Want to know how to organize an event that helps grow your business and builds your brand? We’ve got just the guide to help you get started.

And what better way to present this guide than through one real case study.

The team here at Cococart recently attended an event organized by one of our merchants in the Philippines, Butterboy, who uses events to help them increase customer loyalty and ultimately grow their brand.

Read on to learn more about the event that Butterboy started, why events like this can help your own business, and how to organize your own brand-building events as a small business.

Butterboy and Drag Brunch explained

Butterboy’s event seems atypical at first glance: a drag brunch. 

Yup, you read that right. Drag brunch. Where you spend the morning hours brunching and watching, well, drag.

Each week for a month or two, Butterboy invites drag queens to come perform at their physical café, delighting their community over some delectable brunch dishes and tea sets. 

When we asked about their inspiration for the event, Hilder Demeterio, one of the partners at Butterboy, shared:

“Drag Brunch has been around for a while now in the US, but is still totally new [in the Philippines], especially since our drag queens are just breaking into the mainstream. 

“[My partner] Jayson and I have always been fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race, even before we started baking—so now that we have a space, we decided to create an alternative stage for our drag queens in daylight.”

Butterboy’s goals for Drag Brunch are simple. According to Hilder:

“We wanted to work with local drag queens and give them a platform to reach a different audience this Pride Month.” 

Aside from drag queen performances, Drag Brunch at Butterboy had an hour premiere of the latest episode of the hit drag race reality competition, especially as Pride Month 2022 coincided with the recent season of the show.

Hilder adds, “We wanted more people to be able to experience the joy of drag and queer talent,” saying they purposefully chose the hours and venue to be during the day at their bakeshop in order to encourage more people to attend, as most drag shows in the Philippines happen at night at bars and clubs.

As a result of their efforts, Drag Brunch at Butterboy has been a smashing success.

Today, seats to each event are sold out in minutes, with their community clamoring for a spot to enjoy some breakfast and a show.

How events can increase customer engagement and loyalty

Are you now wondering whether or not you should do events in your business, especially considering the work it takes? We won’t deny that it does take a lot of effort, but here are some benefits of hosting events you can’t miss.

Events are an extension of your mission

Every business has a why, or some deeper purpose for why it exists. Your business’s products and services are the core way you meet that mission.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t explore other ways to contribute to your why. 

Events are an example of that. For Butterboy, an LGBT-founded business, their Drag Brunch is an extension of their brand’s story. 

Events give customers a new way to appreciate your offers (repeatedly!)

Running a similar-themed event can have people expect new things each time. 

In the case of Butterboy’s Drag brunches, those were new performances by guest drag queens and special menu items.

Regulars of the brand may have already been enjoying their café’s offers, but attending Drag Brunch gives them a new way to appreciate Butterboy’s creations.

Events encourage word-of-mouth marketing

One big pro to hosting events for your business? They’re a great way to get some word-of-mouth marketing!

When you create an event that’s worth talking about, you can get attendees and customers to talk about your brand online and get other people interested in your next one.

You might like: 5 Instagram Content Ideas to Triple Your Sales

8 tips to organize your own events to grow your local business

Now that you know why events are an awesome way to grow your business and engage your customers, it’s time to learn how to organize them. Events can be challenging, but use these tips to help you host the best one yet.

Start small

Events for your business don’t have to be a huge undertaking. Just like starting an independent business, start small.

Set some realistic goals around your event, like attendee count and revenue, and plan around that. You can allot a budget of your business to marketing the event, as well as any needs for the main program itself.

Starting small helps you test the reception to the event. If you’re getting a lot of interest, that could be a great sign to do more in the future. 

It’s also the perfect opportunity to test the waters for your main program. What do people enjoy most? What could go differently? When you test your event on a smaller crowd, you don’t risk spending too much money for too little reward.

Ask “why” this event is important

We mentioned before that events are an extension of your brand’s mission. So ask yourself why this event is important.

And we don’t mean why it’s important to grow your business, though that’s certainly a part of it. We mean exactly why your event helps your business’s mission and purpose.

When you answer this question, you can brainstorm the main program and make sure your event is memorable for everyone attending.

Pick a venue

Events require a place for people to gather, so choosing a venue is a big decision.

If you’re starting small, you might consider renting out affordable spaces that let you book a room for a few hours, versus a bigger area.

Your venue might even be someplace lowkey, like a neighborhood café or conference room. 

Have a maximum attendee count

When you’re starting with your first event, while you want to set goals for the minimum attendees in order to breakeven and make a profit, you also want to do the opposite: have a maximum seating capacity.

After all, smaller events won’t have room for too many people. And you don’t want to be overwhelmed on the day-of.

Because of this, we recommend selling seats to your event beforehand, and limiting the number of walk-in attendees.

For the easiest way to manage seats for your events, use Cococart. You can add in your event as a product, set a maximum number of seats as inventory, and never worry about overbooking your event.

Butterboy’s Drag Brunch seats are sold exclusively on their Cococart shop, and the team can sit back and relax, knowing that seats to their event are getting filled without any extra work on their end.

Learn more: 10 Cococart Features You Must Know as an Independent Business Owner

Create your event program

Of course, you’ll need to come up with an awesome program that makes up the meat of your event.

Depending on the type of event you’re hosting, this may be quite straightforward or needs a bit more creativity.

For example, if you were hosting a painting workshop as part of your art business, your program is as simple as what you want to teach and what attendees will take away by the end.

However, if you’re organizing something like Butterboy, you might need to get creative to see how to make your event come to life through your program.

Prepare some goodie bags

An optional way to make attendees feel like they’re getting more than what they paid for at your event is to give them some goodie bags to take home.

You don’t need to splurge on these. Commit to small tokens or items that let people remember your event, and give them something to take photos and videos with for their social media.

Read more: 

5 Tips to Delight Customers and Win Them For Life

7 Ways to Thank Customers and Build Relationships With Them

Get attendees’ feedback

Just like improving your business’ core products, you’ll want to improve your event for next time.

Be sure to ask for feedback about the event from your attendees, so that you know exactly what they loved, what they didn’t, and what could go better.

Sell seats to your event using Cococart

Just like we saw with Butterboy, you can organize events to help strengthen relationships with your customers and let people appreciate your brand in another way. If you’re ready to start selling seats to this event, sign up for a free account at Cococart and sell those tickets today.

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