A Marketers in Demand company
corporate event planning

Five Unexpected Benefits of a Great Corporate Event

Jacob Brain

Author

Have you ever thrown a corporate event? The benefits might surprise you – and last for a long while.

When the idea of hosting a corporate event is brought up, it’s easy for many people to jump right to the costs. Yes, events are an investment. But the reality is that money well-invested creates good returns. Corporate events offer your company a large ROI on everything from public relations, to human resources, to sales, and, of course, marketing.

Done well, events will help to build your business. Here’s how.

1. Increased Press Coverage

Before the event starts, you have the ability to send out press releases to local newspapers, Chamber of Commerce, industry press, and even the local government and influencers.  Using every channel available to get the word out about the event can make a big splash. But most importantly, you’re not just promoting the event. Events are over and done with usually in less than 24 hours. If you focus on generating coverage solely around the event, your press release is only relevant for that short time frame.

When using a press release as part of your corporate event planning strategy, focus on the bigger picture. Something larger that makes the reason for the event. For example, we just celebrated 10 years in business. This was a focus beyond the event that created a story for the coverage – the event was just one part of that story.

The result? Longterm value.

2. New Talent Acquisition

A large part of a successful corporate event planning strategy is an attendee list that includes everyone and anyone who could benefit from your event. Your corporate event should showcase the culture of your company. Make sure it has the flair that you feel best represents what is uniquely yours.

Are you more of a formal suit-and-tie company? Host a gala at an upscale venue in the evening.

Are you an open-office-plan, t-shirt-and-jeans kind of place? Throw a networking barbecue at a local park or landmark.

Company culture can play a huge role in new talent acquisition. When hosting a corporate event, make sure your culture is on full display and invite the potential employees on your waiting list. They’ll appreciate the chance to get to know the company a little better, and you’ll be able to get to know them better as well.

Corporate event planning isn’t just about putting on the most extravagant event possible. It’s about hosting an event that reflects your brand, your company, and your culture. That will pay dividends down the road.

3. Social Media Boost

For us, one of the most fun parts of an event is watching the guests enjoy it. It’s exciting to see the beautiful pictures that are taken of the event, the people and the food. And guess where those pictures wind up? That’s right – like almost everything else today, events make it onto social media. For your brand, that’s a good thing. In fact, the amount of engagement your event receives on social media is one measure of its success.

Accordingly, when corporate event planning, you should plan for a social boost. If you promote and present well, you’ll reap the rewards.

For our event, New North’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were tagged in several different photographs showcasing our office, the event, and our attendees. Our small event led to a nearly 4% increase in social media followers and a 186% increase in page views.

And the boost doesn’t stop when the event does. After the event, engagement should continue as you repost the good times that were had.

4. New Community Connections

Don’t underestimate the power of networking. Part of the joy of hosting an event is all the new faces you get to see. Always have business cards on hand and pass them out generously. Place a business card in your end-of-the-night favors or have them waiting by the door. You never know who was impressed by you and your staff at the event and will end up calling the next day.

Opening up your office space to the community also invites potential clients in to see what they could be getting into if they pursued a partnership with you. A good corporate event planning strategy is to showcase a little bit of your philosophy throughout the event.

For our tenth anniversary, we raffled off ten essential marketing books that showcased a little bit of what we believe in, and we even put some marketing advice in miniature around the edges of our menus. We gained some new contacts and friends by sponsoring a raffle – something you can do as well during your event, especially if it’s open to the public.

5. Advertise Your Company

Your entire corporate event planning process should be set up to advertise your company. From the press releases you put out to the posts on social, you should look at the entire event as a form of advertising for what you do and how you do it.

The event itself should be viewed as a performance. Give your employees a pep talk beforehand to clarify what the expectations are for the event. Each participant should be representing their facet of the business, and should be prepared to discuss what they do with any guest who asks. Remember, your employees are either your best or your worst advertising channel. The last thing you want is for an employee to leave a bad impression on guests. But if they represent you well, it’ll speak volumes.

Corporate events are your chance to advertise your philosophy, process, culture, and employee knowledge.

What If I Don’t Have Time to Host an Event?

Considering hosting an event? You don’t have to do it alone.

New North’s corporate event planning services will give you the time you need to host your own event. Let us take care of organizing caterers, thinking through event design, building press coverage, and marketing the event for the greatest impact and ROI.

New North has the marketing knowledge to make your corporate event a success. We’ll guide you through creating an event that’s a unique and true representation of who you are as a company. Corporate event planning is not something you should pass off to your secretary as a last minute to-do; take your time and make an event that you can get the most out of, for all departments of your company.

Corporate event planning can help you build a positive brand reputation that wins in the marketplace and grows your bottom line. It’s an investment, for sure – but it’s one that can incredibly valuable.

If you’re ready to boost your return on investment with event planning, get in touch with New North today.

What are you waiting for?

You might also like...

Be wary of office politics and choose the hills to die on very carefully. This article presents the best way to deal with conflict in office politics….
You’re here. You’re an AV integrator. You want to run a paid social media campaign. Great – paid social is a nice piece in a comprehensive AV integrator marketing campaign. Here’s how to create a paid social media campaign for…
MSP marketing is hard. That’s partly because managed IT services still aren’t fully understood by the market – especially if you’re selling to non-technical people. It’s partly because the MSP market is very crowded – there are 40,000 MSPs…
Scroll to Top