Meetings, conferences, and tradeshows are major branding opportunities
We typically equate brands with products, services, places, and even people. But one area often under-utilized as an opportunity for branding is events. If you’re an association or trade group, you know all about promoting your annual meetings and shows. But are you giving these the branding respect they need to stand out from competitive events? Are you simply announcing your events when you could be creating a compelling persona or identity for them?
Events are great brand reinforcement vehicles because they provide unparalleled opportunities for attendees to interact with your organization. People can test drive your product, service, and concepts in person. And, of course, meetings and conferences offer abundant opportunities for sharing images and news about you to audiences outside the event through social media. However, before you can get people invested in your brand through your event, you have to first get them interested in coming to your event.
If you’re looking to establish an event sub-brand that excites potential participants, you need to put some work into it—the same kind that goes into crafting your main brand. This includes:
- Conducting research into what makes your event unique and beneficial to attendees.
- Establishing a brand promise for your event.
- Creating a messaging platform surrounding the event marketing and communications.
- Developing an evergreen sub-brand identity and look-and-feel.
- Building a strategic plan around marketing your event to new and past attendees.
- Creating buzz and anticipation for your event on your marketing channels.
- Setting brand guidelines for visual and messaging assets.
This ebook can provide a roadmap for asking the right questions, planning, and following through on the steps above. It will require some time and discipline to acquire an in-depth understanding of your event’s true value, differentiators, and ultimate benefits. But this knowledge will invariably help you build a stronger event sub-brand to advance your overall brand objectives.