It’s that time of year again. A time when we excitedly await the coming holidays and rush to pick out, purchase, and send gifts to clients and colleagues. This isn’t always an easy task even though there are more options available than ever before.
We’re also faced with a host of parties and events and attending them all may not still be an option for many of us.
It’s also a time for those of us who are in business for ourselves. A time when we look forward and make plans for the coming year.
In this edition of the newsletter, I’ll share some gift ideas and gifting tips for finding just the right gifts for your clients and colleagues. I’ll also share the marketing strategies I used to survive the collapse of the events industry during the pandemic to come out the other side stronger than ever.
How My Business Survived the Events Industry Pandemic Apocalypse
Many industries were hit hard by the pandemic, but I can’t think of any industry that collapsed almost immediately from the effects more than the events industry. We saw a swift and almost sudden halt to all events.
And, if like me, you specialize in large corporate events, it was more potentially devastating. Those who didn’t have good savings and a strong network saw their business dry up.
Fortunately, I not only had a strong network and savings, I had contingency plans. I very quickly put into action a plan I had to diversify my efforts in building other areas of revenue for my business. But two in particular, helped me not only survive the pandemic as an event planner, but helped me come out of this in an even stronger position.
The first thing I did was to intentionally keep my existing monthly marketing newsletter going and I chose to work with a professional copywriter to make sure I was able to maintain my regular high standards for my content.
And while I didn’t talk about hosting events, I did talk about safety during events. I immediately took classes on risk mitigation during the pandemic so I could advise my clients on ways to host events in ways that not only protected attendees, but protected my clients as well. And, I stayed on top of CDC requirements and suggestions so that I was always giving the very best advice.
I also honed my skills in hosting online events. I learned all of the platforms and made sure I could offer my clients alternatives to in-person events.
The downloadable review of all online event platforms has been one of my most popular offers to date. It provided valuable information to people even if they didn’t hire me and that helped raise my profile and boost my authority in the events industry.
One of the most exciting things I did was to host my own event
Last winter when we were seeing an improvement in Covid cases, I hosted a spa event for a small group of people.
All attendees were tested for Covid before the event and we all wore masks. And most of the events of the weekend were held outdoors in the glorious weather. After almost a year of being locked down, it was an amazing getaway for the guests.
This wasn’t the first event that I have hosted, but it is the start of what I hope to be many more just like it.
We had swag bags, a private chef, hiking events, an outdoor wine tasting, and so much more.
But the focus of the trip was the workshops provided by a professional facilitator.
One of the great things about the trip was hearing the excitement that my guests felt and hearing the feedback from the trip and how many were asking when the next trip would be.
To that end, I would love to hear from you on this question. If you were to go on a trip like this, where would you want to go? A big city shopping spree, an exclusive spa resort, a mountain retreat, or a coastal getaway?
Click here to take this quick survey and then stay tuned to find out when the next trip is and where we’re going.
As always, I am grateful for each of you. Thank you for hanging in there with me through what we hope is the worst of the pandemic.
If you’d like to hear more strategies for lead acquisition and business growth from a diverse field of marketing experts, you can get your FREE ticket by clicking here.
Seasonal gifting tips
Gift giving can be one of those tasks that either fills you with dread or fills you with excitement. If you have a lot of customers you send gifts to, it can be a bit easier because you aren’t picking out custom gifts for each customer or client.
One idea that can get you through the holiday gift buying season is to check in with the vendors who have supplied items for your swag bags during your previous events. They might have the perfect idea to pull together a gift that’s perfect for your clients. They can look back over what they’ve supplied in the past for your events to get an understanding of the types of items that you might want to share with your clients and colleagues.
It isn’t as easy when you work with a small number of clients throughout the year and you want to select something that’s personal for each of them. Even though you work closely with them, you don’t always know them personally, and that can make it difficult to pick out just the right gift.
Go back over your notes and try to recall comments they might have dropped about their personal lives that you didn’t pick up on initially. Maybe they like to travel, enjoy certain sports, or have small children. Those details can give you clues to meaningful gifts.
A nice bottle of wine or liquor is almost always a welcome gift if it is on brand for you and/or your company. Food items are also a welcome gift, especially if they have some shelf life to them. But, if you send perishable items, make sure you arrange shipping so those expensive steaks don’t go bad sitting in the office over the holidays because your client took extra time off.
