Modern-day branding efforts can feel a little remote. Think of an app icon, social media post, or the intro screen on a website. It looks slick, but how much does it truly tell us about the company behind the image?

Events, on the other hand, are a different story. A chance to return to a more traditional networking world – face to-face, shaking hands, making connections and getting noticed.

So, event branding is probably one of the most important tasks you have when it comes to marketing your company. This guide will provide practical tips for transforming your event branding into a memorable experience.

What Is Event Branding?

When you run an event, you want it to be memorable for all the right reasons. Most importantly, you want people to recall your company’s name and what you do.

That’s the power of effective branding. It gives your event a unique identity, so it goes far beyond the generic events your attendees might have been to in the past.

Good event branding is a process that requires extensive planning, marketing savvy, and research into the target audience for the event.

The branding must contain a key message – a takeaway that attendees will remember when they leave. Good event branding also creates an impression on people.

It means creating a distinct atmosphere at the event. You’ll connect emotionally with your guests when you get that right.

How to Set the Right Tone

The first step to event planning is setting the tone. Consider choosing a theme to help strengthen your brand message and event purpose. When creating this theme, choose some striking visuals and graphic designs.

You may want to use your corporate brand colour scheme, but choosing alternative colours is worth it if you need a bolder image. Choose a tagline for your event and make it catchy.

Ensure your event design has this consistent branding throughout to provide a more immersive experience.

That means branded invitations, banners and a website. You can also add branded designs, like personalised mugs and stationery, for a finishing touch.

Take Time With the Decor

The decor can make or break an event. It’s the perfect opportunity to showcase your brand, so take the time to perfect it.

The scenery should feel appropriate for the style of the event but should accurately reflect your branding. If your event is high profile, you may want the help of an interior designer to get this balance right.

Visit the venue before the big day to note any minor details that need decoration, like backdrops and lighting. Look at entrances and exits for the event, too.

Decoration at these points will help you make a bold first impression and leave a lasting memory when the event finishes. The best decor does more than create a stylish design. It tells a story about your brand and event.

Choosing the Right Audio and Visual

If you have audio and visuals at your event, remember that this forms a central part of your branding. When the lights dim and a hush descends, the experience should feel seamless from an aesthetic point of view.

That means professional video production and a straightforward design for all your visual and audio elements. They should fit with the theme and the tone of your event.

Remember about other additions that will help make an impact, such as intelligent lighting features and digital displays. You could also offer high-tech experiences at your event, like virtual reality.

Whenever you use technology to make your event branding stand out, always ensure you test it before the day.

Achieving Brand Consistency

The best branding is consistent. That’s what makes a brand memorable. For your event to make an impact, you must review all aspects of your branding to ensure a seamless design.

That’s crucial if you use different sources to produce event material, like digital content and invitations.

Use brand guidelines to ensure each supplier delivers something to the same high standard, with uniform logos, colours and taglines.

Double-check your branding before the event to spot potential issues, and be meticulous in your approach. After all, attention to detail matters with branding.

And make sure that when using your brand on items in your event, it’s big and bold enough to be instantly recognisable. Professional events aren’t a place to be subtle. They are there to win the hearts and minds of potential customers.

Remember to Personalise Your Event

While consistent branding might be vital, that doesn’t mean everything about your event must be uniform. There is much you can do to personalise the experience for everyone attending.

The best way to personalise your event is to run a survey before the big day. That will help you understand your target audience, allow you to segment them, and create customised branded material for each guest.

For example, you could offer personalised branded mugs as a parting gift when the event finishes. You could also add custom-guided content for the event and present this either in brochure form or via an app.

It makes your event feel more inclusive, and your guests will feel special. They’ll value the attention to detail, which can go a long way to building loyalty for your brand.

Event Branding Ideas for the Digital Age

Branding at your event should extend beyond the physical and into the new digital world. That means focusing on branding for your apps, social media, and website.

If you have created a logo for your event, ensure you feature that on your website. Include it on your social media headers in the weeks leading up to the event date, too.

It will help generate a buzz.

Create branded promotional assets that you can showcase online to help boost attendance for the event. You could also pay for advertising to ensure the event is fully booked.

Make sure these efforts are fully integrated and appear seamless.

When your audience sees your event promoted across different platforms over many weeks, they will feel an irresistible pull to learn more and book their place. It will seem unmissable.

Branding and Event Sponsors

If your event includes sponsors, consider aligning your brand with the other businesses that will provide support.

You can create something harmonious and don’t feel limited to showcasing a row of corporate logos. Instead, think about an overarching theme that covers your event’s purpose and the people acting as sponsors.

For example, you could talk about a core mission shared by all partners and sponsors they want to achieve from the event.

Post Event: The Importance of Feedback

Your event is unlikely a one-off, so you must focus on what to change for next time. Feedback is crucial here. When the event finishes, it’s time to determine what your guests thought and whether your branding was effective.

There are a few ways you can do that. You can run a live poll during the event and find out if your guests grasped the core message you were trying to convey.

Or you can run a private survey afterwards, allowing people time to reflect on the event and give you more detailed feedback on the positives and negatives.

This approach also helps you understand if your brand had a lasting impact or if your marketing ideas got lost when your guests departed the venue.

Social media is also helpful for feedback, as guests may write messages and comments online to talk about their experiences. You can aggregate this information to find trends in people’s opinions.

Post Event: Continuing Your Branding Efforts

Remember that your branding doesn’t stop when your event finishes. You could consider the event a beginning. Perhaps it’s a product launch or a new era for your company.

So, think about some branding ideas that will remain after the day. For example, you could hand out swag bags with branded goods from the event.

Items like coffee mugs or branded stationery will stay in guests’ offices for months or years after the event, giving your branding an extra lease of life. Use digital platforms to extend the impact of your event, too.

You could create a digital recording from the day and show it online. Or produce some insights as an event outcome, like an industry report.

The Future of Event Branding: Emerging Trends

To keep your events fresh and your brand modern, always look at trends you can adopt.

For example, augmented reality is becoming more fashionable at events, so consider whether this is a valuable way to showcase your brand.

AI and analytics technology are also making it easier to personalise events, so you can use that as a starting point for ideas on making your event feel custom for each attendee.

Consider other broader trends, too, like sustainability. Make sure your event is as eco-conscious as your guests expect.

Making an Impact When It Matters

Whatever event you plan for your business, making an impact is crucial. Events take time and money, and your event branding should be bold enough so guests remember the day and your company for months after.

Get the small details right by ordering our branded mugs for your next event. Contact us today for your no obligation quote.