7 Tactics Event Organisers Can Leverage to Stay Competitive During Pandemic

The world continues to grapple with the challenges brought forward by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, not only are the individuals’ mental and physical health in jeopardy, but so is the global economy.

Event management during COVID-19 has become increasingly difficult to the point that it is near obsolete. As a result, event planning companies have started looking for ways to stay afloat and recover from the pandemic’s economic repercussions.

With the entire world relying on digital media, event organisers are also moving towards online event production. Adapting to the new normal is vital, but doing so can be increasingly tricky considering its novelty.

This is why we have listed down seven tactics you can consider utilizing to stay competitive and thrive as an event organiser during these uncertain times:

Increase Communication with Customers

Now more than ever, communication is becoming a vital element. The world has become a virtual global village with people interacting online from their respective homes.

Therefore, event planning companies should start communicating with their customers through social media and other communication channels to understand how they can work on event management production during COVID-19. Maintaining communication throughout the pandemic and after will undoubtedly help retain customers.

This is because the customers will remember that you were helpful to them during this time. Once the world moves towards normalcy, they will remember to avail your services for their events that they had to cancel with you during COVID-19 times.

Become Proactive on Social Media

Using social media to stream the services you currently provide, such as online event production, would enhance your competitiveness. Additionally, posting testimonials of former customers and advertising the services you would soon offer after lockdown and COVID-19 would also increase your potential customers.

Therefore, event planning companies should start becoming more proactive on all their social media profiles. This includes using chat handles to speak to the customers to understand how you can do better.

The current times are all about generating leads to have a potential pool of clients to rely on once the lockdown eases. Doing so would also leave a good impression on your customers. This is because it will show them that you are on top of things and staying competitive.

Generate Leads Ahead of Time

Besides using social media, event organisers can generate leads to stay competitive by offering discounts and gift cards. Offering discounts on physical events once things start opening up will provide many advantages.

For instance, by doing this, you will have cash coming in through advanced bookings. It will also give you an upper-hand over your competitors because customers would prefer to avail discounted services in the future than pay full price for them.

You can also offer discounts on online events, so people can try your service.

Provide Alternate Services

Event management has completely changed during COVID-19. With the imposed lockdown, physical events have become a thing of the past. But that should not stop event organisers. You can focus on online event production by holding virtual events to stay ahead of the game.

You can carry out any event online, including seminars, conferences and conclaves, which can be hosted on multiple social media platforms. By relying on significant technological advancements and user interface, these events can be quite like the physical ones.

Moreover, having prerecorded events that individuals still have access to is something that many prefer. Thus, it will increase more traffic and attract potential customers.

Enhance Physical Experiences

Due to the pandemic, you can conduct physical events only with limited individuals. You can use this to your advantage by creating more personalized events. Providing exclusive experiences for select individuals in a socially distanced manner is a niche that event organisers can explore.

For example, concerts with a limited audience sound more appealing than concerts with hundreds of people, even if the former costs more. This is because it would allow them to feel more connected to the artist if the event is more intimate. The COVID-19 era is all about social distancing and private events, which event organisers can effectively cater to.

Stream Videos

People are craving for events and social gatherings at this point. Thus, it is the perfect time for event organisers to focus on online event production. They can start showcasing their services online through videos for advertisement. Socially distanced events that they arrange can be live-streamed on Facebook and Instagram so other people can also watch.

This will allow you to gain potential customers and more traffic to your business website.

Focus on Customer Safety

With no vaccine available for the virus as of yet, event planning companies must enhance their safety measures to the maximum. This is particularly the case if they are organising physical events, as it is crucial to make the customers feel safe there. Hygiene amidst the pandemic has become an utmost priority for customers, be it at the event venue or interacting with anyone.

Only those companies who make their customers feel safe are bound to succeed post COVID-19. You have to become increasingly sensitive to the customers’ needs, for example, by allowing them to cancel prior bookings.

Final Thoughts

Event management in COVID-19 is tricky, but it is certainly not impossible. Event planning companies need to be smart about how they advertise their services and communicate with their customers.

Using a combination of these tactics will help event planning companies thrive and succeed while maintaining long-term customer loyalty.

Author Bio

Sarah Hill is a content writer at Seven Events Ltd, leading conference organisers in Birmingham offering virtual events, corporate event management and venue finding services. She started her career in the events industry almost a decade ago as time progressed she became an avid event blogger sharing her insight on corporate event planning.