This guest post is brought to you by our friends at Square
There’s no shortage of events this time of year, and it can be challenging to make your voice heard over all the holiday noise. Here’s how to get your event on people’s radar and turn it into a can’t-miss occasion.
Go Tell the Neighborhood
The most obvious marketing can be the most effective, and in this case, that means signs. Post signs in the window and on sidewalk boards outside your door promoting the event. Pretty and clever signs are great, but make sure the most important information is highlighted, like the date and time. While you’re at it, reach out to other neighborhood businesses and invite them to the event. And, if your business interests align, ask them if you can do some cross promotion. It could mean the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership.
Reach Out with Email
Even your best customers might need a heads-up, so use Square’s customer engagement software to send a message about your event. For example, if you want to keep it small and intimate, you can specifically email your loyal customers. Or, if you want to cast a wider net, you can also send a message to casual and lapsed customers. Square automatically segments your customers into these three groups, so it’s easy to quickly target the right one.
Make it Social
Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or all of the above, use social media to raise awareness of (and excitement for) your event. Ask followers to comment if they’re coming and to tag their friends as an invite. Of course this isn’t meant to be used as a formal list of confirmed attendees, but instead as a way to create buzz. Create a hashtag for the event and keep tabs on who is posting about it. When they do, retweet, favorite, or comment on their pages that you’re psyched to see them.
Get on the Calendar Early
There’s no benefit to being fashionably late when it comes to planning a holiday event. Calendars fill up crazy-quick, and you don’t want to be the one that gets overlooked. So, a few weeks before the event, use Square’s email templates to send an announcement. Then, when you’re a few days out, send a reminder email.
Send a Thank-You Note
Gratitude makes an impression, so express your sincere thanks to all your attendees by sending a follow-up email thanking your guests a few days after the event. And while thank-you notes are nice, don’t add to your guests’ inboxes for nothing: Include a special discount in your message. Square Customer Engagement has a template for discounts, so expressing your gratitude is as easy as it is thoughtful. Touches like this have the added benefit of nurturing relationships with your customers, which may help turn them into regulars. Read more tips about how to get more repeat customers.
Make Friends
Before your guests leave, ask them if they’d like to share their contact information. You might already have their email address, but not their Twitter or Instagram handles. Connecting socially has immediate and future benefits: You can tag them in photos from the evening, and you can also reach out about future sales and events.
Learn More About Square
Square creates the tools businesses need to unlock the value of every sale. Square’s register service is a full point of sale with tools for every part of running a business, from accepting credit cards and tracking inventory to invoicing and real-time analytics.
