For most businesses and professionals, not having enough budget with which to carry out ideas and campaigns is typically a pretty big gripe. However, you might occasionally find yourself in the enviable position of actually having money left over at the end of the financial year or quarter.
As an event marketer, what are the best ways to spend this money in order to avoid wasting it and potentially boost your revenues next year?
We have come up with some top ideas that you might like to try out – they might be better than squirreling your cash away for a rainy day!
1. Review your newsletter designs
If sending out newsletter is part of your long-term communication strategy, it may be time to review your newsletter design and see if they are generating the right traction from your audience. Having a few professionally designed email templates to aid your long term engagement is definitely worth it in the long run.
2. Clean up your database
Nowadays, people move on to new jobs in a much shorter span of time compared to the past. So having obsolete email addresses are a common thing. If your communication for your next event is a few months down the road, you could start the database cleansing exercise using a tool such as Briteverify, which allows you to validate and remove invalid email addresses, without sending a single email.
3. Purchase new resources
Adding to your company’s knowledge is always worthwhile, so why not invest your money into buying some resources you have had your eye on? For example, is there a new whitepaper that could give you fresh insights into your industry? Or a digital online library such as MarketingProfs, which gives you tons of digital training and industry updates. Subscribing to new event management software is another good option, as it could save you money in the long run (try negotiating a term contract for extra savings), and reduce resources if you find a platform to automate some of your existing manual processes.
4. Invest in your website
A good website is vital to make a positive first impression, so spare money could go towards revamping it. Having a responsive website that is mobile ready would definitely help your ticket sales for upcoming events.
5. Make your event venues more appealing
Great events will encourage delegates and visitors to return, so it pays to make a good impression. You could use your spare money to upgrade to a classier venue or a better location. From speaking to event venue owners, some of them have bookings as far as 2019, so if you are planning a large conference with huge space requirements, advance bookings is really important to secure your ideal event venue.
Check out 5 things to consider when selecting an event venue.
6. Secure a brand name keynote speaker
Having a brand name keynote speaker will definitely help to push ticket sales early. I for one would pay to hear Bill Clinton speak (though I see reports that his fees start from $500,000 onwards). So having a prominent keynote speaker using some of your leftover budget would be a good idea to push for next year’s results.
7. Pay next year’s travel costs
Gone are the days where leaving everything to the last minute was the best way to travel. Now, the early bird definitely catches the worm – and you could get some great deals on sending professionals to far-flung events to generate new event ideas by using your leftover budget to book early. And if you’re not sure about this, you could always cut out travel costs completely by paying for new video conferencing software, especially if there is a need to showcase or sell your events to overseas delegates, via webinars or 1-2-1 video conference.
If you know you need to speculate to accumulate, these could be the ideal ways to invest any leftover event marketing budget you happen to have lying around.
