As a designer, one of the most rewarding challenges I get to take on is helping businesses and organizations with design for campaign and event marketing. Often the marketing of the event and the planning go hand in hand.
I find it rewarding because there is so much energy surrounding the process of putting it all together and at the end of it all you can actually measure the outcome. Even as creative brain, I love to see the justification of numbers for what I do. So when an event turnout is greater than we planned for or more money was donated than our goal, it’s exciting to see the actual ROI.
Set Goals
Often businesses can forget that campaign and event planning isn’t all about the budget; It’s about the goal, the primary reason you set out to do the campaign or throw the event in first place. So between all the logistics of planning menus and hiring musical talent, don’t lose sight of what you are aiming to achieve. Write it down if helps to make it more concrete. Publicize it to your planning committee or advertise it to your potential event participants.
Visualization is key. If everyone is on board with your goal and has the same passion for reaching it, you’ll be much more likely to stay on track. Even if you don’t reach your goal, you can still reap incredibly valuable insight from what you did achieve and how you can improve your future efforts.
Think Big Picture
When planning a campaign or event it’s easy to get wrapped up in the little details, especially when there are a million of them to consider. This is why planning committees often have a leader, someone who can see how all the pieces fit together and make sure nothing gets overlooked. If you don’t have a committee to help you plan, think about enlisting the help of a marketing consultant or event coordinator.
These types of professionals have loads of experience in thinking “big picture” and can even connect you with other valuable resources and talent like graphic designers, entertainment and caterers (all of which you’ll need to make sure your event comes off without a hitch.)
Get Organized
One of the biggest and most stressful messes you can run into when planning a campaign or event is that overwhelming feeling when the “crap hits the fan.” When you’ve neglected to organize yourself or your team, you’re bound to have a setback or two. Schedule regular meetings to check on progress of your team and to check in with vendors.
Take detailed notes during your meetings and send out a recap for all participants so everyone is on the same page, including those who might not have been able to attend. Also, keep all of your contacts, dates and deposit information in one place to save you time and stress later. Consider creating a Google Doc/Excel Spreadsheet to house all of the important details for the campaign and share it with your team or committee.
External organization is just as important as having organization within your team. Make sure all of your public marketing efforts are cohesive and professional. In essence you are creating a brand to be consumed and understood, so make every interaction and touchpoint count.
Know Your Audience
Targeting the right people in the right way is crucial for successful campaign and event marketing. From invitation design and RSVP cards to Facebook posts, you will need to make sure the visual aspect of your campaign, and the channels you use to deliver it, resonate with and are relevant to your audience. If you are sending out direct mail invitations, know for sure that your audience will be responsive to this tactic. Do your research about your key demographic to make sure you aren’t wasting your dollars and end up with low interest.
So are you ready to dive in with campaign and event marketing? K Design Co. partners with awesome and talented local communications agencies to get you started. Let’s talk.
