JoW. – It’s a very special challenge to organize and deal an exhibition, expo or event for a target audience or target group. Especially, when this trageted group is not homogeneous and uniform.
Successful events for any targeted group should do one thing: set the foundation for future behavior and a future relationship between your brand or company and your audience. Successful events should reach the right target audience who will consume and engage with the brand long after the event has come and gone. Not two days or two weeks after, but months and years after. Successful events should have a long-lasting impact on your audience’s mindset and habits.
The perfect fit doesn’t exist, but you can come close to it…
The factors influencing the composition of a perfect plan of event management for a special target group are hundreds. They include budgets, choosing the right communication channels, promotional offers, added value, time management, a professional team, knowledge of the current environment in all aspects, and an understanding of the audience. Unfortunately, there is no undeniable formula guaranteeing you will reach your audience.
Even if you do possess all the resources just mentioned, it’s a need to evaluate again your target group. For example the Expat community in Switzerland: What will be your approach? In which media you approach them? Which content will be the right for which target group inside the heterogeneous community or audience you want to approach and finally reach with your communication message. Finally, it’s all about to reach your complete targeted community. For expats it’s everything about integration, language, social matters, daily challenges in work and private life, assurance of education outside the native country and some other important topics. Some events are a perfect fit for this target group like the Expat Expos in Switzerland (like the one in June 2013 in Basel: http://www.expat-expo.info/Basel.html
We have found some good advices how to plan some events for your target group from some specialists (blog.weemss.com): „Walk a mile in the shoes of your targeted community, live their lives, pay attention to how, when, where and with whom they communicate; who and what do they trust? Be where your clients are, give them what they want, as long as this is possible, and present it the way they’d prefer. Speak their language and become one of them.“
Nowadays communication technologies allow us to select and distribute our message in ways in which it reaches our target audience, without any waste of resources.
The blogger continues with following message: „When you deal with organizing an event, be creative and think outside the box. Why do you think that if a certain approach was successful for one event, it would be successful for the next one? One approach will be effective twice, in the context of event marketing, only if it concerns a second edition of the same event. Even if your approach works twice, try to think of things you might have missed; things that didn’t go as you expected it. The truth is, we can always do better, and there’s no reason to be satisfied with the lesser. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes -plan, act and analyse. When a marketing strategy has worked for someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything for you – it might work, and it might not. So just try. No, you’re not showing that you’re unprofessional or a weak leader. On the contrary, you will be showing motivation to seek solutions, to know the answers and to do things in the best way possible.
(Sources: Working Press Basel, crossmedia concepts gmbh, http://blog.weemss.com/ , mikesprouse.com )
Savoir Faire Basel @ Expat Expo:
savoirfairebasel 