By Kerrie Ann Luginbill
Working for a Marketing Agency that happens to plan events means constantly coming up with new and creative ways to market to consumers, and while in many cases we have gone “paperless” – we have definitely not gone “printless,” especially when it comes to our events.
Mantooth Marketing Company plans and executes more than 25 events annually, but as a marketing company, our approach to event planning is more than logistics and food choices. We try to push every event to the next level by adding the little things that make a big difference and in many cases, this involves print materials.
Whether it is a fundraiser, Grand Opening or Business After Hours event, there are always ways to make your guests and those supporting your organization feel like you have put that little bit of extra effort into making sure they have the best time possible.
Here are some fun ways to incorporate print materials into your next event while adding to the “wow” factor:
Create ambiance with oversized foamcore mounted posters.
For example, Mantooth recently assisted with the
Ed Carroll Motor Company Business After Hours event, the unveiling of the new Porsche Cayman. Along with the typical décor, we also printed out large foamcore mounted posters of images of the Porsche Cayman. We used these to not only decorate the more plain parts of the showroom, but to give away on Facebook after the event to Porsche lovers!
Mounted posters in the windows of the Ed Carroll Motor Company Porsche showroom at the Business After Hours Event on April 25, 2013.
Thank your sponsors and supporters
In many cases, if you are a organization that is hosting a fundraiser or awareness event, your sponsors are supporting you because they believe in your mission. However, to ensure that they will come back year after year it is important to recognize them prominently at your event.
Poster from the Houska Tire & Oil Grand Opening party on April 5, 2013, thanking all of the businesses and vendors that donated door prizes.
Step outside of the box… and repeat!
Step and repeats are the party favor that never gets old. Turn any event into something more memorable by creating a custom step and repeat and fun signs and then encourage your guests to get a fun photo that you can later post on Facebook, taking an offline experience and bringing it online.
This is a step and repeat that Cornerstone Mortgage has and this picture was taken at the “A Taste of Referral Mastery with Michael Maher” presentation that they held at the Embassy Suites in Loveland on April 17, 2013.
Now, this might not be as creative, but every business should have at least one quality banner.
Whether you are hosting an event or supporting an event, you want to make sure everyone knows your business! In most cases, for a small fee, any hotel hosting an event will hang banners along the walls for you. If you are at an outdoor event, banners can be hung along fences or on items of interest (like the example below of the
Big O Tires in Loveland banner hanging on the sponsored ice sculpture from
Snow Sculpture in the Dark 2013 in Loveland).
Keep hidden rooms hidden. When hosting a Grand Opening or After Hours event at your place of business – we know there are going to be off-limits rooms, and sometimes those rooms have windows.
Take advantage of the wall and window space and come up with creative posters and print-items that you can decorate these windows with to keep onlookers, well, looking on. It always helps to have a theme, and these fun photos are from the prohibition themed
Houska Tire & Oil Grand Opening.
Kerrie Ann Luginbill is the Social Media Director and Marketing Manager at Mantooth Marketing Company. She can be reached at kerrie@mantoothcompany.com.