Can you imagine a popular events blog or magazine without any photographs? Wouldn’t happen, right? The event industry is sensory-driven, and in particular, is highly visual. Think of the money that is spent on design services, linens, florals, and rental pieces to give an event the right “look.”
It makes sense, then, that the quality of your visual marketing would impact your company’s bottom line. Securing bookings and extending profits through upsales is dependent upon inspiring your clients’ imaginations, something that is most easily achieved through high quality visual marketing.
First impressions
The moment a prospective client walks into your office for an initial consultation, you are being judged, so take advantage of the opportunity to capture their interest visually. In our offices, we have large canvasses of our best work, not only on our main walls, but even in the bathrooms! We show a looped slideshow of our latest work, and hand each client an iPad when they arrive, so they can review our most recent work.
Feature quality images
Outdated, blurry, poorly-lit, or badly composed images can damage your company’s appearance and jeopardize bookings or sales. One of the first rules of marketing is to project what you want to attract. It is better to feature fewer high quality images on your website, in your print materials or in your offices than to put tons of low-quality images out there for prospects to find.
Make a point after each of your best events to connect with the photographer, if one was hired, and request photos to use in your portfolio. In exchange, offer to send referrals to the photographer for future events (and follow through). Incorporate this into your regular event routine so images will be available when you need them and with no delay.
Make your visual marketing easy to find
In order for even the best images to convert to sales, prospective clients have to find them. Promote your work visually through social media. There are many platforms, and each one has its following, so ensure you take advantage of as many as you can possibly manage. Pinterest and Instagram are a must for event companies. Twitter and Facebook are also popular in certain demographics, so it is worth learning to use all of them effectively to promote your work.
Take a look at your visual marketing. What does it say about you and your company? If the message that you want to send isn’t getting through, there is no better time to make changes and update your look than now. Get started today!
Opening photo courtesy Don Mears Photography
