How to get businesses to book corporate events at your venue

Corporate events can add a significant chunk to your revenue if you get it right. But how do you go about getting corporate organisations to book your venue? And how do you keep them coming back time and again after they’ve booked it?

This is especially important in the run-up to Christmas, as there are loads of companies planning entertainment for staff. (check out the Skiddle Christmas Party for example – it’s an open invite!).

After carrying out a quick survey with a number of event managers, we’ve detailed the things we’ve found out!

Make your existing customers corporate brand champions

The organiser of a company event will usually speak to staff internally to see what the the team wants to do. As your existing customers will work in the local area, these are the best people to give their company recommendations.

Plan ahead. Get posters printed up in your venue letting people know they can use the venue for corporate events ASAP. Better still, get some flyers made up as well. Your event goers might be tempted to take them back to their events team as a suggestion.

If you’ve got some regulars that you’ve developed a relationship with, ask them if their company arranges corporate events. If they do, make sure to get the contact details of the right person and get in touch with them.

Target corporate event managers with special offers

We all like to feel we’re getting something offered directly to us, corporate or not. So, you should consider what you can give away as part of a package. The package should be low value to you but could have higher value to them. Think of things such as discounted drinks, canapes, or free travel to and from the venue.

These little gifts that the other competitors won’t be doing will keep corporate clients coming back in the future. People enjoy being made to feel special and will keep coming back repeatedly if you make them feel as such.

Know your target audience

So you’ve got to think about the types of people you are targeting. If you’re targeting a large company then you’ll be looking at targeting corporate event managers. However, a lot of companies won’t have a dedicated organiser of events. Many events will be organised by the companies marketing department (probably by a junior) or by a PA.

When thinking about writing copy, you need to understand that corporate organisers are usually booking on behalf of someone else. If they make the wrong choice, they’ll probably be in trouble. So, give them a lot of information to put their mind at ease, specifically in answering their questions. Testimonials from other people in their position could help in doing this.

LinkedIn is your new best friend: find local event professionals easily

You can target people by company, by area and by job type really effectively on LinkedIn. Just do a search and start getting in touch. If you use the paid version you can contact them more easily. However, you can use the free version of LinkedIn to find people. If you can’t connect with them there and then, simply search for them on Google.

Start using these names to build up a database of local professionals that you can target – then contact them!

Remember, you can also use Skiddle to promote corporate nights out at Christmas time and sell tickets online. Corporations are often looking for a predefined events, so set up an event using Skiddle’s Promotion Centre (remembering to put keywords like Christmas Party or Christmas Parties in the title with the details of the entertainment you can offer) and you’re bound to be pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest you’ll get.

We’ve covered more general event promotion tips in our blog so if you’re interested in boosting your listings make sure you check it out.

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About Skiddle

Skiddle is currently the UK’s biggest What’s On guide, providing a free facility for event promoters across the UK to list their events online and sell tickets through our independent ticketing service. We currently work with over 35,000 UK and European promoters, at over 30,000 venues. We specialise in helping events through that critical growing phase by providing the marketing and technology support that you need. Start listing your events today!