How to attract corporate event planners, with top tips from the experts at venuedirectory.com
When it comes to planning an event, choosing the right venue can be overwhelming, particularly with the ever growing choice. Getting corporate event planners to notice your venue can be tough, especially when competition is fierce among venues. More and more event planners are searching for the ideal venue whether it’s for small conferences, team build days, or Christmas parties, so getting your venue noticed by them should be a priority.
In recent years, finding a venue that’s out of the ordinary is an increasingly popular choice. Buyers are now looking for something unique, something that will give their event the wow factor and make it stand out and be memorable.
So, what is unique? Well, by its definition, unique means it doesn’t exist anywhere else – and that is the key. You’re providing your guests with a meeting, party, conference or event experience that they’re unlikely to have experienced before.
Being different doesn’t mean that your clients will hold you to any lower standards than they would a ‘regular’ venue. If anything, your uniqueness is a bonus that should be additional to the quality that you’re already providing. Providing your clients with a quality experience is just as important as giving them something to remember. You want to be remembered for good reasons, not bad ones!
You can become an event planner’s BFF if you help them with some of their greatest needs, so here are our top tips for getting your venue noticed.
1. Let them get creative
Blank canvas venues are becoming a popular choice in the event planning world. Meeting organisers are looking for venues that can really represent a brand, allowing for the addition of extra details to make the space truly transformable. No matter how over-the-top an idea might seem, a blank canvas venue can become a planner’s ‘oyster’, as they can mould it to represent the bespoke
look and feel they need.
2. Solid Wi-Fi
Most venues these days have a Wi-Fi connection, but will it be strong enough for your delegate needs?
It’s very important to consider the Wi-Fi speed at your venue, will it be able to support the number of delegates attending and offer them a seamless online experience? The internet has become a utility like tap water and modern users are increasingly demanding. If a host venue has not thoroughly prepared, users may leave frustrated and disappointed. In short, a poor Wi-Fi connection is bad for business.
3. Stress-free parking
Event bookers expect the same high standards from quirky independent venues as they would from well-known giant corporations. Nothing gets people agitated more than parking! If your delegates are travelling a long distance to get to your venue, they’re going to find themselves rather annoyed if they can’t find the parking or worse, it’s limited to a muddy field. The event experience begins when your guests enter the venue premises, so make it as simple as possible and start their day as it should go on – positively.
If you don’t have the facilities to accommodate cars on-site, help out your visitors with handy alternative parking information, easily accessible on your website.
4. A refreshing experience
All delegates will need a break at some point and planners can offer exciting off site experiences to refresh and motivate delegates – think pop-up bars or even ‘pubs’, BBQs, street food style vendors and beyond.
Food and drink are great enablers of conversation and bonding, as well as essential for refuelling attendees for the rest of the day. If you don’t provide in house catering, spend some time searching for the right catering partner(s). You want to be able to offer either a top notch in house service or be able to recommend a provider that will elevate the whole experience of the event.
5. A picture paints a thousand words
Nothing sells a venue more than showing it off with high quality enticing images. Show off the potential of your venue by placing that perfect image in the mind of your client. While wedding layouts can look absolutely amazing, they’re not much use for corporate event planners. When photographing your corporate offering, make sure to demonstrate the options. For conferences, lay out your space to show theatre style, cabaret style and boardroom style to give visual inspiration.
6. Sell your story
Your venue is unique for a reason. Whether that’s the detailed history or the interesting architectural features – don’t keep it a secret. Let your clients fall in love with your venue, make it not just somewhere to hold a meeting but somewhere that they want to explore and be proud to show off to their delegates. When planners look for the perfect venue, they may search through quite a few before settling on the ideal location. Make your story known and stick out in the minds of venue finders. Tell the tale of your venue that gets people wanting to find out more.
7. Everybody loves a bargain
As effective as making your venue look and sound amazing can be, sadly at the end of the day, pricing is often the biggest deciding factor for many meeting and event bookers. Be savvy, take a look at your competitors and see what they’re offering and for how much. If your prices are vastly greater than those of others, ask yourself, is what you’re offering really worth it? If there’s absolutely no way you can adjust your pricing, take a look at how you can improve what you’re offering. It’s all about quality, not quantity so match your unique venue with unique conference offerings, give your clients something that they can’t get anywhere else.
8. Be social
Never underestimate the power of social media in the business world. It only takes one expertly timed video or relatable post to make it viral on the internet these days. While you don’t need to become a viral sensation overnight, shouting out about your venue on social media is never going to hurt. Showing your face on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram instantly makes you more relatable; reach out to new audiences by offering exciting team building opportunities – who wouldn’t love to play life sized football in zorbing balls?
9. Inspire something different
Whether it’s a simple monthly board meeting, an exclusive eye-opening conference or an adventurous team building day, meeting and event bookers want to create an event that people are talking about for weeks to come. Encourage the uniqueness of your venue by highlighting the quirky spots that suit themselves to certain types of gathering or specific activities. If you have a cosy area perfect for a tea and coffee break or a lake ideal for group activities let your clients know. You might see the potential, but help let their imaginations run wild with suggestions for success.
10. Trusting the opinions of others
Become a trusted and reliable venue and utilise your own success by collecting testimonials from your most valued clients. Of course, you’re going to think your venue is fantastic but there’s a lot more grounding in positive feedback from people who have paid money for your venue and thought it was worth every penny. You’d never buy from an unreviewed seller on eBay, so why would you hire out a venue without knowing if it’s going to be any good?
And if there are things you need to improve, even better! Getting feedback from event attendees will only help you to improve in the future and grow your business even further. If you want corporate bookings, make sure these reviews are from corporate clients. Your venue may be the most beautiful place to say your vows but you’re going to find it hard to inspire business success if you only have testimonials from brides and grooms. Relevant reviews are going to do far more for you than you could imagine.
11. Get listed in a directory
Many event planners turn to online event venue directories, such as venuedirectory.com to find the best venues to host their events. Listed venues are put in front of thousands of event planners looking for event space. venuedirectory.com enables event planners and booking agents to search, select and enquire on over 200 different criteria. Along with increasing visibility it provides marketing assistance to ensure your listing is generating leads and maximising potential.
So, there you have it – A quick run down of the basics of attracting and convincing event planners that they should consider your unique venue. Remember, get the basic needs of a business customer right, add something unique then let their imaginations run wild with the possibilities. Finally, add your venue to venuedirectory.com free and reach thousands of potential new customers!
