As a venue owner, you need to confront and defeat a heap of barriers to find success. Despite late evenings, and the restricted time for your loved ones, running your venue is a calling, not a profession. Despite the fact that venue proprietors empty their hearts and souls into their settings, many will fail inside the initial couple of years of opening.
In the event that you need to secure the fate of your venue, it is basic knowledge that it ticks particular boxes. What precisely is it that makes an occasion setting effective? We did some exploration and found these seven standards, though regularly ignored components that can represent the deciding moment of your event venue success.
Services and Amenities
When choosing between two similar products, a client is always going to sway towards the option that gives them more for their money. There are many ways of adding value to your event venue; here we will look at some of the possibilities to engage a broader following due to the services you choose to provide.
Firstly looking into the type of events that will be held at your venue, and what amenities you will need to make this an easy and hassle-free experience for your clients. Generally speaking, food has great importance at most events and while this doesn’t mean you have to provide a whole culinary team, and extensive facilities; it could be worth your while to at least have a few options. Maybe you can’t have a kitchen area in the venue, but could you organise a more temporary option, like a food truck for example. Having these connections already set up allows for the life of the client to be easier, and more likely to work with you.
Another great addition is to offer setup and cleaning staff. By having house staff, your customers won’t have to worry about verifying new individuals and can concentrate more on facilitating their occasion. What’s more, on the off chance that you charge the cost of staff into the cost of the scene contract, your customer will have one less thing to worry about. By lessening somebody’s pressure, it will be highly probable that the client will recommend you to future clients.
Insurance
Often overlooked, or left until the last minute. Having an insurance plan for events is a great way to allow people to trust your offering. Nobody wants to be caught running an event without insurance, so co-ordinating this for your client is another excellent way to take some pressure away from their already busy schedule. Including insurance as part of your package is a great way to come across as professional and organised. Not only does this give clients peace of mind to know everything is looked after, but it also saves you worrying about any potential risks during events.
Parking
Living in the age of convenience, people are immediately drawn to venues that offer easy and comfortable parking. Nobody wants to be walking for miles, or paying out a small fortune on transport before they have even arrived at the event. If for some reason you do not have the facilities, look into the options of nearby parking. Take out some time to become familiar with the area, and see if there are any potential parking spots nearby that could work out. Organising a shuttle service can also be a great alternative to having parking. Equally, it could be beneficial to do your research into a local valet service, is there an opportunity to become a loyal user of their service at a discounted rate.
Acoustics
Essentially here were looking at the quality the sounds travels through the venue, this plays a much more significant role than you usually realise. If the acoustics are of a poor quality, look into having the space sound treated, although it can come at a cost it can be worth it. Especially if you are holding a music event, musicians spend an awful lot of time creating something they are incredibly passionate about, so the quality of the acoustics need to be of a certain standard. Unfortunately, it is very easy to rack up some bad reviews if the acoustics do not live up to standards.
WIFI
Living in the digital age means that people expect certain services as standard, WIFI being one of them. Making the WIFI free to clients shows that you understand the importance of this, and the ability to use this form of communication at all times. Although the majority of the clients/guests will have access to data, ultimately you are trying to make their lives that slight bit easier, and naturally, if they know, they can save their data while at the venue this could prove massively important. Especially if you compete with another site that either doesn’t offer WIFI, or chargers at a certain rate.
Marketing
‘The heart of your business success lies in its marketing. Most aspects of your business depend on successful marketing. The overall marketing umbrella covers advertising, public relations, promotions and sales’ (Linkedin, 2015).
Having the most amazing, aesthetically pleasing venue means nothing if you don’t make people aware of its existence. Making your venue known to potential clients is essential. There are many marketing strategies to achieve this awareness. Without marketing your venue, you do not give your business the opportunity to grow or progress to its fullest potential. However, it’s no secret that working with an established marketing company comes at a hefty price. In fact, many businesses in their first year of running spend an incredibly large percentage of their earnings on the promotion. This commitment to the company will almost always pay off though because once the venue is well established the less pressure there is to market it. Essential forms of marketing include print materials, trade shows, broadcasting, public relations and media.
Availability
Flexibility is key here. Although there is no need to make your venue available 24/7, it is essential that you at least offer an extensive range of options. For example, if you have in-house hospitality staff that work general hours of 10-4 but the event that you are hosting is going to be happening from 12-6, be flexible enough to offer your services for the appropriate times. Clients are specifically made up when you go out of your way to make this accessible to them.
