Event Branding Strategies for Increasing Exposure and Identity

Events, whether in person or online, are one of the most effective ways to raise brand awareness. Research from Cornell University indicates that while people’s satisfaction with merchandise fades over time, positive memories surrounding fun experiences actually increase over time.

It’s great to delight prospective clients with branded swag. However, if you really want to stay front of mind and surround your brand with good connotations, a well-run event is a better choice. Events can increase brand awareness and serve as powerful networking tools. Events can connect you to prospective leads and potential long-term customers.

However, many companies dole out huge amounts of money for state-of-the-art parties, functions, and conferences without paying attention to their branding. Attendees have fun and remember the unique and exciting aspects of the event, but the name of the company is forgotten shortly after the party is over.

In this article, we will discuss how companies can host events that are branded in a way that is professional, yet memorable. These event branding tips will allow you to make full use of technology to spread the word about your event, increase attendance and create long-lasting memories for your clients.

The importance of event branding

It doesn’t matter how great your company’s products are, or that you provide top-level service. If people can’t remember your company, they won’t be able to buy from you.

Companies that want to host events that will result in a big return on investment must focus their event marketing material around their brand. Event decor must fit with your brand logo, brand images, and brand colors.

Event planning experts don’t recommend simply slapping your logo on everything, though. Creating special event marketing material helps draw attention to the unique aspects of the event while using images and/or fonts that are on-brand.

Ideally, event branding should take your existing company’s logo and colors and add an extra twist, such as background colors that pop, or even wacky fonts. However, it’s important to balance recognizability with the unique features of the event.

Companies should consider using the same logo design, perhaps with slightly different, brighter colors and eye-popping graphics. If the company has distinctive branded colors, you could use this color or a variation of this color as a theme for your event and incorporate interesting fonts for a different look.

A uniform, cohesive design between both marketing materials and event decorations is recommended. Event marketers and planners should work closely to make sure the invitations, event marketing materials, and decor match. Anything that boosts creativity in marketing your event while remaining on-brand is recommended. Furthermore, creating a unique name for your event and including a tagline can help differentiate your event marketing material from your normal marketing material.

Event branding on social media

Social media is a great way to make people aware of your branded event. Posting content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, or another site you may use can give your event a lot of exposure, increasing anticipation for the event as the date draws nearer. Now that you’ve crafted the perfect visual content that adds pizzazz to your normal branded logo and colors, social media is a great place to showcase these carefully crafted visuals.

Your normal social media strategy may rely on engaging written content. However, visual-based content is best for promoting events. Vivid images and photos can help give an identity to your event. This doesn’t mean you have to forgo written content altogether, though.

A concise, well-written article to promote the event, such as a brief piece about the activities planned for the event, or some facts or history behind your carefully chosen event venue that tie into the event’s overall purpose, can be very powerful.

Creating a hashtag is also an excellent way to create buzz about your event. Social media aficionados love to post photos and videos of themselves at events with identifying hashtags. This allows them to be connected to others who went to the same event.

Be sure to spread awareness about your chosen event hashtag as much as possible. You can encourage attendees to post photos of themselves with the hashtag by creating a social media “challenge,” or by offering an incentive like a prize.

Check that your hashtag hasn’t been taken by another group before releasing marketing material with the hashtag. It’s better to wait until closer to the event date to release details about the hashtag to ensure that it remains unique to your group.

Creating an event website

Social media is a great way to build excitement about your event. Event-related social media content can be released in phases that slowly add more information about the event and keep the event in the center of focus. However, a unique event web page is a highly recommended aspect of a branded event as well.

This is where all your announcements, information, registration links can live. After all, you don’t want your attendees to feel like they have to sift through posts on your Facebook account to find important details about the event.

A web page that is connected to your main site is preferable, as it increases traffic to your site and boosts familiarity with your brand. You should also consider using your existing email lists to send marketing material to customers who may not have social media accounts.

According to web developer Nathan Finch from Best Web Hosting Australia, web page building tools provide the simplest option for crafting a high-quality website. “Next, consider the ease-of-use or intuitiveness of a website builder,” says Finch. “Certain user-friendly website builders will utilize drag-and-drop controls. These builders essentially work by having a bunch of “Legos” or building blocks that you can place where you like along predetermined lines and vertices. This allows you to build your own website from premade parts but still customize the site enough that it looks unique among the greater Internet.”

When creating content for your social media sites, email lists, and event web pages, consider going evergreen. Evergreen content can be modified or recycled on your blog or on other online platforms even after the event, which maximizes your return on investment.

Conclusion

With pandemic fears abating, people have never been more hungry for well-planned events. Brands have a unique opportunity during this time to offer fun, memorable experiences for attendees that differentiate their brand from their competitors. With the right planning and marketing material, events can be highly effective tools for boosting your brand.

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