Ribbon Cuttings and Grand Openings
Posted on 20 September 2011 - 04:17 PM by Navigation Advertising | (0) Comments
Special events are often overlooked or avoided due to their expense and hard work. While they can be expensive and a ton of work, they can also be the jump start a business needs to create awareness and response. We’ve planned and executed several ribbon cuttings, grand openings, conferences, symposiums, press conferences and trade show exhibits for numerous clients over the years and believe in their effectiveness.
Special events are often overlooked or avoided due to their expense and hard work. While they can be expensive and a ton of work, they can also be the jump start a business needs to create awareness and response. We’ve planned and executed several ribbon cuttings, grand openings, conferences, symposiums, press conferences and trade show exhibits for numerous clients over the years and believe in their effectiveness.
One of our favorite tactics is the age-old practice of holding a special drawing for an item of value such as a restaurant gift certificate or flat screen tv. That’s right—some folks will give you their child’s social security number in order to win a flat screen tv. Flat screens are cheap and have more of a wow-factor that a free ride on the space shuttle. I’m not sure what that says about our society, but for our purposes it works. What are our purposes in having a client hold a special drawing for a flat screen tv? The database silly! Once we have that person’s business card or they fill out an online entry form we now have their email address (with their consent of course) and can message them about our client’s products or services.
Event planning is one of the most difficult promotional efforts, but also one of the most rewarding. Where else can you get in front of a lot of potential clients for such a low cost? Traveling to them or using several advertising vehicles adds up quick. But at a grand opening or trade show they come to you. There’s a special energy you achieve at an event that you can’t get on a sales call. We make sure we promote the event directly to our client’s audience then make sure when they arrive they feel special, drop off their contact info and leave with a promotional item to remember our client by. Be sure to delegate the event duties and responsibilities to competent folks and have weekly (if not daily) meetings to make sure everyone is accomplishing their goals. Nothing is worse than the cookies or photographer not showing up for your special event.