The grand opening of a business, whether it is the first one or it is another branch, is a benchmark for any businessman. If you are a businessman and you are about to open a new business, hosting your Grand Opening event requires several things to consider. The first thing to decide upon is your purpose or motive for a grand opening event. Whether you intend to showcase your new business or you want to announce to the world about your store and what you offer, hosting the event is necessary. If you can make the event truly worthwhile for people to attend, they will keep on coming back to your shop or store. The question is, how will you make it attractive to potential clients and customers? Here’s a list of the things that you can do to host a grand opening:
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Prepare and Plan Every Detail of It
Planning is an important aspect of a successful grand opening event. If you fail to plan, you can expect failures in the long run. You will need to prepare for it as if it will be the most important event that you will have for the rest of your life. Get a head start on important details, giving considerations to the fact that the event should be attended by a number of people. If no one is there to listen to you or to witness your event, it will be a waste of time, money, and effort.
In planning for the event, you need to select a date and time. It should be a date wherein you and your business are all set to operate. If you are planning to invite an important person, make sure that he or she already confirmed it before you finalize the date and time.
Your budget also needs to be decided upon. You may need to rent extra chairs, tables, sound system, catering, and other essential items to be used for the event. When you plan for the event’s budget, see to it that only a portion of the business’ annual marketing funds will be allotted for the grand opening.
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Outline the Activities
Do you intend to speak before the ribbon-cutting or go straight to the tour of your shop? Do you plan to invite a guest speaker or invite an important person to grace the ribbon cutting with you? If you have plans to make the event more engaging for your guests and walk-in customers, make sure that you outline the activities. This will make your event more organized and well-coordinated.
As you outline the event’s activities, list down the things to accomplish chronologically. First things first, and give it a timeframe or allot a time for each activity. This will be your guide as you stay on track throughout the event.
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Market the Business
Take advantage of this grand opening event in order to gain new customers or clients by marketing your business. The experts say that marketing the event is different from promoting the products you offer. Your goal is to reach an audience who will be interested to know what you offer. In order to do that, you need to maximize marketing strategies.
Social media, newspaper, magazines, radio broadcast, personal invitations, flyers, and television commercials are among the strategies to consider if you want to reach an audience.
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Send the Invitations
Prepare the invitation card or letter and decide who you should invite for the grand opening event of your business. Make sure that your invitation states all the basic information regarding the event. Provide your invited guests with information that answers the questions who, what, when, and why they should come to your event. Send your invitations and request for confirmation from your invited guests ahead of time.
Don’t forget to invite influencers, too, because they will be an efficient marketing strategy for your business. Most of these influencers tweet, blog, and spread on social media about the experience they had. With their huge networks, it will be easier for you to reach more potential clients and customers.
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Serve Food and Beverage
For an event to be successful, it is essential to serve food and beverage. The invited guests will expect that something refreshing is going to be served at the event. Whether you decide to make use of your staff, family, and friends to prepare and serve, or you prefer to avail a catering service, choose the food and drinks that you will serve depending on the time of the event and theme of the event.
More than the desire to serve your guests with good food and drinks, you should aim to be unique and special with the food you serve. People will remember your grand opening event and your business because of the special treatment you give them.
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Give the Guests the Best Time
On Grand Opening Event, showcase what you got and execute everything you planned for to give your guests the best time. From the inspirational speech to expression of gratitude to engaging of guests, your aim is to make them happy and comfortable. You may want to give them chances to win prizes or provide takeaways and tokens in exchange of email address. Aside from a delicious snacks and servings of cocktails, a goodie bag of various products or items will serve as an appreciation gift.
There are lots of things to think about when hosting a grand opening event, but if you know which steps to take, success is definitely on your way.
