Market Research in Event Planning

Market Research

Before organizing an event, find out whether there is a market (i.e. audience) for your intended event or not. For e.g. you want to organize a fashion show in Oman. If people there have little or no interest in fashion shows, then it is not a good idea to organize such event there. The event will fail for sure.

Market Analysis

If there is a market for your intended event, then do market analysis. Market Analysis means finding information about your target audience. Find out who are your target audience i.e. there age group, sex, qualification, profession, knowledge level, income, status, likings, disliking, personality, customs, traditions, religion, lifestyle etc.
Knowing your target audience's customs, traditions and religion is very important so that we don’t hurt there customs and religion unknowingly through our event. For e.g. if you organize a Hindu wedding and serve beef there, then u will be in mortal danger as cow is considered as a sacred animal in Hindu religion. Similarly serving pork in a Muslim function can bring havoc. Find out where majority of your target audience live so that you can direct your marketing efforts towards them.
There is no point in advertising across US if your target audience belongs only to New Jersey. In this way you can cut down your advertising and marketing cost tremendously. Find out what are the desires and expectations of target audience from your intended event. Find out when (i.e. date and time) and where (i.e. venue) they want the intended event to take place .For this you will have to do survey. All this information will help you in developing a better event plan.

Competitors' Analysis

It means finding information about your competitors. Find out who are your competitors .i.e. their age, sex, qualifications, knowledge level, experience in organizing events, turnover, market value, PR (media and corporate contacts) and market share.
Find out how they promote and execute there events. What they do in there events? Why people come to there events? For this you will have to attend each and every event organized by your competitors and then create an event report. The event report will contain things like

• - seating and light arrangements
• - promotional materials used
• - blueprint of the whole venue
• - program and food menu
• - contact details of sponsors, partners, clients (for whom the event is organized)
• - service providers like DJs, Anchors, Make up artist, Performers, photographers, videographers, decorator, florist etc.

Find out as much information as possible about events organized by your competitors.

SWOT Analysis in Event Planning

Products/Services Research

If you are organizing a corporate event then it is necessary for you as an event manager to do research of the products/ services promoted and sold by your corporate client.

• - Find out how the company promotes its products
• - How the company wants to build/enhance the image associated with its product (also known as the brand image)?
• - What is the market value and market share of the company and its products?
• - Who are the customers of the product?
• - What are the features of the product?
• - What are the advantages and disadvantages of the product in comparison to competitors' products?

All this research will later help you in making an effecting promotional campaign for your corporate event.

SWOT Analysis

In SWOT Analysis:

'S' stands for Strengths
'W' stands for Weaknesses
'O' stands for Opportunities
'T' stands for Threats

It is a strategic planning tool which is used to identify and analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in your project. SWOT analysis can also be done on your organization.
Strengths:
These are the attributes of your project/organization which are helpful in achieving project's objectives. For e.g.: experienced event team, high motivation level, excellent PR, good market share etc.
Weaknesses:
These are those attributes of your project/organization which are harmful in achieving project's objectives. For e.g.: social loafing, lack of funds, inexperienced event team, low energy level, lack of media and corporate contacts etc.
Opportunities:
These are those external factors which are helpful in achieving the project's objectives. For e.g.: little competition, favorable economic conditions, support from the local authorities, availability of the state of the art infrastructure etc.
Threats:
These are those external factors which are harmful in achieving the project's objectives. For e.g.: high competition, little or no support from local authorities, bad weather, poor infrastructure, high lab our rate, unavailability of raw material etc. It is very important that you conduct SWOT analysis before developing an event plan to develop a strategy which maximizes the potential of strengths and opportunities of your project and at the same time, minimizes the impact of the weaknesses and threats.

Analysis Report

After conducting market, competitors, product/service research and SWOT analysis, create a report which contain details of all the research work done by you. Documentation of your research work is important, later for event evaluation. Your analysis report will also help you in getting sponsorship for your event.