a blog, hire a professional blogger to improve your local SEO and reach more prospects.
Summary
You can have a successful event planning company by managing all your marketing efforts, time, and budget. You should do clear marketing, which covers all social media platforms, advertisements, video content, and blogging that can inspire your target audience. You can connect with your potential customers by keeping them engaged and informed about upcoming events. Share the feedback from an event after it ends successfully. Make a strong network to increase brand awareness, conversion rate, and sales.
You can take your business ahead of your competitors if you adopt all the strategies with the latest trends—host contests to increase brand reach and create a buzz of people coming to your doorstep. With the given tips and suggestions, you can make your business grow, but if you don't have enough time and staff to handle your marketing actions, then it is better to hire a consultant who will work on your behalf to improve your branding and help you reach target clients.
Good luck!