At the time of writing this, just over 24 hours after the sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl is on everyone’s feeds, lips and televisions. With over 112.3 million viewers on NBC, they are doing something right.
So how can we leverage Super Bowl-level stardom without the budgets and resources? Let’s look at four ways:
1) Create a buzz and build anticipation
The Super Bowl’s success starts well before the day, with comprehensive marketing campaigns designed to create anticipation. After all, a sporting match is nothing without its spectators.
As small businesses, we may not have millions in budgets. However, we can create buzz, by simply releasing limited sneak peeks of the content to come.
The Super Bowl gave a limited sneak peek of Rhianna performing, but everyone had to tune in to see what songs she performed.
To build hype for launching your first product event, why not drip-feed close-up shots of the product to your Instagram following (no matter how small)?
The more obscure the images, the more hype and excitement around what the end product is.
This kind of demand for an event can’t be replicated without that pre-event buzz.
2) Offer unique content
One of the most talked about, and sought-after elements of the Super Bowl is the commercials. Who is advertising, and what will it look like?
The 30-second advertisements are always never before seen, and thoroughly entertaining.
No one wants to attend your networking event with the same speakers in the same format. Being a small business means we don’t have to follow anyone else’s rules; let’s break the mould and do it differently.
Host your next seminar day at a winery with a tasting at the end. You don’t need to spend a fortune; it just needs to not be in a small stuffy conference room like everyone else.
The term FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real thing; you want your guests worrying they’re missing out on something cool, that much so, that they’re dying to attend.
3) Appeal to everyone’s emotions – we remember how we feel
The Super Bowl can be incredibly emotional, win or lose. Small brands can leverage similar levels of emotions with their attendees with no budget allocated at all.
A recent study by Buffer states that “event campaigns with purely emotional content, perform twice as well as those with only rational content”.
Use real people with real stories and connections to tell your audience how you solved their problems.
There is nothing more powerful than hearing how other people’s lives were improved because of your business.
Once your event starts appealing to your guest’s emotional side, your event goals become a little bit easier to achieve.
4) Focus on the experience
The Super Bowl is more than just a game; it’s an overall experience. From the commercials to the entertainment, it is engaging from start to finish.
Business events aren’t enough anymore to just show a great slide deck.
Often the simplest of things can elevate the experience; a smiling face at the front door showing people through a custom cocktail named after your brand.
Think about what your guests will be experiencing at each point. Will they be out in the sun and hot? Why not think about branded paper fans?
Don’t forget to reach out to the small-business community, and you will be surprised who puts their hand up to collaborate with your event.
Let’s do this
Let’s take all the key learnings and research the multi-million dollar Super Bowl does, and apply it to our own event strategies.
It’s your little secret sauce to creating your best events yet with tried and tested principles – and let’s face it, if it’s good enough for the Super Bowl, it’s good enough for us.
