Effective Event Collateral

Maximizing your event’s impact with effective event collateral

According to Eventbrite, the UK event industry was worth £42.3bn to the UK economy in 2018. It employed more than 500,000 people and delivered 35 per cent of the UK’s total visitor economy.

The global Covid-19 pandemic saw the postponement or cancellation of events across the world: weddings and parties, exhibitions, music festivals, and major sporting fixtures. Euro 2020, the Olympics, even Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time ever in peacetime history.

In a study of 2,000 MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry professionals by C&IT, 79 per cent of respondents said that they had witnessed a drop in bookings, with 64 per cent of UK respondents saying they were “very worried” about the financial future of their firms.

Concert trade publication Pollstar claims the coronavirus pandemic heralded a loss in revenue of more than $30 billion for the live events industry in 2020. Covid practically broke the events and hospitality sector.

By the middle of 2021, with the easing of restrictions, the picture looked very different. Bookings for events were up 250% in March, compared with pre-Covid levels, and surged by as much as 1000% in May.

The event business continues to boom.

When it comes to planning an event, collateral sometimes comes down the list, if budget allows. Don’t let it be an afterthought – cracking collateral is the perfect way to enhance the delegates’ experience at your event.

Are you looking to promote your next event? Event collateral can help boost your brand and increase engagement. Explore design ideas and print options in this comprehensive guide to printed event collateral.

Best in Show

Whether you’re launching a new product, manning a trade show booth, or hosting an industry conference, event collateral will boost your business. To create truly effective collateral, you need to understand your audience, and the touchpoints they have with your brand.

From concerts to conferences, workshops to wellness events, food fairs to festivals, Galloways recommend an omnichannel marketing approach that makes best use of both printed and digital collateral. It’s important to recognise that you are communicating with brand-aware customers, as well as those who are meeting your brand for the first time.

There are three key stages to interacting with your event audience: before; during; and afterwards. Using a multi-channel approach to marketing helps you to communicate in any medium, to any audience.

Here are some ideas of how to use marketing collateral at each stage

Before

• Save-the-date postcards or e-cards are essential to raise awareness of the event, and get the date in your delegates’ diaries
• Promote your event with posters, flyers, billboards, web-banners, adverts and advertorials
• 73% of consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail. Direct mail recipients spend 28% more money than people who don’t receive it. * Don’t forget to add an incentive, such as a discount code or special offer to make your audience feel extra special
• Using printed invitations and/or e-vite campaigns to generate attendances. Don’t forget to include RSVP methods. These might include stamped, addressed RSVP cards, a QR code, or even a direct link to an event landing page.
• An event landing page will not only allow easy registration to your event, you’ll have back-end data collection to use for your future marketing
• Make use of social and news media to help promote the event with a press release

During

• Event banners and signs will help you to stand out from the competition, and to help people to find you in a busy environment, such as a trade fair. In a smaller, more intimate environment, maybe an hotel or education campus, pop-up banners, branded directional signs, and even balloons and sky-dancers will help people find their way to your business
• Have business cards ready, to build customer relationships
• Brochures, leaflets, prospectuses, postcards: touch-based marketing collateral causes more brain activity in areas tied to value and desire. Physical marketing better engages memory than digital media. Fill it with enticing content, pictures, testimonials, and future events
• SWAG: people love branded merchandise, and it’s a cost-effective way to promote your business. Handing out high-quality merch makes people feel valued, engenders loyalty, and leads to positive brand recognition. Think water bottles and travel mugs, tote bags and tech gadgets, everyday objects that’ll keep your company name front and centre – in their hands, on their desks, and in their minds

Afterwards

• Follow-up your event with a personalised thanks-for-attending postcard. It should be easy to do, using the data from your landing page, and personalisation, like your recipient’s name can increase response rates by up to 135%.*** A direct mail campaign will maintain customer connections, until your next event, and inspire brand loyalty until that point
• Blog posts and video montage are excellent ways of summarising an event, and sharing the experience with those who couldn’t attend in person

Show and Telly

Whatever your marketing collateral, there are certain things that you absolutely must include. First and foremost is your company name – let people know who they’re dealing with. Your logo should be on every piece of marketing collateral you create for brand consistency.

Now your audience know who you are and how to recognise you, they’ll need to be able to get in touch. Make your contact details, including social profiles, easy to find, and easy to follow.

The rest of your collateral should be given to quality images and clever copy to educate and entice your customer base.

Most companies that invest in print marketing will have standard collateral on hand to give out. But when it comes to events, you may want to be a little more event-specific. Even with a delegate list, print volume can be difficult to get right: you want to have enough, but don’t want any to go to waste.

Don’t worry: Galloways offer print across the biggest majority of our printed products with next day delivery. And if you use Galloways Portal, our web-2-print service, you won’t even need to speak to us. Simply place your order for marketing collateral on your own, branded portal, and wait for it to be delivered.

Show The Way

Collateral should enhance the experience of your event. With so many types of marketing collateral from which to choose, it can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, our team of experts are just a phone call away. Contact us on 01625 870000, and let us show you the way to boost your brand with event collateral.

 

* https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/direct-mail-statistics
** Peertopeermarketing.co
*** https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/direct-mail-statistics