When planning events, you want each one of them to be perfect and special. But with so many lookalike event services on the market, it can be difficult to build brand awareness and set yourself apart from the crowd.
How to Make Your Event Planning Business Stand Out
If you want your event planning business to stand out from the competition, it will take more than neat organization and effective management.
Despite your event management skills, there’s always more you can do to better serve your customers. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 5 tips that will ensure every new event is a masterpiece and differentiate your company from the competition.
1. Create a Killer Event Proposal
Planning and managing an event is an important job, so people will often hire an experienced professional to make sure the crucial goals of the event are met.
For this reason, it’s important for an event manager to demonstrate how dedicated they are to the job by submitting a killer event proposal created specifically for the client.
An event management proposal is a document that provides a detailed review of the services that you’ll provide for a certain event.
Similar to a resume, this document shows your experience, qualifications, and unique skills in planning an event, along with more specific details you’re planning to incorporate in order to make the event successful.
That’s why an event proposal is considered one of the most important components in promoting and growing your event planning business.
2. Polish Your Skills
A great event manager needs to be able to keep up with the latest industry trends and adapt on the go, but they also need to master some basic skills, such as organizational skills, flexibility, communication skills, the ability to keep calm under pressure, and problem-solving skills.
Successful event managers also possess strong leadership skills. Leadership skills are essential not only for a successful event but also to the success of the team.
Learning how to become an efficient event manager takes time, but it can be accomplished more quickly and easily if you naturally possess or develop leadership skills.
3. Understand Your Clients
Understanding the needs and requirements of your clients is crucial but sadly, often overlooked. In order to be able to understand what your clients expect, try to put yourself in their shoes.
Also, before you meet a potential client, be sure to do your research. In today’s digitalized world it’s not hard to find out about their friends, family, and preferences.
Look your client up on social media and see what pages they have liked and what groups they have joined.
Don’t forget to listen, even to the smallest or seemingly insignificant details in conversations, and then use that information to make the client feel special with a surprise gift or token of appreciation, whether at the end of the event or after they’ve referred you to others.
4. Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media is free and everyone is using it, so why not take advantage of it? Whether you’re just starting out and wondering how to get noticed, or you’ve been in the business for a few years and you’re looking for ways to find new clients, social networks are the perfect place.
In fact, if you ask other planners how they got started, most of them will probably say that they got their first client through social media.
Posting pictures and videos of your events on Facebook and Instagram and sharing posts with expert tips from your event planning blog are the best ways to promote your event planning services, showcase your talents, and stand out from the event competition.
5. Request Feedback From Your Clients and Team Members
After each event, take some time to debrief with your team members to discuss what went well and what could be improved. This is a great way to get your staff’s suggestions and impressions while the event is still fresh.
In addition, be sure to follow up with your client and employees by email one week after the event, including a link to a feedback survey. In the client survey, ask them to rate your venue, vendors, and to leave comments about the overall organization.
In the staff survey, give your employees an opportunity to provide additional anonymous feedback so that you can evaluate their satisfaction levels.
If you have any volunteers working with you on events, consider also sending out a survey for them, asking them to evaluate the team organization and the team leader.
Don’t forget to send thank you emails to the vendors and venue who made your event possible. Make sure that each party knows that you appreciate their hard work and that you want to stay in touch for future collaborations.
Final Thoughts
In the fiercely competitive and ever-evolving events industry, it’s very important to stay on top of the game and strive for continuous improvement.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been in the industry for a long time and managed dozens of events, these 5 tips will help you become a better event manager and make your event planning business stand out.
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