Make Money, Not Waste is an annual event - a one-day workshop, aimed at food and drink producers in the South West - to help them take practical steps to becoming more sustainable businesses, and enjoy the benefits that will bring. The event is run by a number of organisations, including the Environment Agency, South West Food & Drink, Taste of the West and Envirowise, and this is the fifth year the event has been run.
We were brought into the project by the South West Design Programme, to develop a communication strategy for the event. The objective for this project was simple: increase attendance. The two previous events had attendance figures in the 30's. They wanted 70+.
So what did we do to achieve this objective? Well, the first thing was to look at the budget and plan a strategy that was affordable. We identified four activities which we felt were key to achieving the project objective.
1: Develop an identity
Although the event has been running for five years, there has been no consistency to the communication of it. We felt that a distinct, memorable identity was key to raising the profile of the event - not just for this year, but future events too. We wanted to lay a stable foundation for long-term success of the event. The first element of the identity to be created was the name for this years event: Practical solutions for practical problems. The Make Money, Not Waste series has been built upon a reputation for top quality advice, from experts in their field, so we wanted the name to reflect the value of the event to delegates. With the name in place, we created a logo that is practical and flexible. It's easy to apply to print and digital material, and flexible enough that it can be updated annually, to maintain recognition, and capture the date and title of each event.
2: Create a web presence
As a joint event there was no unique online destination for event information. There was also no opportunity to book online either. With a limited budget - and time - it wasn't possible to create something bespoke, so we turned to Eventbrite, and solved both of our challenges in one move. The Eventbrite site gave us an online destination to direct enquiries to, and the opportunity to take online bookings. It was easy to set up the site and we were able to add the identity to it as well, so Make Money, Not Waste could really take ownership of the space.
3: Combined online and offline campaign
To spread our net as wide as possible we wanted to use as many communication channels as we could, within our budget. So to get everything started we sent out an A5 flyer (above), to work in tandem with the emails that would follow. We created a simple, bold message, to prompt - and then remind - people to act. This was reinforced by the online campaign...
4: Direct mail campaign
We identified raising the profile of the event as key to increasing attendance, so we developed a direct mail campaign, to target the contacts and members that each of the event partners had. There were two elements to this: online and offline. The online campaign consisted of three staged mailings, sent via email; one before Christmas and two in the New Year. The aim of this was for each mailing to nudge (busy) recipients closer to making a commitment, and booking.
And the result?
There were 82 bookings for the event, hitting the target, and doubling the attendance of the two previous events. Of those bookings, 75% were made via the Eventbrite site.
So with a firm visual foundation in place, we hope Make Money, Not Waste can build on the strategy we created and implemented and continue to grow next year!
If you'd like to talk about creating a communication strategy, and the potential benefit to your organisation, call 01392 248107 or email jonathan@alderandalder.co.uk
