The Five P’s of Event Success
As the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail, and this couldn’t be truer when organising your PR event. Event season is imminent but with a checklist in place, there is no reason for your event not to be a complete hit!
1. The Plan
You need to have a clear and concise plan of what you hope to achieve from the event, starting with what you want the event to achieve in the first place. Start your planning early and don’t leave anything to the last minute. Be clear on your venue, food choices and budget. With a plan and a vision, everything else will fall into place!
Establishing social media hashtags will become a benchmark for your event; people love to share online and this will become an important part of the promotion. During the event it will also encourage people to share photos and information with followers, giving you added publicity and them the feeling of inclusion in something special.
2. The Pull
Typically, the process involves your client inviting journalists to their event with the aim of boosting their profile within the press, and of course, receiving media coverage and driving traffic to your website. Being clear on the ‘why’ during your event planning is absolutely crucial here, you have to give the journalists a solid reason to attend.
Are you launching any research? Do you have experts in attendance? Will your customers be speaking? These are all pulls that will make people want to attend your event, especially if they can obtain direct quotes from someone who is an industry leader and supports your client.
3. The Press
Target your contacts, invite media that you already have existing relationships with, as well as press that you want to build relationships with. Even if these guests won’t be able to make it, it shows them that you are interested in building connections with them and flags your client to them, which bodes well for the long run.
You should also target contacts that you know will want to come and will be able to offer you positive coverage of the story or event. Part of this step involves selecting a good mix of personality types and backgrounds to make your event more dynamic. Inviting the right press is the key to success and ROI on your event!
4. The Party
Time to have fun but stay professional! Mingling with prospects and introducing journalists to your client is important but making sure that people are enjoying themselves is paramount, even if journalists don’t report on the event, PR is as much about creating good relationships as it is generating coverage.
5. The Post-event follow up
Just because the event is over, doesn’t mean the work is done. Press packs should be distributed at the event for journalists to take away including a media release, hi-resolution images and some little brand relevant gifts. Post-event, send a polite follow-up, thanking guests for attending and reminding them that you are there to help with anything should they need it.
Could we help you plan an event as part of your PR strategy? Get in touch – we don’t bite! prworks@neopr.co.uk.
