How to start a marketing event.

This year, along with 2 collaborators, I started an event. We started an event, to be completely fair.

It all started with a question, posed by Courtney Farrow, a fellow copywriter and co-worker, to myself and Matt Johnson, social media marketer and also co-working dude.

“Shall we start an event?”

This sparked a conversation which led to the creation of Creative Point. Started in a very pointy building, C4DI (Centre for Digital Innovation), which itself sits at the point where the river Hull meets the Humber Estuary, it also seeks to answer people’s questions about marketing and creativity. Finding out, what is the point?...

Ok maybe we’re stretching it a bit there, but it sounded cool so we stuck with it.

So far, the event has been a success. We’ve had 5 events since July which have each had a high number of attendees (the last one sold out!) and have received an overwhelmingly positive response; An average score of 8.9/10 for all the events.

Each one has been based around a different speaker (we all spoke at the first one!) who have each shared their insight, experience and expertise to the audience. We’ve mingled, eaten pizza and had a laugh.

The goal for the future is to grow numbers and provide advice and insight at the creative edge of marketing. An unrivalled offering in an area which is sparse on marketing related events. We want to inspire people’s creativity and build a community of like-minded people.

This is just the beginning but we’ve already learnt a few things along the way. Here’s a few thoughts.

Why start an event?

Starting an event had always seemed like a good idea so when Courtney kicked things off it was tapping into a desire that already existed.

Event marketing is big and there’s a reason why so many events are out there, with varying degrees of quality and different price tags. Unlike a lot of areas of business though, these two variables don’t necessarily always correlate.

Starting an event has a number of benefits and actually it doesn’t all have to be about money or exposure.

1.    Brand legitimacy

Ok, so if we’re honest, the main reason for doing all this is to give our own brands exposure and legitimacy. That’s why most people start events and really there’s nothing wrong with that.

By starting an event relating to your area of expertise and getting people to come to it, you’re building a degree of legitimacy around the service you sell.

It’s also one more link to your website, one more opportunity to slap your logo on something etc… You get the gist.

A big benefit is the opportunity to meet people of influence and potentially even gain media coverage that you wouldn’t otherwise get.

Whether something is explicitly a networking event or not, by putting something on that people attend you’re automatically creating space for networking to happen. We’ve not explicitly sold our businesses (bar maybe putting a banner up in the foyer) but you don’t need to.

The best way to market your business is to create something (could be an event, a podcast, a magazine, an online community) and put it out into the world. It’s just another way for people to reach you, get to know you and trust you.

2.    Create something useful

As I alluded to, I could just stop at point 1. That was the initial motivation for doing this, sure. However, if that was the sole reason for doing it then it would never have legs.

If something is simply built on the desire to get your name out there, people will soon find out. It won’t have any soul and the hard sell becomes obvious.

Fortunately for us there was a problem to solve and a gap in the market. We all wanted to go to an event that catered to marketing and creative types like us but there wasn’t really anything in the area that did this.

Events from other providers no longer existed so it seemed like the ideal opportunity to enter the scene.

The desire for this sort of thing became clear with the guest’s enthusiasm for each event, particularly when it catered to their particular area of marketing or business. People commented on the informative nature of the talks and the personality with which they were delivered.

This is what will fuel the events to come and will be the reason people come back for more.

3.    It’s fun

There’s something really satisfying about creating something and watching it flourish. All 3 of us are really proud of how this first season has gone and have enjoyed putting each event on.

We’ve put some work in behind the scenes but also not so much that it’s had a detrimental effect on our own jobs. And it’s all worth it when the events themselves come together.

We get to meet new people and pull our individual skills together to make it all happen. If we weren’t enjoying it, it wouldn’t be worth it.

Our awesome speakers from this Autumn.

So those are some reasons for starting an event. Now some things to consider if you’re wanting to kick something off yourself.

How we did it.

A couple of small caveats: this is just our experience of starting an event so it won’t necessarily work like this for everyone.

There are a few things, which I’ll mention below, that have made it easier. These things may not be options for you so it may look a little different.

We’re also just starting out and are quite small so this is just an account of how we got to this stage. If we grow further maybe I’ll do another post about how we did that.

Our November speaker, Peter Andrews.

What’s your purpose?

You’ve got to be specific. Initially at least, we were still working out who we were, what audience we were serving and who we wanted at our events.

We wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d asked, ‘ok but what actually is it?’

Over time though we realised more what it was we were trying to achieve and who we were catering for. This is so important if you want to successfully market the event because otherwise, by trying to be all things to everybody, nobody will turn up.

Also this links back to the ‘creating something useful’ point. As with everything, there needs to be a ‘why’ because otherwise it will be a whole lot less convincing.

Do it with other people.

I’m so glad there’s three of us. Part of the reason it’s not taken over our lives individually is because we’ve spread the load. We’ve each taken on tasks within the running of the event and recognised when one of us is better equipped to take on a certain role.

It’s also made for a more holistic product. We’ve been able to brainstorm and run ideas past each other before putting it out into the world. That way there’s not the same burden of worrying whether you’re getting it all totally wrong.

Also, its fun running it with two mates who you get on well with and have shared passions/work experiences with.

The Creative Point team looking all cool and rock n roll. From L-R: Me, Courtney Farrow (Bloom), Matt Johnson (themattjohnson.co.uk)

Find a venue

Ok, this is where we had a bit of a head start.

The building in which the event was conceived was our venue and like a number of people before us we knew we would likely be able to use the function space to host our event for free (as members of the space).

If you’re a member of a co-working space or have ties to somewhere like that then it’s definitely worth seeing if you can use their space for free. Many will have a ‘theatre’ or large meeting room that could be used for an event.

This of course was a big help and meant we had plenty of time to set up and get it ready. Because of our membership to the office space we also had food and drink covered! Again, massive bonus and a great selling point.

Some venues might be willing to put you up if they already serve drinks or food or if you make them a partner/sponsor of the event.

They’ll likely make some money from the attendees anyway and most businesses/creative spaces always need people through the door so it’s always worth trying to push said door!

Ask favours

You don’t want to be in a position where you’re taking advantage of people but to begin with, if you can get people to help out, that’s going to be a huge help.

Usually there’s something in it for them – they can sell something, advertise their services, meet people etc. and even if there isn’t, people are far more willing to help something start up if they believe in it.

If someone can see the value in what you’re doing then they’ll likely be willing to support it. We’re massively grateful to the few speakers who took a chance on us in these early stages.

There’s no harm in asking. The worst that happens is they say no, which is perfectly fine!

Doing stuff

If you’re thinking of starting something, go for it! And keep doing it. That was the advice one of our speakers, Glenn, gave.

An avid doer of stuff himself, with a popular podcast and bestselling book under his belt, he pointed out that if you’re doing something you enjoy doing and it seems like other people are engaging, just keep pressing on. You never know where it could lead.

Whatever you’re doing, be it a blog, an event, a podcast or anything else, it’s all an excellent way of getting your name out there.

People are far more likely to engage with this stuff than anything else you do and at some point, it might lead to some work and money!