Event planning is one of the fastest growing industries on the planet. Planning events can be a lucrative business, but it’s not for everyone. Many event planners find that they are doing too many events and do not have enough time to work on other aspects of their business, like selling services to new clients or maintaining relationships with current ones.
This guide will help you identify what it takes to scale an event planning business so you can make an informed decision about whether or not this industry is right for you.
What is Scalability and How Does it Affect My Business?
Scalability is the ability for your business to grow without having to devote more time and effort to it. If you are able to spend less time doing certain tasks in your business, then you can focus on growing it.
Scaling a business has many benefits, but it also comes with its own set of challenges. If you can scale your business the right way, you are much more likely to succeed and grow exponentially.
Winning more clients
This seems obvious, but to start with, you need to get more clients to scale your event business. If you are spending all of your time planning events for a few clients, then there is no way to grow. You need to find new clients and do the same amount of work as before but with more people.
Planning events for multiple clients takes up a lot of time because every client has different needs. To get around this issue, you should consider ways to improve the efficiency of your business. This may include using event management software to keep track of clients, creating templates for certain events so you can reuse them later if needed, and using online collaboration tools to work with your team.
Software options
Whether you’re an event manager or you run an event management business, one thing is for sure. Event planning software can help make your life a whole lot easier and your work more fun. Well, there are many software options out there for event planning, each providing a set of unique features and capabilities.
While most event planner tools will offer a ticketing solution, some provide other features like email confirmations, reminders, invoicing, order placement, and a whole lot more. Depending on your needs, you could also pick one that provides a venue management platform so you can stay abreast of events and attendees in real-time. From floor plans to client details, billings, and sales, you get to manage all the nitty-gritty of your events from a central location this way.
In a nutshell, some event planning software options may include the following:
- All-in-one event planning software like Whova
- Project management and collaboration tools like Slack, Trello,
- Event attendance trackers like Boomset
- Ticketing solutions like Eventbrite
- Video conferencing tools like zoom
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to increase your event business. In fact, according to a study by Forbes, social media posts that directly mention a brand or product result in up to three times more engagement than other types of posts. If you want people from all over town and beyond to know what you do, then social media is a great way to get the word out.
If you’re new to the world of social media marketing for your business, there are many things that you can do to improve its success rate. You should always post relevant content on Facebook and Twitter as well as Instagram so visitors will have interesting material.
Keep existing clients happy
As an event planning business, your success will heavily depend on the relationships you build with your clients over time. Happy and satisfied customers are more likely to come back to you when they need event planning services in the future. They are also more likely to refer your business to a friend, relative, colleague, or business with an upcoming event to organize.
Conclusion
While the event planning industry has been flourishing well over the years, competition is a common hurdle to such businesses. Moreover, most event organizing businesses took a great hit in 2020-2021 due to Covid-19 control measures. Fortunately, the above few tips could help you take your business to greater heights without spending a lot of time and resources.