The entertainment industry loves to promote the image of public relations as an industry filled with glossy, shiny, stiletto-heeled party planners. Think Samantha Jones of Sex and the City or Gwyneth Paltrow sitting at her desk every day, looking perfect and unruffled while waiting for the phone to ring and springing into action only when attending fabulous parties in the late 90’s film, Sliding Doors.
For those of us in the industry, these inaccurate and simplified portrayals of our profession have always been mildly annoying at best. Do we throw parties? Absolutely. Events are a great way to call people to the table and to let them experience your brand and product story in a meaningful, memorable way.
The downside of events is that the cost and resource allocation can be overwhelming. No matter how well you budget and allocate resources, planning events is like a construction project. It will invariably cost more, take longer and hit you with unanticipated challenges. This is not to say that events are not terrific vehicles to grow your brand and to tell your story. Well executed events can pay dividends well beyond the life of the event itself.
How to maximize your investment and garner measurable impact? An intentional, results-driven approach is crucial. Following are some big-picture strategies and tips to help you create an influencer event for impact.
- Clearly define your primary objective. Is the goal to generate media coverage? Then everything you do should be a direct connect to that objective.
- Who is the audience? If your objective is to generate media coverage than the audience is relatively simple. But media is not a homogeneous whole. Who represents the media already covering your industry? Who might be interested in covering your space? What about media in the social space, including relevant bloggers? Who are the industry influencers? It’s not always about numbers here. Dig deeper, do your research and qualify your list of tier one and tier two media and influencers.
- Do the math. In general, plan on 30 percent rate of rsvps from your invitee list. If you are planning a 50-person event, you should qualify and invite close to 150 people to conservatively get you to your planning number. There are exceptions up and down on the rate of return but this is a general, conservative approach. Better to have too many attendees than not enough. Plus, there are always unanticipated contingencies and no-shows. Be prepared to have staffers seated (if it’s a seated event) to “fill in” obvious empty spaces.
- Keep the messaging consistent. When looking at all event elements, from save the date, to invite, venue, décor, signage, gifts, food, entertainment/presentation etc., the “story” should be consistent. For example, if you are an environmentally minded company all event elements should be consistent with this positioning. Electronic invitation delivery is no longer taboo for a premium event. If you have to do printed invitations, think about using a vendor that offers recycled paper, perhaps look at carbon offsets for travel and the like. Be consistent in all executables.
Again, these are big picture strategies to keep in mind before green lighting an event. An intentional, results-driven approach will ensure that your event will provide the ROI needed to ensure success. Right now, we are in the final stages of planning a media/influencer event in LA. Will share the fun event details such as décor, staging and entertainment in our next post.
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