Host an Event in your community
Events provide your practice with a unique opportunity to network with clients and potential clients.
You'll be able to impress your guests by reinforcing your practice image, identity, and overall reputation. Your goal for an event is to give your client base a better understanding of your practice and what you have to offer. Making the decision to have your practice host an event is big deal. You want to make a lasting impression on your attendees and generate interest in your brand. Before you jump into any event you'll need to have a game plan.
Once your Event team is in place you need to create an effective marketing campaign. The success of your event depends on this. Promoting your event via social media outlets as well as traditional marketing techniques will insure optimal lead generation.
Create an event landing page to insure that you can pass along important information. The landing page is a major component in marketing your event, but is often forgotten. The goal of the landing page is to filter pertinent information to your guests as well as a way to provide a "call to action." The call to action could be as simple as hitting the submit button to register or it could provide instructions on how to register or what is needed for the event. Whatever it is, this step is important for engaging the guest. This can also be a tremendous time-saver.
Make sure that your landing page is mobile friendly and include links to all of your social media pages. Over half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices.
Designate key people at the event to make sure that any issues can be handled right away and without incident. Having an event committee and assigning them specific tasks during your event will ensure everything runs smooth.
Also, it is important to "flag" the key people during your event, making it easier for vendors and guests to spot them should something go wrong. You can insure that your committee members stand out by providing them with a special corsage or button use your imagination.
Remember the point of your event is to network and build your practice, it is important, however, do not force your information on your guests all at once. In building your brand you are insuring that when your client thinks of you, they think positively. Your event should not be a sales pitch; there will be plenty of time for that later. Engage in small talk with your guests and allow them to ask questions about your practice, should they have any.
As your event winds down, designate greeters at the exit of your event. Be sure to thank everyone for coming and refer them back to the landing page to see event photos and post event information.
Congratulate yourself for a successful event and prepare yourself for the next step. Recap on the overall event and personally email everyone for the success of the event. After the event it is important to keep in contact with your attendees. Pass along information on upcoming events or charities you will be participating in in your community, and use these follow up emails to promote any promotions or contest that you may be running.
