6 Tips For Successful Event Branding

While you’re trying to plan every detail of an event, however small it may be, there is a probability that you will ignore the fundamental aspect of it all – creating a strong brand message that resonates with the audience.

A 2018 Event Marketing Benchmarks Report, that surveyed over four hundred event marketers, stated that 95% of all respondents said that live events provide attendees with ample opportunities to build personal connections in this increasingly digitalized world. The report also showed that event marketers consider events the single most efficient marketing channel when compared to email marketing, digital ads, and content marketing.

Basically, branding is about your event overall feel and look. To brand an event is to insert the flair or personality of your business through mostly visual mediums. Think about what would your event be like if it was a live person? Extroverted, smart, good-looking or inspirational? Answering such questions will allow you to understand how should the branding of an event be developed in order to better connect with your audience and meet their requirements for information and entertainment.

Create your original brand identity

Your event branding starts with the building of your unique brand identity, one that speaks transparently about your company and what does it do. Unless you define properly, no one will understand what it’s about.

The brand’s identity consists of Logo, Colors, Fonts, Tone of voice, Values, Mission, Vision, Images and the persona your company is about. It is crucial that you define these elements since they will form the core of all your promotional materials and can help you build the right recognition for your event.

Consistency and then some more consistency

The best brand killer is called inconsistency. Unless you keep everything consistent, you’ll send out a confused message about what your brand is and what your event will give to the audience. Remain consistent in all communications and messages sent, as this can create a trusting bond between you and the audience. This way you show that your brand is reliable and true to its values.

Streamline the organization of the event

The registration process of an event should be simple and painless as possible since it is the impression attendees experience when they start the event journey. Instead of organizing everything manually and losing track on what is really important, successfully branding your event, streamline the process by using event planning platforms.

Such platforms offer tools that ease the process of organizing an event and building the right kind of community for it. They present the event as a singular experience, guiding you throughout the process, from event ticketing, to event promotion, all the way to post-event analytics.

You can design and customize everything when putting it together, with full control from your side. Organizing becomes less stressful since you can easily collect check-in information.

Develop a standalone website of the event

Your website is the cornerstone of your event branding since it is the first point of contact with your audience, a place where they first learn about the event. Because of this your website should be visually appealing, include important information about the event and in the end, it should convey your brand identity.

Visual design, from fonts to colors and logo, needs to be simple and again, consistent. Don’t ignore such details in order to establish the best visual representation of your event branding to any possible visitor.

Event value proposition must not also be neglected. The audience should easily associate your event with specific lessons and key takeaways. The more they have to work and think about it, the less they will be interested in the event. All key information needs to be summarized on the homepage.

Your theme should be solidified

Although the overall theme is already defined, there is always some room left for the secondary theme that can tie all event parts together. For instance, you can choose some particular conference hall or even a beach as the unifying event theme. Then add some more details that speak about this secondary theme, since it will distinguish the event branding from other more conventional business events.

Name the event

Lastly, choose a name for the event, as it is a fundamental step toward successful event branding. Think it through completely, as the events name is the first part of the micro-content that attendees associated with the event. As such, event name needs to accurately reflect the brand’s identity and the values you had in mind when you created the event.  

To summarize, create a unique brand and event identity and communicate them consistently. Develop a bold and striking visual identity, then communicate it accordingly while remaining true to your brand’s values. If needed, streamline the process and create a standalone website for the event.

Elaine Bennett is a digital marketing specialist focused on helping Australian startups and small businesses grow. Besides that, she’s a regular contributor for Bizzmark Blog and writes hands-on articles about business and marketing, as it allows her to reach even more entrepreneurs and help them on their business journey.