Corporate events, as a tool of brand promotion, have become increasingly popular. They help to give visibility, improve brand’s reputation, and build community around it, among company’s employees and customers. They are, therefore, an excellent strategic tool for your brand.
A corporate event is a perfect opportunity to engage and retain potential customers, motivate company’s employees, or offer product trainings, among other things.
As the event concept and content are closely related to the company’s activity, its products, and services, events as such are, therefore, a fundamental tool in the marketing plan of a corporate brand.
Corporate events pros
A good corporate event must comply with two main criteria. It ought to have clearly defined specific goals and be extremely well designed. In such case, it can bring the company massive benefits both regarding its employees, and externally, regarding its potential customers or suppliers, among others. So, what are the main pros?
Internally
A corporate event addressing company’s internal audiences can increase productivity. The formula is simple, a motivated employee tends to be more committed to the company’s goals and, therefore, shows a higher productivity.
Additionally, these events improve communication between company’s different players, resulting in more fluent internal processes and a higher quality of work.
Corporate events can work as a motivation tool for existing company’s personnel, but they can also attract and build loyalty among new staff.
Externally
As far external audiences are concerned, corporate events increase brand awareness by generating direct communication with attendees, people really engaged with the industry where the company belongs. They help to build community among the public really interested in the brand, and the company’s products and services.
Corporate events also work as a platform to showcase and promote new products and services, improving brand positioning, allowing it to stay one step ahead of the competition and stand out on the market as a competitive option. At many corporate events, designing an attractive stand has enormous communication and branding advantages.
Finally, corporate events are an opportunity to position the brand as a leader in the field of company’s activity. Not only it allows to increase brand visibility, but also to build trust with company’s clients, potential clients, and suppliers, among others.
Types of corporate events
Now that we have seen corporate event definition and benefits, let’s see the variety of formats it offers.
Conferences & Congresses
Among corporate events, these are the most frequent ones. They usually span over 1-2 days and aim at bringing together great number of people from one industry for a particular purpose, encouraging showcasing and networking, among other things.
Inaugurations & Openings
They normally serve the purpose of presenting new company’s headquarters or other branded spaces. It is also an opportunity to inform the target audience about these new locations and the products or services offered there, so that they can become customers.
Launches & Releases
Organizing an event to launch a new service or range of products can become a great opportunity to position this new service or products among the potential customers.
Award Ceremonies
Knowing how to organise an awards ceremony is very important. This is a kind of event specifically focused on strengthening professional bonds and building team spirit. It consists in acknowledging achievements or paying tribute to somebody’s professional career.
Product Presentations
Along with launches, product presentations have at their core a particular product or product range. Their goal is both to position them on the market and promote them among potential customers.
Road Shows
Road shows are an excellent alternative option to present products or services at a national level and international, expanding company’s geographical reach. It is a good way of bringing the brand closer to a geographically dispersed audience.
Press Conferences
Press conferences are essential for companies that want to provide the public with relevant information about their activity. They are quite effective for conveying company's messages to the media and experts and, thus, achieving a greater reach.
Seminars
These usually consist in a series of joint activities between those who impart knowledge (teachers) and those who acquire it.
The purpose of the seminars is usually to guide people through theoretical (research) and practical aspects of a particular matter or subject. That is why this type of event is especially common in the scientific and academic community, but also among companies that seek to engage their employees in training and learning activities.
Workshops
Finally, closing the list of the most common corporate events is the workshop. It is generally a smaller event with fewer attendees. And its goal is to learn some skills and practice them. Unlike seminars and courses, the workshops usually have a more practical, rather than theoretical nature.
Stages of a corporate event organization
For a corporate event to fulfil its purpose and achieve desired results, its organization should be carried through a series of stages. On top of it, strategy, creativity, and good organization, together with the use of new technologies, are essential to engage with the current trends and the general taste of the audience.
And regardless of its type and size, a corporate event from its earliest stage all the way to the aftermath, should always rely on strategically impeccable and well-coordinated organization. The recommended states of a corporate event organization are:
Stage One: Defining Goals
The focus during this first stage is on the client’s peculiarities and the specific goals of the event.
And speaking of such peculiarities, we mean any special brand characteristics, the image and message to be conveyed, the target audience, etc. And based on that, specific event’s goals must be set to determine the rest of the organizational processes.
