The event or events you use to celebrate your company or non-profit anniversary may hold the key to the success of your anniversary marketing program.
What kind of an event you choose to do, where you choose to do it, and whom you invite to attend all are critical to the success of your event and your anniversary. Most important, why you choose to do what you do and how that is based on the marketing programs and needs of your organization will almost certainly determine the success of your anniversary marketing.
When we recently helped the College of Nursing at the University of Rhode Island celebrate "65 years of Preparing Nursing Leaders", we focused on the critical need for additional scholarship funds. The anniversary became not just about celebrating 65 years of achievement, but about the college and its plans to continue to meet the challenges of nursing education into the future.
Choose your event carefully
To choose the best event to celebrate your company's or organization's anniversary look at your overall marketing plan and at your audiences. For the College of Nursing we wanted to connect with as many of the graduates of the college across the country as we could, which we did through multiple channels and with further assistance from the University's Alumni Association.
Although there were several 65th anniversary events during the year, the main one was 'Denim 'N Diamonds', a gala event at which were would celebrate the college's history, reinforce existing relationships and create new ones within the medical community, lay the groundwork for future fundraising approaches, raise funds for student scholarships and, not incidentally demonstrate that the college is relevant and that its history has prepared it for its continuing leadership role in nursing.
This theme was chosen to pique interest, which it did, drawing comments as well as financial contributions from far and wide. The theme also suggested that the event would be fun for those able to attend and a buzz developed among those who were planning to attend, many from several hours distance.
Construct your committee with care
A planning committee not only spreads out the work, but also creates widespread commitment. Our committee was broadly based and included people in nursing, nursing education, a student, healthcare administration and business. The honorary chairs were asked to participate because of their visible positions in healthcare, but also because of their long-time support of nursing and nursing education, and the URI College of Nursing in particular, and because they were willing to commit both time and effort, as well as their good names, to the cause.
We created an event that allowed the maximum amount of interaction between our guests, while we fed and entertained them. People attend events to see and talk with others. Many events do their guests, and themselves, a disservice when they unintentionally isolate them by the event format.
The message was clear from the start
The first marketing message was the need for scholarships. These scholarship funds will help students pay for books and lab fees, sometimes even transportation costs to access clinical placements, all costs that are not usually covered by many scholarships available to students.
We created a pre-event buzz that carried over to the evening and got stronger as our guests arrived outfitted in denim and 'bling.' Nursing students greeted everyone at the door and staffed the silent auction tables so that guests could see and speak with some of the students who would benefit from their generosity. The speaking program was kept short and a brief video highlighted students who had received scholarship assistance, again allowing our guests to get up close and personal with the funding recipients.
Throughout the preparation for the event and during the evening itself, we never forgot our anniversary marketing imperative. The anniversary was not just about this one evening, not just about funding scholarships, and not just about having a good time.
Denim 'N Diamonds was about building relationships with donors, potential donors and others in the healthcare industry that would endure. This evening was about continuing to harness the broad-based support necessary for the College of Nursing to continue to do an outstanding job of preparing nursing leaders, as it has done for the past 65 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment