Events & Experience Branding
Straight after high school and during my college days, I used to work in events, it taught me many things. Team work, the need for a quick turn around, working with people and about the audience.
I would watch the organisers and speakers come in early and work with them on the setup, watching them put up their banners and branding around the room. Watching how they focused on every touchpoint such as front signage, registration, name badges, lanyards, roll up banners, gift bags, table signage, wayfinding graphics, hand-outs, brochures, and flyers on every seat.
As I would help them I would look at how and why they where placing their branding all around the room, as a young designer I would only ever look at it on a shallow level looking at each design and critiquing them. What I was missing was how everything looked on a more global scale and as my experience in design and events continued to grow I would look at things from a completely new perspective.
How this helped me without even knowing it was that I had a very strong knowledge of events and branding when combining the two we have been able to produce some highly effective branding for events and their touchpoints.
How to make an event out of your event?
Business events aren’t as simple as they used to be. In the not too distant past, it was mostly a case of concentrating on what happens on the day itself, making sure there is some structure around a shortish lead-up and post-conclusion follow-up and that was it.
Well, that is a little simplistic as an explanation, but in essence, events have become far more valuable now as an opportunity to grow your branding while in the act of promoting your business.
Fast and widespread communication streams have shifted the landscape, meaning you can actually reach a much, much larger portion of the market before, during, and after your event.
This even applies to businesses or individuals who don’t come to your event.
So what do events really do for you as a business?
Apart from giving you an opportunity to talk face to face with a considerably higher number of people than you normally would in the same time frame, events have immense power to create a positive impression that lasts.
They are a major opportunity for close interaction with other people in the market. You get a strong connection with potential buyers, so in one format or another events are bound to survive for a very long time to come.
So how can I leverage branding from an event?
A theme is very important. And in order to come up with the right theme that can grab attention and have your business noticed, there are a handful of fundamentals to consider in order to extract the most from your event.
First of all, a theme is of utmost importance because it is this that will set the platform for what you do from start to finish.
A them and a name are vital because this will differentiate your business from that of your competition. And don’t take our emphasis on importance lightly.
Bear in mind that online media is everywhere and it is very up to the minute so it can act as a defacto publicist for you.
A useful way of finding the right theme and name is to keep in the back of your mind the reasons why your event is different to anything your industry sector has seen before. And for target scope, think about what message you are actually trying to drive across through this event.
I know it sounds a lot easier than it is. Trying to encapsulate a powerful message in a name containing as little as one word takes time and effort.
Don’t forget slogans (nowadays better known as taglines) which will reinforce the name branding.
And of course, a logo. Probably the most enduring branding tool for an event because it can be printed on just about any collateral you like.
Pre-event branding also works
Without getting into major detail which would keep you reading for days, online and social media streams have opened the doors to truly pumping your event on a massive scale well before it even starts.
Whether it’s third party media, social media or your own online publicity machine, there is unbelievably high scope to make pre-event branding an integral component of the entire mix.
Remember, you probably don’t do events too often, so if you can engage the potential market strongly in a lengthy lead-up, have everything ready for maximum impact during the event, and branded collateral and follow up tactics to work those connection and leads you will make an enormous impact not just as a company, but as a brand.
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Are you planning a business event, trade-show or creative event? If so or you would just like to throw some ideas around drop us a line. Contact Handle Branding Sydney for further information.
