Every business leader should understand how corporate events can help their brand. Branding entails any type of promo work for increasing company exposure. Your conference is an opportunity to create an in-person experience for attendees. This is really important given that most B2B and B2C interaction these days are done remotely.
Branding with corporate events can go a much longer way than you realise.
Here are a few ways you can use the venue to your advantage for leveraging maximum brand exprosure. Our staff at Ultimate Experience swear by these methods for really driving company exposure.
1. Make It About the Guests
The event wouldn’t be what it is without the attendees. Make it about their experience. Make them the biggest champions for your company. Always look for ways to elevate their enjoyment. How might you be able to do this?
Show them you care about their experience. There are small ways to accomplish this. One method, for example, is to provide complimentary items in the form of swag items. People, after all, like freebies. How about providing guests with coffee or a branded energy drink midway through a lengthy conference?
How about relegating a staff to take care of a handicapped guest’s special needs? Even a simple action like having a staff at the entrance to greet attendees can make a difference.
Small gestures like these show that you’re willing to go out of your way to accommodate the needs of guests in order to improve their stay.
2. Provide a Catchy Slogan
The event should have a catchy name or slogan. Some creative thought is required here, but you should come up with a tagline of sorts that can really resonate with the audience. You may even consider using it or a portion of it as the event hashtag.
Use your imagination. If your corporate event was a digital marketing conference, for example, then a tagline may be something along the lines of: “Brining Your Business to a Global Audience.”
The tech company LG, for instance, use the slogan “Life’s Good,” which is simple, easily memorable, and also creative because the first letter of the two words also happen to spell out the company’s name. Other known slogans include Nike’s “Just Do It,” and McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ It.”
Whatever slogan you use, it can be specific for the event or be the permanent company tagline if you have one.
3. Elements of Event Design
Do you know why corporate events help your brand? Aside from reasons already discussed, the venue itself serves as a blank canvas for promoting your company. Take the time to scout the interior of the venue and think of ways the facility can be used for branding. Yes, this includes ads and posters for the walls, but you can get far more creative than that.
What other ways might you incorporate event design into the venue? Here’s a few ways:
- Digital signage – use digital screens to show ads that can be swapped out. This shows guests that not only are you hi-tech but also environmentally conscious.
- Project mapping – create visually appealing images that can be projected on the venue wall, floor or other inanimate object.
- Overhead banners – take advantage of the ceiling and hang banners or even overhead digital screens.
- Customised stair covers – if the venue has a stairway, then grace it with a customized cover bearing the company name, logo, and tagline.
- Standalone banners – If there’s ample space, then include some freestanding banners, which are similar to the ones often used for tradeshow exhibits.
Target is one example of a company that made good use of a facility for branding. In collaboration with the consumer goods corporation The Honest Company, the two companies used the Lombardi House in Hollywood for one of its events.
The entire home was adorned with logos of both companies. Even household items like sofa pillows and bicycles had logos tacked on.
4. Sense of Exclusivity
Branding with corporate events can also entail a sense of exclusivity. Create the sense that the event is exclusive to a privileged few. This will make your event seem like it’s the talk of the town and something to vie for. One way to create a sense of exclusivity is to include VIP access. This, or course, will only be open to a select few, such as the first X number of customers willing to pay premium price for a VIP pass.
Additionally, you can also provide special discount deals that are only open to certain members, such as company subscribers or those with loyalty membership. When you provide offers that are only accessible to a select few, then those you extend the offer to will feel like they’re getting something special.
5. Brand Everything
Here’s another reason why corporate events are helpful in branding. Aside from using the venue as a branding space, you can also brand your staff. Be sure every staff member is in uniform. This should include a promotional shirt and/or some sort of headgear like a snapback cap or visor. This way, faculty members become a walking billboard.
Here’s another idea: hand out wearable promotional gear to guests.
This way, when they put it on, they will also be branding the event as they go about their business. When it comes to branding, there is no such thing as overkill, so feel free to get creative and look for ways in which everything from the venue to the people can become part of the branding effort.
6. Make It Interactive
Branding with corporate events isn’t just about the visual stuff. You should also make the event hands-on in some way. An interactive experience is more memorable since the guest actually engages with the material being presented.
Kiosks are one of the best ways to make the event interactive. This can be a simple digital kiosk that guests can use for acquiring a map of the layout or the specs for a product. You can also create some kind of interactive digital game that promotes the company while providing an engaging experience for the participant.
Finally, don’t forget good old people-to-people interaction. Since people naturally stick to their own social circles, you need to have some kind of activity to get strangers mingling. Consider an icebreaker, especially one that requires guests to get the phone number or social media information of at least one other guest that they don’t know.
7. Don’t Forget the Event Swag
For those unfamiliar with event speak, swag is another term for promotional items branded with the company logo. An event is an opportunity to hand out free event swag. Endless promotional trinkets and everyday knickknacks can be handed in quantity.
For the most part, smaller items like pens, coasters, keychains, and the like can be handed out for free. More expensive promotional gear like umbrellas, hoodies, tote bags, and thermoses can be given away in exchange for guests taking favourable action, such as submitting their number and email to be included to the company subscriber list.
With plenty of swag items, guests will have plenty of freebies to take home, which means your logo will continue to be seen and perhaps even shared well after the event.
Your Event Is a Goldmine of Branding Opportunities
Now that you know why corporate events are helpful in branding, go on and host an event or two. London is full of lavish venues that will completely blow guests away. A company like Ultimate Experience can arrange a venue for your corporate conference and handle the details from the catering to the entertainment.
Did you find this article useful? Please share it with friends and anyone you think may find it just as resourceful as you did.