As events and shows begin to fill our calendars again, there is a growing trend towards micro-events in 2022. These smaller, more intimate events allow brands to engage consumers on a more personal level, influence and ultimately shape perceptions of their business and or products.
For brands, big and small, there are immense benefits to taking part in or hosting a micro event. Providing a highly personalised experience, consumers can familiarise themselves with a brand and people whilst trialling or learning more about its products and services. So while the size of the event may be smaller, the experience and results can be great.
Here are 5 ways your brand can benefit from micro-events:
Show Your Authenticity: Do things differently
Post-pandemic, brands need to be more authentic with their audiences and understand that their business model is no longer B2C or B2B, it’s H2H – human to human. Given the intimate nature of micro-events, businesses can truly bear all and allow their audiences to meet and connect with their people and mission. For some brands, this could be in the form of a morning tea or a Q&A, while for others it could be a series of events each with a targeted message to various audience segments.
Macro to Micro: Events within an event
If your brand is participating in a larger exhibition or show this year, take the opportunity to develop a variety of mini activations such as workshops, side games and networking opportunities at your display or brand space. Incorporating this micro format provides a powerful opportunity to directly connect with your niche and specific audience.
Bringing interactive activities and entertainment into your micro event is a fantastic way to excite and engage your audience. There are plenty of ways to provide a unique experience that entices an audience to interact with your brand and people, from live entertainment and cocktail hours to augmented reality and gift bags.
Best of Both: On and offline
Meeting the needs of your target audience is essential, and in a post-covid world, that means inviting guests to participate in your in-person event or delivering an experience to their home or workplace.
Face-to-face events are fantastic for leveraging all 5 senses – ensure your event is thrilling to look at, listen to and entices visitors to touch, feel, smell and trial. In the digital space, it is equally as important to provide high-quality and engaging content for the audience to consume. This may take the form of a workshop, a webinar, creating polls on social media for the audience to interact with during the event, or even a virtual music festival, which is one of the more popular mediums for micro-events.
Budget-Friendly: Say yes to smart spending
The last two years have been challenging for us all. For some, the 2022 events budget may be a little less than we’re used to. Fortunately, one of the advantages of micro-events is that given the reduced size and scope of the production, the costs are considerably less than typical or larger events and activations.
As micro events are small-scale and cost-effective, it gives organisers the room to put their money towards other features that could boost the return on investment (ROI). A recent study conducted by Enterprise Event Marketing outlined that implementing technology into your micro-event can increase attendance by 20%, increase productivity by 27%, and reduce related costs by up to 30%.
Keep the production expenses to a minimum by partnering with a full-service supplier that handles everything. DisplayWise offers a complete in-house turnkey solution for clients including start to finish project management, industrial design, printing & graphics, production, logistics, warehousing and operations.
Trial Run: Test and learn
With organisers and attendees potentially still hesitant about attending a large-scale event, the micro event model provides the perfect opportunity for both to test the waters and regain their confidence in the industry. For brands, conducting a micro event can act as a trial run whereby they test and learn how the audience responds to and engages with their products or service. If successful at this level, they may decide to grow this event into a larger scale or potentially role out to host more events that span over multiple locations or dates.
Micro events will be a popular choice in the years for brands looking to launch a new product or campaign. We foresee there will likely be hundreds, if not thousands, filling our calendars in the year ahead.
If you’re looking to excite, engage and WOW your customers at your next event, contact us today.
