Strategic events are key to any successful organization’s overall growth strategy. They enable businesses the benefit of invaluable face time with their own team as well as with potential clients. Business challenges like sales and market share, brand awareness and client satisfaction are often top concerns for even the most successful companies. Organizing strategic events to aid in a company’s overall expansion plan and to address top business issues is key to any company’s growth. Here are four steps to delivering strategic events attendees will love:

What is the ultimate goal of the event?

This is the first, and most important step. While events can have multiple goals, having clear priorities will help you organize, promote and measure the success of your event.

Knowing the primary purpose of the event will define the rest of the planning process and guide you in every decision you’ll need to make while creating, executing and analyzing the event. It will also keep you on track with the company’s overall objectives.

The event goal will help drive the creation of the supporting event tactics needed to achieve your objectives. For example, is the goal to increase sales? If so, can you leverage a strategic campaign to educate and inspire the company’s sales force to hit specific sales goals? Or, if your event is to promote a new product or service to an existing audience, then event goals may be to create product awareness, increase the sales database and ultimately generate new product sales or bookings.

Know your event budget.

The second step in running strategic events is to fully understand your event budget and the various resources available. Once you have a better idea of the particulars, you’ll be better equipped look for ways to either scale back or find additional funding if necessary.  If you need to stretch your meeting dollars, you may be able to tap into other resources. For example, meeting planners considering Newport Beach, CA as their destination can take advantage of incentives and resources available to qualified groups.

Strategic events that appeal to all attendees 

Personalize the experience.

Consider the different demographics attending the program and the ways in which you can impact and benefit everyone. For example, if your event includes a combination of attendee types (sales team members, current clients, prospective clients, industry leaders), segment breakout sessions accordingly. Give attendees the ability to create their own agenda according to their specific interests. Doing so will increase engagement while adhering to the overall event goal.

Strategic events find success in little details 

Pay attention to details, pre, during and post-event.

Small details and nuances spread throughout an event will enable you to weave the company’s brand and mission into several, if not all, program aspects.

Pre-event: This starts with pre-event communications. This first impression will begin to build momentum for the event. One of the easiest ways to start the engagement and personalization process is to survey attendees as part of the registration process to find out what topics and content they are interested in.

During the event: Stick to your overall event strategy with on-site communications and experiences. Incorporating elements such as branded graphics throughout the event space, targeted presentation messaging, amenities, decor, themed evening events, room drops and gift bags, are all prime messaging opportunities.

Post-event: The follow-up post-event can be just as important as the event. Post-event communication offers a fantastic time to feature insights, ideas and resources and ask for attendee feedback.

Your event success begins with a solid event strategy based on clear goals. Starting with the end in mind will help you determine the various ways in which you can reach those goals. One of your key resources will be enlisting the help of local experts. In Newport Beach, CA you’ll find valuable knowledge by calling upon the experts at Visit Newport Beach, the destination marketing organization for Newport Beach, CA. Visit Newport Beach opens the doors to this Pacific paradise with destination expertise, customized site visits, strong partnerships and valuable resources.