Why Hosting IRL Events Should Be At The Top Of Your Business Development Strategy!

Publish Date :01 Jul,2022 - 9:27 AM

At Unlocked, planning In Real Life (IRL) events is at the heart of what we do. Over the last few years there’s been a rise in virtual events, and this has been catalysed by the pandemic and we do believe that hybrid is the future of events.When it comes to networking and building relationships however, you can’t beat a traditional IRL event.

Business Development is all about securing opportunities for your business whether that’s winning clients or strategic partnerships. We believe there’s no better way to secure these opportunities than through the power of IRL events, below are three reasons why!

People Buy From People

We’re sure you’ve heard it before, but it’s such a vital fact, people buy from people. If you’re giving someone some business or committing to a partnership deal, you want to do it with someone you know, trust and can hold accountable.

If a friend and a stranger were both pitching the same product to you and you could only give one of them the sale, who would it be…. The friend! It’s hard to build a strong relationship or event better a friendship with someone you’ve never met, or have only seen over a zoom call, so this is why you need to give you prospects the option of meeting you and your team in-person…. At an event you host! It’s the only way to get to know someone properly.

Further to this, building a strong relationship with your prospects and partners is crucial to long term business success. Attracting new customers to a business can cost five times that of obtaining repeat business. You want your customers to remember you so they keep coming back. You do this by relationship building and leaving a lasting impression. By meeting them in person and wowing them at your event.

Content, Content, Content

A business is most efficient when each team powers the other. One example of this is when an event organised for business development purposes also powers your marketing team. When you host an IRL event you need to make the most of it, and there’s so much content you can get out of it for your marketing team. You have content you can share on social channels on the night of the event, long form content you can share after the event, testimonials for your website you can obtain at the event, the list goes on and on.

One event trend that we love is the hosting of live podcasts, if your company has a podcast, why not record it live at an IRL event? This provides content for the event, gives the podcast a captive audience and promotes both the event and the podcast.

The Legacy

The final point is about the events legacy. Hosting an event isn’t just about what happens on the night. The return on investment can be felt for a long time after. To ensure a strong legacy and maximise your ROI make sure you do focus on the above point and gather lot’s of content.

One example of positive event legacy is when someone sees your event on social media or hears about it through word of mouth. They may wish they had attended your event so they reach out to your company to get on the next events guest list, they become a new lead, a warm one.

Two Venues to Power Your Business Development Strategy

Victorian Bath House

Situated in the City Of London, this venue is ideal for standing networking events of up to 150pax but also works perfectly for more intimate gatherings.

The heritage and quirks of this venue are sure to impress, leaving a great event legacy and providing lots of opportunities for social content.

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Skylight at Tobacco Dock

One of Skylights two London venues is based at Tobacco dock in east London and is the perfect entertaining hotspot, particularly for the summer months.

The venue boasts views of the City of London’s skyline and is sure to wow your guests, particularly those from outside of the city. Recently Unlocked hosted a group of our clients here and they where wholly impressed.

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At Unlocked we are pros when it comes to client entertainment and hosting events that power our clients business development strategies. We know of the best venues all over Europe that are sure to wow attendees, get in touch if you’d like some event inspiration and we can tell you exactly how to up your business development game through the power of In Real Life events.