Stage Two: Creative Idea
With the goals clearly defined, it’s time to develop the creative idea to give consistency to the entire event. The idea should be aligned with the brand’s values and overall image and provide creative and innovative solutions to achieve the desired results.
This idea will help to subsequently define the event’s format, agenda, location, duration and so on.
Stage Three: Timing
The next step is setting the timeline for the organizational steps to be taken and, for this purpose, we will draw up a briefing. It’s an essential document for the event management purposes as it allows to keep up with all the details and deadlines.
Stage Four: Personnel
Once we are done with all of the above, we can proceed with assigning the necessary personnel for the event to fulfil its purposes and provide the desired results.
It is fundamental to thoroughly pick the best profiles for each task and clearly define their functions.
Stage Five: Material Resources
At this stage, the necessary material resources, including in-house production, are defined by contacting and negotiating with suppliers.
It’s also the moment for taking a comprehensive approach to the quotation of all what is needed. The budget is an essential tool to analyze the event’s feasibility.
Stage Six: Logistics
By logistics we mean both the transfer of people from their arrival point to the event location, as well as the transfer of products and materials necessary.
One of the best ways to ensure the success of a corporate event is by working with companies like 4foreverything that provide end-to-end integrated services and solutions in event organization with dedicated professional team monitoring every single detail at every stage of the project.
Stage Seven: Cross-Check
Control is essential at every stage. It allows preventing contingencies and ensuring the seamlessness of all the processes in terms of logistics and necessary supplies. In other words, you need to make sure that everything is in place before the kick-off.
Stage Eight: Aftermath
Finally, the last stage is about analyzing the results, KPI’s and general feedback in order to draw all the necessary conclusions, taking note of the possible flaws and errors, and to optimize and improve the processes in the future.
Key aspects in corporate event organization
Furthermore, there are three key aspects, we cannot skip talking about, that can lead to a success or a failure of an event. These are:
Strategy
A corporate event is a marketing tool that must help achieving clearly defined strategic goals. What and how should be done, and in which order step by step, it is all defined by the strategy. The event manager is essential for the correct elaboration of the strategy.
Creativity
One of the essential elements to achieve competitive differentiation. Nowadays, too many companies organize corporate events for different purposes, so, it is crucial to ensure that our events provide memorable and relevant creative experiences capable of surprising the public.
Production
And last but not least, for the event to be a success, all the production aspects must be taken very much care of. In this regard, having a company that has in-house production is a guarantee in terms of quality control, deadlines, flexibility, and more competitive prices.
This is the case of 4foreverything, where we have more than 8,000m2 of facilities that house our own carpentry department, our printing and labeling department, as well as our stock of lighting, sound and audiovisual equipment, and a wide range of rental furniture
The importance of transitioning towards a sustainable event model
Considering the negative impact that events may have on the environment, the whole event industry is currently focused on transitioning towards a sustainable event model that allows reducing the footprint we leave with our actions.
The event’s sustainability measures must be aligned with the SDGs, the 2030 agenda of the United Nations Organization, and must directly impact all the parties engaged in the event organization at all stages. From planning to production, from supplier selection to logistics, from transportation to graphic design, etc.
Some of the best practices of sustainable event organization are:
- Searching for closer locations and venues to reduce transportation and travels.
- Choosing a sustainable catering with fair trade and zero-kilometer products.
- Using recyclable and recycled materials.
- Using reusable materials and structures.
- Avoiding single-use plastics.
- Hiring personnel at risk of exclusion.
- Maximizing transportation occupancy to optimize logistics and reduce unnecessary transfers.
- Managing waste with sorted containers.
- Introducing technology (QR, barcodes, etc.) instead of paper tickets and invitations.
Conclusion
As we could see, corporate event can be an excellent opportunity for any company that wants to spread the word about itself, strengthen its relationship with its customers, build a community or increase the productivity and commitment of its own employees. However, to achieve this, the events must be well planned and organized.
In this respect, contacting 4foreverything can be a great opportunity for any brand, regardless of the industry, that wants to organize successful events in an integrated way, receiving end-to-end service that guarantees compliance and quality of execution. And all thanks to a multidisciplinary team, our creative capacity and our production potential and expertise, which allows us to take over the entire process from start to finish, from the planning stage all the way to the final conclusions and aftermath.
