Page 4 - JHJ-E1_NeatB

The Marketing Queen’s Guide to Hosting Social

Events That Generate Foot Traffic, Loyalty, and Sales

or many years I was the girl who loved hosting logo along with other marketing material and a polishing
a great party. My happy-go-lucky outgoing cloth. All 100 cups were given out within 15 minutes of
F personality wanted everyone to join in celebration. opening the doors.
So, very early on in my store I realized I was going to For years marketing strategists have been teaching us that
we must brand ourselves in the market to stay relevant in
the industry. No one mentioned branding a specific event.
But that is exactly what I did. You see, I believe that
providing a remarkable customer experience is critical to
retail success, especially in an age where customers can
shop online and on mobile. To truly engage the modern
consumer offline, retailers must offer experiential in-store
visits that shoppers can’t get when they’re browsing the
web or tapping on their phone.
One way of doing this is by hosting retail store events.
While Chocolate Night was by far the biggest event I
hosted every year, it wasn’t the only one. Every 4 to 6
weeks I held some sort of fun event in my store. From
the balloon pop events, to gemstone roundtables, to VIP
parties and celebrity styled events. When done right,
this strategy can draw people into your store, increase
awareness, and even generate sales. I write this on the
heels of the holidays and all of the events I helped retail
stores with along with a few I hosted myself. What did I
do to make these events a GREAT experience?
have to do a great party to get folks to notice me and my
store. The location of my store was in a strip mall and it
wasn’t necessarily on your way to anything… so I decided Here are 6 topics to keep in mind
I would in a sense “DRIVE” or better yet… Lure them to
my store with the idea of creating a fun event for them to when planning your event.
attend. The onset of “Ladies Night” had me thinking that
it is simply the feeling of getting together with friends for 1. Planning and preparation for Event
a fun occasion and diamonds and jewelry was the perfect
place to host one of these events. It wasn’t until I run 2. Financial planning for your Event
across a cute phrase online that helped shape what would
become 10 years of an event that would bring folks from
more than 100 miles away to attend. The phrase was 3. Create your crowd
“Diamonds and Chocolates… my two best friends” and
there was the inception of the event “Chocolate Night” 4. Plan WAY ahead
which was held on the first Thursday of November for 10
solid years. This event would attract an average of over 5. Tips for the BIG DAY!
200 people annually and on the final event we had over
400 people come through our door in a 4 hour period of 6. Follow up after the event.
time. That cute phrase I just mentioned was put on 100
coffee cups which were placed in nice gift bags with our
Page 4