Retail Marketing With Events - Sell Tickets For Curated Events, Create Buzz And Drive Engagement With Customer

Shopify’s Experiences App lets you sell tickets  for curated events and experiences

If you are looking at taking your marketing efforts to the next level, Shopify’s got just the perfect option for you. People are always looking for out-of-the-box, unconventional and unique experiences. For this, Shopify offers the Experiences app, where you can sell tickets for curated events and provide customers with an immersive, memorable experience. And in doing this, you can promote your brand and enhance your brand’s image.

Retail marketing with events is not an alien concept, and many brands like Chanel, are investing in providing the customers with a wholesome experience, while marketing and promoting their product. Chanel hosted a launch party, in which they invited all their loyal customers. The experience hosted by the pop up store for the brand in London also involved workshops where customers got a chance to go behind the making of the fragrance.

You can also create a top notch event for your retail brand. In order to derive the maximum potential out of the marketing strategy for the brand, you may follow a few steps we have put together for you to throw an amazing event for your customers.

Pick A Date

In order to ensure that your event is successful and helps you in achieving your goal of marketing your brand, you should first a pick a date. This one is a no brainer, yet, it shouldn’t be passed off as a decision of lesser priority. You need to pick a date on which you will be hosting your event. While picking a date, you need to keep a few things in mind, such as the time you will be needing to prepare for the event and also if any holidays and festivals are falling around the period during which you wish to host your event.

Which Type Of Event Do You Wish To Host?

What kind of event do you want to host? What should be the theme of the event?

Since you are using such events to promote your brand and market your products, you should first decide on the type of event that you want to host at your store. Like Chanel, you could host a launch party for a new product too. Depending upon your niche market and products, you can decide on the type of event that you want to host for the event.

Christmas Events In Retail Stores Are Very Common Crowd Pullers, Especially Families

Unique, informative and immersive experiences never fail to impress your customers. And if you add freebies, then it packs a total punch for the customers. You can go for specially curated events with activities and games through which you get all the customers involved. You can also partner with other businesses and host pop ups at your store.

Another way to promote your products could be to host activities where your customers can actually get to learn to use your products in different ways. You can also bring celebrities, micro influencers and even subject matter experts on board to host workshops and/or activities.

There are so many options out there and you can pick any one or combine two or more to host a top notch event at your store.

Plan Out Your Budget

When you are hosting an event, it goes without saying, that you will have to plan out your budget to make sure that your event is well orchestrated.  You should make a list of all the supplies and equipments, vendors and experts’ fees, food and beverage expenses etc. that will go into executing the event. Once you arrive at a sum, you may tweak the budget by additional 10-20% for last minute expenses and other expenses.

Make All The Necessary Preparations

Once you have your budget in place, you need to make a list of all the things you need to do ahead of the event. Depending upon the scale of the event, it can take days, weeks or even months, for you to prepare the event. Get final confirmations from your hosts or guests ahead of the event, bring all the props and equipment, decoration banners etc. that you will be needing for the event. Making all the preparations ahead of the event will help you create a memorable event for your customers.

Build Buzz Around The Event

You can build buzz around the event through online as well as offline channels. You can start with circulating the event information across different social media channels. You can start circulating flyers days, weeks or months ahead of the event. The longer the period for promotions and publicity, the better the reach of your message. You should also take to radio and newspapers to build anticipation ahead of the event for best results.

Go Live On Shopify’s Experiences App

If you want to make the most of the retail marketing event, you should sell tickets via Shopify’s Experiences app. With this app, you can host classes, tours, events or experiences seamlessly. The tool has been designed to provide a great booking experience to your customers and has robust date and time features which update automatically with each customer booking. Moreover, through this app your customers will get an automated reminder a day ahead of the event, making sure that  most of your customers will turn up!