Physical events are vital for business. According to an event marketing report, the majority of business leaders believe they’re critical to a company’s success.
Unfortunately, such events have largely taken a backseat in 2020 due to the pandemic keeping everyone indoors. It’s forced businesses to change how they tackle such occasions, with many either doing things online or postponing them altogether.
Things won’t be this way forever, and there’s optimism that physical events will return to some sense of normality over the next year. If businesses want people to attend such functions in the wake of everything that’s happened, though, they’ll need to make them enticing. Here are some ways they can achieve that.
Keep The Costs Low
Depending on where your event is held and how long it lasts, there will be a variety of costs involved for those who attend it. Things like accommodation, travel, and dining all have to be taken into account, and these expenses can rack up quite significantly. If each individual is expected to cover all these costs themselves, then offering some form of discount may incentivize them not to stay at home. People love to feel like saving money, even if they’re not, so this could really help increase your numbers. Depending on your finances, you may even be able to cover certain costs entirely, which would definitely work in your favour.
Ask For Help
Sometimes, the best thing to do when you’re struggling is to ask for help. If you’re not sure how to encourage people to come to your physical functions, you should try reaching out to event companies. Liaising with experts such as The KTS Group, who strive to make events creative, engaging, and impactful, could make all the difference to your attendance. You wouldn’t have to worry about finding a venue, advertising the function, or anything like that. That pressure would be taken off your hands, although you’d still have as much input as you desired.
Have Some Perks
This past year has proven that a lot of stuff that used to be done in person can now be achieved online. The experience might not be entirely the same, but the core elements are virtually the same. Therefore, you need your event to offer perks that people won’t have access to online. What those might be will depend on the type of business you run, who you want to attract, etc. However, it needs to be something that requires face to face contact; otherwise, you’re going to face resistance from those who don’t wish to visit a public space.
Create A Safe Environment
After everything that’s happened, you can’t expect people to be enticed by your business event purely because it has some incentives. The events of 2020 have raised a lot of questions about health and safety, and it’s your responsibility to prove that these concerns won’t be ignored. Be sure to follow any necessary health and safety guidelines while also making your event feel like a safe space. It’s hard to say how relaxed everyone will be by the time your function goes ahead, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Offer More Than Ever Before
A great way to get people to come to your business events post-pandemic is to make them bigger and better than ever before. Use your previous functions as a basic template and do what you can to improve upon every area as much as possible. Maybe that means enlisting more speakers or pulling in big names that you might not have reached out to before. Perhaps you can offer more in the way of entertainment or spend extra money on the catering. Do whatever is necessary to make your next business event a can’t-miss experience.
It’s hard to say whether or not things will go back to normal once the pandemic is behind us. However, if you do everything you can to make your business events enticing, then chances are that your attendance won’t be hit too hard by everything that’s happened.