Creating The Perfect Invite List For Your Next Event

As we roll into the summer, any field marketer worth their salt will be planning events—and lots of them. Previously, we’ve walked you through planning tips such as check-in strategies, cutting down on screen time at events and resources for guest security and safety. Today though, we’ll share tips for one of the most important steps in event planning: how do you decide who to invite to your next event? In addition to the suggestion that it’s worth it to do your research, we’ve got a number of strategies for you to try.

Remember why you’re having your event

The first step to deciding who to invite to your next event is to revisit why you’re hosting it in the first place. In our latest white paper, “The field marketer’s guide to events in 2018,” we suggest some possible reasons you might be hosting an event. These include:

• Acquisitions, like generating leads from new contacts and companies
• Nurturing and maintaining existing relationships with partners and clients
• Appreciation for current customers and partners
• Awareness of your brand, products and services
• Educating attendees about a specific aspect of business or strategy, such as, say, how to determine who to invite to your next event

Focusing on your event goals should make planning your invitees that much easier.

Curate your invite list

Once you’ve determined the why, you can move onto the “who.” As you plan your prospective invitees, use these steps to plan your attendance list:

• Determine the seniority level (C-Suite, Managerial, etc.) of your ideal guest
• Search your databases for contacts who fit this profile, and who match your target demographics and prospective markets
• Sort and prioritize this list, paying special attention to ones that have engaged with your sales team, interacted with your marketing materials and whether they’re current customers
• Share this list with your sales team, asking them to mark VIPs, brand ambassadors and check contact info accuracy

Once you’ve done all of this, you should have a pretty good idea of who to invite to your event. It never hurts to over-prepare for this stuff—it can save you a ton of time in the long run.

Looking for more tips on how to plan your next event in 2018? Check out our newest white paper, “The field marketer’s guide to events in 2018.“