According to Bizzabo’s 2025 State of Events and Industry Benchmarks Report, 78% of organizers claim in-person events are their organizations’ most impactful marketing channel. Events allow you to meet with potential and existing customers to spread awareness of your small business and show everything you have to offer.

To host a successful small business event, you must develop a cohesive plan. In this guide, we’ll cover tips your company can leverage to prepare and launch your next event effectively.

1. Set goals for your event.

The first step to achieving event success is defining what it looks like for your business through goal-setting. Some common event goals small business owners may have include:

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• Promoting a new product or service. Considering that 80% of surveyed attendees say in-person events are the most trustworthy way to discover new products and services, hosting launch parties or other celebrations is an effective way to market new offerings. For example, a kids’ theatre program launching a new audition preparation course may host an event to give parents an overview of the program and answer any questions.
• Attracting new customers. Events are an accessible way for prospective customers to learn more about your business and offerings. You may host an open house or facility tour to encourage new customers to enter your storefront and peruse your products or services.
• Generating additional revenue. Even though your small business operates to make a profit, you can still host fundraising events to generate additional revenue. For instance, a musical instrument store may host a talent show fundraiser, charging a small participation fee and selling tickets to attendees.

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Companies often hope to achieve several of these goals through a singular event. Choose one primary goal to focus on to hone your approach and easily measure progress. Then, designate your other goals as secondary objectives.

For example, let’s say you run a dance studio. Your primary goal for hosting a recital may be to give dancers a chance to show off their skills. However, a secondary goal may be to promote your dance studio to the community. As Studio Pro explains, developing a recital program “presents an opportunity to promote all your studio has to offer and direct those interested to your website to learn more.”

2. Organize the event’s logistics.

Keep your team organized by considering the following logistics far enough in advance:

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• Date and time. Strategically select your event’s date and time based on your target audience’s availability. For example, if you run a local boutique for middle-aged women, you might plan a summer clothing event after working hours or on a weekend. Avoid conflicts with any major local events or holidays that could reduce attendance.
• Venue. Estimate the number of expected attendees and choose your venue accordingly. If possible, use your business’s facilities to cut costs. For a larger event requiring more dedicated space, try negotiating with venues for small business discounts. Then, you may offer the venue something in return, like making them an event sponsor and featuring them in promotional materials.
• Activities. Plan how you’ll engage attendees during the event. For example, a cheer gym hosting a season kickoff event may organize team-building games, a studio tour, skills stations, open tumbling, and a parent Q&A session.
• Team member roles. Ensure everyone understands their individual event responsibilities. These roles may include checking in attendees, troubleshooting technical issues, serving food and beverages, keeping event activities organized and on schedule, and announcing any activity changes.

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In case anything goes awry, develop a contingency plan your team can follow to get your event back on track. You may create backup plans to resolve problems like technical issues or inclement weather.

3. Thoroughly promote the event.

Spread the word about your small business event to stir up enthusiasm and boost attendance. Implement the following strategies for effective promotion:

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• Use various channels. The more marketing channels you use, the more opportunities there are for people to discover and sign up for your event. Diversify your marketing strategy, emphasizing the channels your target audience frequents most. For instance, younger generations may only tune into social media and text messages, while older generations may prefer direct mail and email.
• Leverage user-generated content (UGC). Collaborate with your customers to create authentic event marketing content. Let’s say you own a local restaurant. You may enlist local influencers to develop short-form video content highlighting their favorite dishes and informing their followers about your event. Then, you can repurpose these videos on your own social media accounts for greater visibility.
• Offer registration incentives. Encourage attendees to sign up with special promotions or discounts. For example, a gymnastics academy hosting a skills clinic may leverage its gymnastics software to implement early-bird discounts and promote these opportunities via social media, email, and direct mail.

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For best marketing results, cater to your business’s specific niche. For example, this blog post contributed by Gingr explains that “a business in the pet industry might work with popular ‘petfluencers’ like Doug the Pug, tapping into a new audience and earning their trust.”

4. Follow up with attendees.

Attendee engagement shouldn’t end when your event does. Round out the event experience and show attendees you care by:

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• Automating thank-you emails. Efficiently thank attendees for coming by automating thank-you emails to send soon after your event ends. Use email marketing tools to automatically add attendees’ names to your subject lines for a more personal touch. For instance, you may say something like, “Alexa, thanks for joining our thrift store opening! 🛍️”
• Following up with more in-depth thank-you notes. After sending quick thank-you emails, follow up with more fleshed-out messages that show your appreciation. Include a quick recap of the event, an explanation of how attendees’ participation contributed to the event’s success, and any photos or videos from the event.
• Nurturing leads. If you collected contact information from prospective customers, reach out to them with additional information about your business. Consider sending them a new customer discount to entice them to purchase your product or sign up for your services.

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Remember to recap your event in your regular newsletter. That way, people who didn’t attend your event can learn more about it and consider attending future events.

5. Measure the event’s success.

Chances are, your business won’t simply host one event and be done. To improve future events, you must collect and analyze event data.

Besides collecting data from your event management and ticketing software, you should also send surveys to event attendees to obtain their qualitative feedback. For instance, a martial arts studio hosting an open house event may ask questions like:

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• How would you rate our open house on a scale from 1 to 10?
• What did you enjoy the most about the event?
• How could we have improved this event?
• How likely are you to join our martial arts studio?
• How likely are you to attend future events of ours?
• How likely are you to recommend our studio to others?

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Store the results in your constituent relationship management platform (CRM) so you can easily reference this data when planning future events. Follow up with survey participants to let them know you appreciate their input and inform them of any plans to improve future events based on their recommendations.

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Events are incredibly useful tools for small businesses to acquire new customers and engage their current customer bases. By planning these events carefully and putting your attendees first, you’ll host transformative experiences that help you surpass your event goals.

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