There’s no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of disruption in the world. Thankfully, there’s now a light at the end of the tunnel with various vaccines getting rolled out across the globe to stop the spread of the disease.
One of the problems that COVID-19 has caused to the business world was the need for non-essential retail and business services to close temporarily. Part of that requirement included closing venues for corporate events, weddings, seminars, and so forth.
rvices begin to resume operations, venue owners are undoubtedly keen to make up for lost time and revenue by encouraging bookings from individuals and businesses alike.
You’re likely reading this article today because you own a venue that typically holds events like corporate meetings and seminars, weddings and receptions, conferences, and other personal and business get-togethers.
Plus, you also want to know how you can turbocharge your marketing efforts and have a fully booked diary to help you recover from the financial downturn caused by COVID-19. With that in mind, take a look at these excellent examples to showcase your venue.
Update Your Venue Photography
Most individuals and corporate clients will typically decide to choose your venue for their events after browsing through your website and looking at some photographs of your facilities.
As you can appreciate, photographs are an excellent way to market your venue because it gives potential clients an insight into the size, look, and feel of your premises. When was the last time you updated your venue photography?
If you can’t remember or it’s been a long time, the first task you should carry out is to have new photographs taken. It pays to hire a professional photographer to do the work for you, especially one that predominately works with business clients.
Using the right camera, accessories and software, they can ensure your venue looks stunning and inviting to anyone looking for a suitable location for their event. One thing you should never do is take the photographs yourself.
Why? The answer is simple: you need someone that makes a living from creating digital masterpieces with their camera. Hiring a professional photographer isn’t just an expense; it’s an investment to help you grow your business.
If you’re unsure which photographer to hire, here are some top tips to help you choose the right one:
- Make a shortlist of local photographers;
- View their websites and take a look at past examples of their work for reference;
- Contact some of their previous clients to verify their work;
- Narrow down your selection to the ones that offer value for money and appear professional and courteous to your requirements.
Offer Value-Added Services
Your venue and perhaps its location as well are undoubtedly the main selling points to potential clients. However, are you offering any value-added services – maybe ones that you can offer those clients as packaged deals?
If the answer’s no, now’s the time to change that. Many individuals and corporate clients choose venues partly because of the size and look of the place but also because they can enhance their bookings with value-added services.
The following are some examples of what you could offer to all your clients – if you aren’t already doing so:
Aerial Photography
One unique way to draw people to your venue is by offering aerial photography as a value-added service. You might think such a service would only be helpful for wedding reception bookings, but they’re also great for corporate events.
You could hire an aerial photographer to provide such services, or you could invest in technology like a DJI Mini 2 drone from DrDrone, for example. Few venues offer aerial photography; here’s your chance to use that to your advantage!
Live Music
Do you only provide the venue itself for hire? If so, value-added services like live music can enhance what you offer to your clients. It’s worth researching some local bands and keeping their contact details for when you need live music for a future event.
Many of your clients will appreciate offering such a service, as it’s one less thing for them to arrange.
Outdoor Marquee Hire
Some of your competitors might already offer outdoor marquee hire as an add-on service to their clients, so it’s not something that will be unique to your venue. However, the reason to offer it is many people will want shelter outdoors – especially during a hot summer’s day.
Wedding receptions are most likely the types of clients to request outdoor marquee hire, but you’ll find some corporate clients may also be interested in that service.
Videography
A videographer is someone you pay to take professional video footage of an event and create a cinematic story experience. Videography is another valuable and even essential service and one that personal and corporate clients alike will happily pay to have.
Photography is undoubtedly an excellent way of capturing what happens at an event. But, a video of the time will be even more valuable to your clients.
If you have experience creating professional videos in a previous career, it might make sense to carry out the videography work yourself. In such cases, it pays to invest in premium equipment like the Fujifilm X-T4 from National Camera Exchange.
Specialist Catering
You may already offer catering from a set menu to your venue clients. However, what happens when there are clients with guests that have specific dietary needs? When you run a venue, it’s crucial to be inclusive to everyone that attends.
With that in mind, you should look at how you can offer specialist catering. It could make sense to work with a caterer that provides specialist catering as standard. That way, you can easily accommodate all catering requests from your clients.
Your venue should also have appropriate storage facilities for fresh and frozen food, alongside storage space for canned or long-life goods.
Create a Virtual Tour
When people visit your website, they will usually look through a gallery of photographs that shows why clients love booking your venue for their events. Did you know you could go one step further and offer a virtual tour 24/7 via your website?
Services like RoundMe enable you to create 360-degree virtual reality and panoramic tours of any location. Such services are simple to use and offer “drag and drop” interactivity, meaning you can use professional photographs to create 360-degree tours easily.
Virtual tours work inside all modern web browsers, so your website visitors don’t need to download any special software or apps to view the content. As you can imagine, virtual tours are helpful when it’s not possible to visit a venue in person.
Host Your Own Events
Last but not least, you should consider hosting your own events to draw crowds of potential clients to your venue. The question is, what types of events should you be hosting? The following are a couple of examples for inspiration:
Open Days
An open day gives the public a chance to walk around your venue and determine its suitability for future events. It also enables visitors to ask you questions in person and even offer special discounts only available to people that attend your open days!
Networking Events
You could join forces with a local networking group to offer networking events to the business community. Networking events are an excellent way to market your venue without even trying, as business leaders are part of your target audience.
Hopefully, this blog post has given you some inspiration on how to promote your venue post-pandemic and restore your revenue to its previous levels.