The event industry and way of organizing events have changed after 2020. Most companies are shifting to virtual events; they focus on creating a memorable experience for attendees. However, organizing an event is not enough; you also need to focus on event branding. There are numerous things that can help you drive more attendees to your event.
The event industry market size is expected to reach around $1,135.4 billion in 2019. The market is expected to rise and reach around $1,552.9 billion by 2028, registering an 11.2% CAGR between 2021 and 2028. Events are all about the public gathering of populace art at a determined location and time. The purpose of organizing an event can be to increase business profitability, community causes, entertainment, and celebration.
The virtual events market was valued at 114.12 billion in 2021. It is projected to grow at a 21.4% CAGR between 2022 and 2030. The convergence of Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Virtual Reality (VR) is allowing online collaboration and communication activities to cover all the elements of a physical event. Moreover, businesses are adopting virtual simulated platforms to manage resources and time, thereby driving the market growth.
Creating awareness for your event can help build loyalty, support, credibility, and recognition. It enables attendees to have information related to your event on hand and makes them feel a statement about themselves by the very participation. But how can event branding help you achieve your targeted business goals? What are the elements and characteristics involved in marketing the event?
What Is Event Branding?
Event branding is a collection of different aspects that helps you to create a solid image of the event. For event organizers, branding is like a unique face; the more recognizable the event is, the more people will pay attention to it. The branding formula covers all factors of event management. The process of branding is included in different stages of event organization, from post-activities to pre-planning, and can be described as event brand management.
The event is branded; it takes on life whilst maintaining the essence and boosting the values of your organization behind it. Event marketing is a combo of digital marketing and onsite branding. That is exceptional, well, tone of voice, trusted delegate experience to get a must-attend event and add creativity.
Importance of Event Branding
Branding is vital because your brand matters the most. Representing your brand perfectly and showing how sponsors, attendees, and partners remember is very critical for the growth of your business and event. More than 80% of marketers focus on improving awareness as the primary focus is B2B content marketing. Brand image, color, logo, and signature increase brand recognition by almost 45 to 80%.
Event branding is an effective method that helps you communicate and make your target audience aware of the purpose of your event. It indicates what type of experience an attendee expects based on the very first impression of your brand. Well, rounded event branding strategy can affect business in many ways. A few of the common goals of event branding include:
- Communicate the event vision
- Attract vendors and sponsors
- Gain recognition
- Create loyalty and trust
- Gain recognition
- Generate interest from prospects
An effective event will be memorable and have appeal. After the event, what your guest remembers is the underlying experience that they get from the event. A perfect even branding strategy can help your attendees recognize positive emotions bonded to your event.
Event Branding Helps To Drive More Attendees: Know More
Event branding is far more than going live on Facebook or spreading word-of-mouth with the help of a group of trusted audiences. It is an effective way to identify your event; it is how your ideal customers experience and recognize the event.
However, event branding carries equal weightage; it is a combination of multiple factors, which includes exhibition stands, logo, marketing collateral, social walls, banners, set and stage design, and more.
More than 13% of global businesses agreed that they spend around 1 to 5% of their budget on event marketing. Moreover, around 10% of respondents agree that they spend approximately 50% of their budget on event marketing. Marketing and branding are more important these days than ever before. Digital marketing channels have become a crucial part of event marketing strategy over the last few years.
In today’s digital world, everyone prefers to get the information digitally; this is a primary reason why you must invest in digital event marketing and branding. Following important tactics for event branding will definitely result in your event’s success. Besides this, there are numerous marketing channels that you need to consider for your event branding and promotions.
Event Website and App
A user-friendly website and app are the most important channels to invest in. Digital platforms are where your audience looks for details related to your events; it is where you can set your tone and event brand. Investing in a user-friendly app like Eventbrite that makes it easy for audiences to explore all the details and buy tickets for your event is a smart and profit-making option. Moreover, your event website and the app must be a resource for all the stakeholders to access vital information about your event.
Social Media Channels
More than 300 users will use social media platforms in January 2022. Facebook is the most used social media platform; however, there are 6 social media platforms that claim around one billion active users. More than 50% of platforms are owned by Meta. Social channels are where you can establish the voice online and event brand.
Social media platforms are used as a place to get your event brand out and get an audience excited about the event. Besides this, Social media channels are an effective way to raise a unique sales proposition for an event and make a case for why people attend your event over others organized.
Event Marketplace
There are various event types that help to achieve business goals; however, there are lots of ways that help you promote your event and reach more audience. Besides this, event marketer or digital platform like Eventbrite can prove as a savior as it helps you to gain new attendees and expand your event reach.
Local Media
Incorporate the local community while creating a brand story as it can boost the economy for brands that get involved with the event. Delivering a good message using local media outlets can help you to attract locals to the event.
Influencers
Taking support of the right influencers can help you promote your event and get more audience. Create a list of influencers that have more followers; this can help you promote an event to the right targeted group at the right time. However, this can even help you boost the event’s reputation by harnessing the right influences that influencers have built with the communities.
Spending the efforts and time to boost your online event brand enables you to expand to a broader audience and amp up interest among the community. Extending your brand across the digital channels and social media platforms will prove valuable in the long run, enabling you to make influential connections that expand beyond the event itself.
Conclusion
One of the proven and effective ways for event promotion or event branding is by utilizing multi-channel activity and a sequence of coordinated campaigns. You can choose to go with email marketing, SMM, PR, content marketing, and another way of digital marketing.
If you have orchestrated the event before, tap into content support to create excitement. You can use positive attendee testimonials, promotional highlights, videos, feedback, and photography to have a great result. Besides this, there are many more ways that you can consider to drive more audience, gain targeted goals, and more.
Author Bio
Gaurav Kanabar is the Founder and CEO of Alphanso Tech; an India-based IT Consulting company that provides Spotify clone scripts and other app development services to individuals as per their specific demands. Besides this, the founder also loves to deliver an excellent niche helping readers to have deep insight into the topic.