For many of my clients this year I’ve helped them create and execute some really amazing events. Out of those events, I would classify them into 3 different categories. There’s community events, business collaborations, and virtual events. I’m going to go through each of these 3 categories and show you real-life examples so you can apply them to your business as well.
Community Event:
Community events can mean pulling together a group to go out and volunteer, or hosting events that are meant to build your community. Community events are ultimately meant to bring you more into the community so your brand can be recognized locally.
Let me give you a few examples:
- My husband just started his online fitness business – Beekstar Fitness. You may have seen some of those promotions within the Monetize Your Passion Society. We really want to work hard to get his name out there within our community so we decided to host free events to bring people together and of course to network. So, we’ve been using Meetup, Eventbrite, and FB groups like my own to create weekly events that are at different parks in our city. Each event is free with the option to tip and it gives him the opportunity to network, meet people, talk about his business, share his expertise, and hand out his biz cards. But it also gives the community a free exercise class, so it’s sort of like a win win for everyone.
- Free coffee Friday is one that a client of mine hosts once a month to drive awareness of their business in their community. So one morning out of the month, anyone can stop in for free coffee and baked goods, maybe grab some free swag or enter to win something. It’s also a chance for the community to sit and catch up with familiar faces.
- I also helped my client host a Sunset Yoga Flow. No, their business is in no way related to yoga, but they wanted to host an event their community would enjoy. So, a local yoga teacher approached them because she wanted to host something for free for the community and she knew my client’s business had the perfect space to host it. Once again, they gave out free swag, made their name known in their community, and did something great for the people. You could easily do an event similar where it’s either free or you could donate the proceeds.
Events like these are a great way to think outside the box and to get your community involved while still getting your business name out there.
Next, let’s talk about Collaborating with other businesses:
It’s important to collaborate with other businesses because you can network with their audience that you otherwise would have a hard time reaching. For example, as a digital marketer, I’ve hosted webinars with other service providers and I’ve had so much fun collaborating with them. Both of us share our expertise in other areas, it doesn’t have to be a competition, you can easily find someone who has a different target audience or something that would work with your business if you partner with them.
As a digital marketer, I’ve collaborated with virtual assistants, bookkeepers, videographers, you name it. People who aren’t conflicting with my business message, but people who would easily have someone to refer to me after we collaborate is the ultimate goal.
Here are a few examples you could do to collaborate with other businesses:
- Host a seminar/webinar/class for the public that can be hosted at a specific location or virtually and you could teach/sponsor the event.
- Co-host an event – Maybe you want to host yoga or a free coffee friday, find a business that you could do it with!
- Cross promote on social media – Find businesses that complement your own, share their company/product information on your social media and ask them to do the same. (return the favor)
- Run social media giveaways – Collab with a local business that can giveaway a product/service with your own products/services so both of you would promote it on social media and pick the winner together
And lastly, let’s talk about virtual events and I know we’ve already mentioned a few ideas but I want to go more in detail for what they might entail.
Virtual events are a key part of a marketing strategy for us digital marketers or online service providers. Our clients find us online, and as such, we need to make our presence known online.
What I did before I wrote this blog post was host a livestream about this topic, which was ultimately a virtual event. I announced it on Meetup as an event, I promoted it on my social media, and I scheduled it in my FB group. It was a virtual event.
And with that virtual event, I am making it evergreen. So, if you are watching the replay to this, or reading this blog post, then you’ve already fallen into my marketing strategy! The livestream is edited, tweaked if needed, and then reposted on my social media platforms, not to mention it’s also posted on my YT channel. So live streams are one virtual event you could do.
Other ideas include:
- Webinars, where you host a zoom room and people join you to discuss a topic or listen to a lecture
- Watch parties, where you host a FB watch party for a movie, tv show, or even someone else’s livestream.
- Fb group challenges are a great one. I actually am giving away my ebook, How To Get Clients Through Free Challenges, so if you’re interested I will post that link below and in the description. Challenges really help you not only grow your group, but help you to sell your upcoming offer that you’re trying to promote.
I know there are so many more I could go more in detail with, and if you know of any that you want to share please comment below or link us to your upcoming in person or virtual event.
And if you are looking for a strategic partner to plan and implement effective event strategies…
Or need a hand with creating consistent content to gain massive visibility so you can build excitement for your upcoming events and boost your registration numbers…
I’m your gal!
Let me take care of everything from the brainstorming to the execution for your next virtual or in-person event and provide you with content marketing strategies so you can reach your ideal clients with ease.
I will work alongside you to help with lead generating and revenue earning events with done-for-you services and consulting before, during and after your events.
If you want to learn more about what that would look like, I’d love it if you reach out to me.
Find me on social @crystalstatskey or comment below and we’ll get started!
