We officially launched the Otium Platform and to celebrate we hosted an event! There was food, there were drinks and the room (our new office space)  was filled with like-minded business leaders.  Keynote speaker Tim Reid presented smart marketing ideas, guests mingled, and then we called it a night. There were no sales pitches or pushy mentions of our products, so how did this event successfully generate income for the business?

Drew and Gordo reveal the strategy and tactics behind the launch to show you how small business can use events as a marketing tool to generate income.

• Set a spend

Like you would for other marketing tactics, allocate how much you are willing to spend on your event. Our spend for this event was $15,000 which included costs for the speaker, food, drinks and an event manager.

•  Set an outcome

What are you trying to achieve with this event? What do you want your event to bring in?

Our goal is to bring in $150,000.

•  Implement tactics to achieve the outcome

Here are the tactics we used:

Hire an event manager– We’re not event planners, so we hired an expert. The right person will keep you accountable and take on the worries and concerns that will otherwise take up valuable time and stress you out.

Give value–  People are giving up their time to go to your event. To enhance the value-add for our guests we included a  keynote speaker who not only appealed to our  target market but had also played a major role in shaping the way we do business. Small Business Big Marketing guru Tim Reid gave an entertaining 40-minute presentation on smart marketing which left our guests with tips they could use and implement in their own small businesses.

Be strategic with who you invite- Identify your target market and be specific with who you invite to your event.

Our target market were business leaders who would benefit from having their accounting, business advice and marketing needs taken care of on the one platform. We handpicked a list of our peers and then went a step further, asking them to extend an invite out to their networks of like-minded business owners.

Pre-event marketing–  Get people excited about your event, set expectations for the night and send out subtle reminders.

Invite local media–  We invited the local newspaper and TV station. Write up a media release but think like a journalist and find an angle that the media are more inclined to pick up.  Our media release was printed in the newspaper and featured online with a photo gallery.

Gather data-  Everyone who attended our event was required to register beforehand and on the evening they were checked-in upon entry. This meant we had a database of contact details and email addresses we could add to our marketing database.

Follow up with your guests after the event– When the party is over don’t forget to follow up and thank your guests for coming. It’s not only polite and shows your appreciation, it’s another opportunity to touch base, add value and enhance the experience for potential customers. We sent out a quick video thanking everyone for attending,

Ask for Business- Before you ask for business is your audience engaged? We sent out an email asking those who attended the event, what their biggest takeaway from the night was and what they’d like to see again. We also offered up free video content from the night of Tim’s presentation. The more you are able to provide rich content and add value the better engaged your potential client will be and ready to convert when you do ask for their business.

To check out the new Otium Platform website and our new small business packages head over to www. otiumgroup.com.au

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