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Around 9 a.m. on a summer Wednesday in 2019, Carlee and Garret Caster walked into FOUND Natural Goods, a boutique in Bend, Oregon that had been open for about a year, and set up a table. The couple was launching a new brand of coffee and with the help of FOUND’s owner Jacqueline Smith, was doing their first pop-up event. The goal: to attract new customers to both brands.
“But instead of trying to create buzz around an unknown coffee brand – also people hardly knew our shop at the time – we decided to piggyback on the Bend Farmers Market, which was happening right down the street from our store,” says Smith. “Free samples of coffee were offered with the opportunity to buy a cup on-site. The hope was that if people were drawn in by the coffee, they may want to buy something from FOUND, too.”
The pop-up was a smashing success. This year FOUND celebrates its sixth year in business and the coffee brand – Farewell Coffee Roasters – is sold at retailers nationwide.
The idea of collaborating with other local small businesses on events is one that the owners of 2 Dandelions Bookshop are intimately familiar. Located on Main Street in Brighton, Michgan, the shop regularly – almost weekly – collaborates with local business owners. For a recent event, the bookshop hosted story time with a focus on lollipops. Following the reading of the story, participants walked a few stores over to a candy shop and were given a tour.
“That one had a great turnout,” says Jeri Kay Thomas, the bookshop’s co-owner. “We’ve also done collaborations with Great Harvest Bread Company where the owners provide a tour of the bakery and explain how to make bread.”
There are many ways companies can host small-business events. Collaborations are popular because cross-promotion can be advantageous for all involved, but small businesses can also host stand-alone events inside their locations without outside business involvement.
Not sure how to pull off an event? Here are a few steps to consider from those in the know.
Step 1: Plan your event.
There are a lot of elements to business event planning, from thinking of an idea and defining objectives to setting a budget and choosing a date. Smith is a big fan of collaborations and recommends finding people who have similar goals around building their businesses.
Not sure where to find other small-business owners?
“Go to other events,” she suggests. “And start talking to the small-business owners in your area.”
“Events bring people in. They remember our space and later return.” —Kelly Blazo, event coordinator, 2 Dandelions Bookshop
Worried people won’t come to your event? Try to think of an event as planting a seed, rather than generating revenue right away.
“Events don’t bring in sales every time, but overall they do help with sales,” says Kelly Blazo, event coordinator at 2 Dandelions Bookshop. “Events bring people in. They remember our space and later return.”
Collaborations have worked well for the bookstore, says Thomas. “The community notices us making the effort,” she says. “They see us working together and that is really helpful.”
Step 2: Promote your event.
After sifting through your list of community event ideas and deciding on the winning concept, it’s time to promote. Blazo recommends entrepreneurs become proficient at creating graphics that correspond to each event.
“I had to get really good at using Canva,” she says. “It helps to just make it and put it out there so people know you have an event coming up.”
From there, Blazo posts regularly on social media to promote the event, and has learned to keep track of the types of posts that do well and and those that don’t. Then she doubles down on strategies that prove successful.
Not sure if you're a social media maven? When in doubt, hire someone, says Patti Mangan, executive director of the Fillmore Merchants Association in San Francisco.
“As a small-business owner, it can be very easy for me to put it off,” she says. “You have a lot of demands on your time and if you are going to do it, do it well. At the high end, hire an influencer to help you. At the lower end, hire someone who comes into your shop and loves your products. They can really help promote your business and upcoming events.”
Step 3: Run your event.
You’ve spent time on business event planning; now the day has come to host. One of the best things to keep in mind while your event is happening is to try to have fun and to remember that the energy you bring to your event can be contagious. The more positive you feel, the more positive your potential customers may feel, too.
Every Saturday at 11 a.m., 2 Dandelions Bookshop hosts a story time for kids. Often, Thomas will sit down with her co-owner Jeanne Blazo (the pair are both retired kindergarten teachers) and read a book together.
“We will perform it – back and forth,” Thomas says. “Everyone gets really into it.”
In addition to making sure your energy is positive, Smith recommends hiring a professional photographer to document the event.
“It is an added fee, but you gain so much for your brand,” she says. “I end up using the photos for social media, to promote my next event, on my website, on posters and flyers. If you decide to rent a venue for an event, I’ve found that a lot more people will be willing to say yes if they see a high level of marketing in your imagery.”
Step 4: Engage attendees after your event.
After our event, the next step is to continue engaging your audience. Both 2 Dandelions Bookshop’s Kelly Blazo and FOUND’s Smith are fans of email newsletters. You could send thank you emails to attendees and offer discounts as well as alert them to other upcoming events you're planning.
“One of the things a [clothing] store on Fillmore Street does is to send emails that announce new brand arrivals,” says Mangan. “This store has been on the street for 35 years and they do very well because they constantly communicate with their customers about new things that are coming, so clients feel like they are insiders.”
When it comes to business event planning, Thomas recommends documenting the data from every event and learning from it.
“We treat every event as a prototype,” she says. “It doesn’t need to be perfect. After every one, our staff will create a Google form that documents what we spent on promotion, what we paid for books, information about the weather that day, what else was happening in town, and our feelings about doing it again. It really helps to refer back to those forms. They will often inform our decisions moving forward.”
And if another entrepreneur comes to you with an idea for a collaboration? “Say yes,” recommends Blazo. “Just go with it. Be willing to try new things. It could open up a ton of possibilities for your business and your customers.”
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