Event Organizers can go gaga over catering. It is not an easy task because there are a lot of factors that need to be consider in planning what to serve during the event. There are 5Ws

Identify target audience. It is not cost effective to target every audience in the world as people have their own preference and circumstances to consider in selecting an event to attend to. The essential step is to do market segmentation, this is where we define the characteristics of attendees to our event, which will depend on the main objective.

For example: 

• If the goal of the event is to celebrate a company's anniversary, your target attendees are the staff, partners, suppliers and clients; 
• If the goal of the poetry book launch is to sell books, your target attendees are the fans of the said writer who have read his work before, or those who are avid readers of poetry. 

Afterward, the 5P's (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Public Relation) will then designed according to the segment.

Determine Communication Objective. This refers to defining what you want to communicate to your target audience. Will it be to inform, to convince or to remind and action? Is the event for promoting brand image, to gather more sales by offering a discount, or d you want to remind them to book and remind them to book?

Design the message. This refers to finding the right words to be communicated correctly / effectively to the target audience. The right message needs to be formulated containing what to say, how to say and express and what is the theme of the message.

Select Communication Channels. There are two ways of communicating: By Personal Channel which refers to using relationship (friends/ colleagues) or by sales staff to a customer. This is to relay a message with a personal touch, which can be face to face or by a phone call, an email or a text message; The second communication channel is non-personal channel which uses media, either by print, broadcast, electronic, display or public relations.

Establish budget. This is the stage where budget is decided / allocated after considering the goal of the event. If we are not expecting any profit from the event itself, it will be best to minimize the expenses. If it is a musical concert where high profit is expected, let's say with 5,000 seats available, event managers will need to allocate a higher budget for promoting the event.

Choose the promotional mix. This is the stage where you choose the channel for promoting your event. You will need to think through the best way to reach the target audience. It can be through tv advertisement, or by newspaper, radio, posters, flyers, social media, etc. An example is, if your target is selling a Korean boyband concert which targets teenagers, the best way to promote is through social media. Another example: If you are going to invite Africa safari fans, the best way to promote is either by a flyer, a personal letter, an e-mail or by phone call. Promoting one's event can costs a lot of money so selecting the right channel will not only minimize your expenses, but will deliver your message efficiently and effectively.

Measure the result of promotion. After sending the message through different channels or through using different channels, we need to measure whether the promotion has been effective. We can measure it by the sales revenue, the number of bookings, tickets sold, number of attendees or exhibitors, enquiries or number of redeemed/ discounted voucher.

As the world is rapidly changing, new trends and challenges have sprouted when it comes to promoting an event. There has been a growing competition offering a variety of value and activities. The world has been loaded with events taking place left and right, thus the challenge now for event managers is no longer just how to make the event run smoothly and effectively, but also how to attract people to attend the event, and not just any people, but their target audience considering the budget on hand. To attract an audience, managers need to be creative and innovative by choosing the right marketing tools whether the need is to promote online or offline.

Another trend not just in Hong Kong but to other places as well, is that people now tends to be more budget conscious, weighing in the value of going to a particular event versus their expenses. Attendees will need to justify if what they are spending is worth the price. If they figured that the event offers more advantages for them considering the expenses and if schedule allows, chances are higher that they will be attending to the event.

Because of the rising costs in visiting Hong Kong for particular events, visitors tend to stay much shorter, thus, as an event manager can make a short yet hectic scheduled itinerary to maximize the time. What the managers can do especially in a place like Hong Kong is to find alternative accommodation or cheaper provider of transfers. Also, they can make the beginning and the last day of the event the main highlight.

There are seven steps for an effective event promotion:

1. Identify target audience.
2. Determine communication objective. 
3. Design the message.
4. Select communication channel (s).
5. Establish budget.
6. Choose communication mix. 
7. Measure result.