Event Production – Why You Shouldn’t Bootstrap Your Next Event & Hire A Professional
So, you’ve heard about the great success that other brands are having with experiential marketing and would like to reap some of the magic for yourself. On the surface, setting up such an event seems straightforward. You just need an idea, a place and a plan, right? Think again. For such events to produce results, they need to be carefully planned by someone who understands the finer points of experiential marketing. For this reason, it’s always best to hire an experiential, trade show or event firm instead of taking the do-it-yourself route. Here are a few compelling reasons why:
They Know What Works
For experiential events (like popups) to work, an element of surprise is needed. In order to create lasting impressions, attendees need to be shocked to some degree. Without that, the odds of them spreading the word and boosting brand visibility are slim to none. What may seem like a good, surprising element to you is likely to fall flat in real life. Experiential marketers understand group psychology, and know how to surprise or shock them in ways that are beneficial for brands. Without their help, you’re likely to engage in a process of trial and error that leaves you frustrated and disappointed.
They Have Connections
Even if you have a fairly strong social media presence, chances are that you don’t know the right movers and shakers–or influencers, as they’re more commonly referred to these days–to make your event a true success. What would take you weeks to accomplish in the form of “cold calls,” including email marketing and the like, can be accomplished in short order by an experienced and well-connected experiential marketing expert.
They Use Cutting-Edge Techniques
Like anything in the world of marketing, what worked for an experiential event a few years ago is likely to miss the mark today. Again, an element of surprise is needed. You need to present something that piques people’s interest. Scour the Internet all you’d like, but you’re not going to find reliable information about ideas that haven’t been done again and again. Since experiential marketers live and breathe this type of marketing, they are always on the cutting edge of the latest techniques.
They’ll Save You Time, Money and Effort
If you’re thinking about tackling an experiential marketing event yourself, it’s probably because you’d like to save money. However, hiring a professional firm to handle it for you is actually very cost-effective. It doesn’t just save you money, either. It helps you avoid wasting time and effort that would be put to much better use elsewhere. Cliched though it may be, time really is money. Can you afford to turn away from your everyday business to plan and execute a successful event or campaign?
They’ll Show You Measurable Results
Without knowing how effective your efforts were, you can’t improve upon them for next time. Measuring the results of an experiential marketing event or campaign is difficult enough for experts. For everyday business owners, it’s downright impossible. The right experiential, trade show or event firm will have a defined process for gauging the results of such efforts, and they will be able to show you exactly what their work did for you.
