Marketing Managers - Why Bother Organizing Your Own Events?

Marketing managers may find it more effective to organize their own marketing events. When you do it yourself, rather than hiring an event planner, you have more control, and you more clearly see how effective your event was. Organizing your own event allows you to identify what works and what doesn't, better gauge the impact on clients and guests, and better coordinate your event with your overall marketing strategy.

1. Control is an important issue for managers in general. When planning a marketing event, a marketing manager makes all the decisions. They don't have to wait for contractors or service people to get an answer for them. They are in direct communication with all service providers and can better coordinate the event planning process.

2. Organizing your own marketing event also saves money. Saving the cost of a professional planner allows you to invest more in the facility, the decorations and accessories, and in your entertainment or speakers. You may even want to reinvest your savings into other areas of your marketing strategy.

3. It's much easier to make changes when you organize your own marketing event. If you've signed a contract with an event planner, you're tied into the agreements you made with them. When you are the event planner, you have greater flexibility to make adjustments in your schedule, furnishings, entertainment, and food and beverages. You can respond more quickly than can a contracted service to changing conditions and requirements.

4. You have "creative" control over the event. Often, event planners interject their opinions and tastes into the event. These may not reflect your company's policies or image. When you plan the role of organizer, you can rest assured that your organization's goals will be reflected in every aspect of your marketing event.

5. When you organize your own marketing event, you can create and place advertising that reflects your company's message and intent. Leaving that task to a professional event planner may result in mixed or confusing messages that do not support your organization's goals. The consequences of possible miscommunications like this are lost revenues and bad feelings.

6. When you are the event planner, you have the reassurance of knowing that everything is being done properly. Even when you hire a professional event planner, you are still responsible for the results, and you are the one who is accountable to your stockholders and senior management team. Organizing your own marketing event is a form of career control - you protect your status in the organization by making sure everything works as it's supposed to work. Be aware, though, that failures are YOUR failures. You can't blame the professional event planner for your mistakes.

7. As the manager and event organizer, you can chose to delegate as much or as little of the work to your subordinates. You can assign minute details to your staff and reserve the serious decision-making for yourself. Since they report to you, you will still know the exact status of every activity taking place to make the marketing event a huge success. You won't have to "trust" the professional event planner who assures you that everything's all right. You will know it's all right.

8. One popular theme in business today is "no surprises." When you organize your own marketing event, there will be no surprises. Of course, in an event, there will be last-minute changes and the momentary crisis. But as the event planner, you will be in a position to learn of problems immediately and resolve them quickly. You will also be able to communicate with your stockholders or senior management team about problems from an informed, assured position. You won't have to depend on the promises of a professional event planner who is, in the end, not accountable to you except through a contract.

9. Being able to adjust your spending to meet contingencies and changing requirements is the final, but not least important, reason you should manage your own marketing events. When you contract out every aspect of the event, your budget is committed to specific purposes. Whether you under- or over-utilize a particular service is irrelevant. You've made the agreement to pay a specified amount. When you are the event planner, you have more flexibility to shift funds from one area to another.

Deciding whether to organize your own marketing event is not easy. You already have a mountain of responsibilities in your role as marketing manager. This article summarizes for you some of the advantages of doing it yourself. Hopefully, it will make your decision-making easier and help you produce a better marketing event.