Episode Details

Welcome to Episode 22 part 1 on maximizing your brand's presence at events! Here are the key points we've summarized from the transcription:

* _Community events_ like fairs and festivals offer perks such as *brand recognition*, *community involvement*, *in-person connections*, and *cost-effective participation*. Nonetheless, the challenges include being perceived solely as a vendor, committing high man hours, having superficial conversations, offering costly memorable giveaways, and lacking a connection to attendees.

* _Hosting your own event_ projects an aura of authority, lets you gather attendee contact information, and provides attendees an opportunity to personally engage with you. However, it demands thorough planning, staffing, and budgeting.

* _Virtual events_, like webinars, are cost-effective and have extensive reach. On the flip side, they are deprived of personal connection, so you need to up your game drastically to foster engagement.

* When attending community events, go all out with memorable interactive displays or takeaways. Remember, it's about *quality over quantity*.

* Craft creative, on-brand giveaways and touches that will stand out at events. Your goal should be to make attendees say "*wow!*".

* Utilize event speeches and videos to position yourself as an authority. Don't hesitate to hire production assistance if required.

* Make it a point to collect business cards and follow up with contacts post events. Add them to your email list.

* Optimizing social media for SEO with keywords can make your posts stand out. However, you should also incorporate relatable language to connect with your followers.

Stay tuned for more tips on how to enhance your brand's presence at events! Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe.

Msbizpod.podbean.com

www.facebook.com/MsBizPodcast

www.BoltzLegal.com

www.BoltzMedia.com

Full Episode Transcription: 

Rachel: Back to School Bashes, Trunk or Treats, webinars, we all have attended these events. But as business owners, events can take on a whole new meaning as they are an opportunity to increase visibility for your business and make connections within the community. In today's episode, we are gonna review the types of events as well as their pros and cons. Today's episode will be broken into two parts, so please be sure to listen to both. 

Brooke: When I first started my business, community events and Events in general were not a part of my marketing plan. But over the years, I have come to realize the benefit that they bring to building my business. And for today's podcast, I've categorized the events into three types and we're going to talk about the pros and cons of each. The first type of event we're talking about is community events. Events that you participate in as a sponsor or an attendee, where you set up a booth or a table and you're one of a number of vendors.

The second is events that you host yourself, that you are the, you put the event together, you are the host, you are the coordinator of the event. And third are virtual events. These are things like webinars and zoom calls that are virtual. So when you're if you're first starting out, the community or virtual events are probably going to be more appealing to you because there's a lower cost and less staff needed to assist in the planning and preparation and invitations. But if you're further along in your business, you really should be posting in-person events yourself, And we'll talk about the reasons why.

So Rachel, can you, and actually, Rachel is the first person who really encouraged me to start doing community events. I never wanted to do them because I just perceived them as I don't want to stand outside in the heat for six ho