When it comes to turning people into attendees, event invitations make all the difference. This is the first real glimpse of what people can expect from your event. And just how a free sample in a supermarket gives people their first taste of a product, the very same applies to your invitations. Because when people like what they’re seeing (or tasting), they’re going to become engaged in the product and more importantly, they’re going to want to a piece of it.
As we all know, the number one reason for creating invitations is to increase attendance but there are also a few more reasons out there…
- First off, we all know how important first impressions are and your invitation is exactly that. This is your time to show off to your potential attendees how great your event is going to be and the value that it will bring.
- Secondly, a well-done invitation sparks interest and gets people talking about the event. This can go a long way in helping to further promote your event, especially when the invitations are shared all over social media.
- Finally, invitations are normally memorable and they show that you’re going the extra mile which makes all the difference from an attendee’s point of view.
So as you can see, invitations are a big indicator as to how successful your event is going to be. Get them right and you can turn potential contacts into attendees. Get them wrong and you won’t have any attendees. The good news here is that we’re going to show you how to design event invitations, and the even better news is that this will help you get more attendees.
Now before we move on, it’s first important to clear a couple of things up. When it comes to types of invitations you have 2 options: Printed invitations (the real pièce de résistance) and digital invitations which have all of the key information. In addition to this, you also need to consider when is the best time to send the invitations. This is about finding a balance that’s early enough to start sparking interest, but not too early that people lose interest. The general rule of thumb is that most events will send out their invitations one to three months in advance.
Note: There’s no set formula to either of these things, it’s about what works best for you. So remember that there’s always room to experiment.
In this article, we’ll be focusing on printed invitations. Here’s how to design an attractive one:
📌Choose high-quality printing materials
When we talk about creating first impressions there’s nothing worse than coming off as cheap and tacky, and the very same goes for your invitation – it should reflect everything that’s good about your event. This is why it’s important that you choose high-quality printing materials such as paper, envelopes, and anything else you want to add. Finally, it’s also worth pointing out that a low-quality event invitation designs can actually do more damage than good.
📌Go for professional design
If you’ve got an in-house design team then you’re already sorted, but if the answer is no, then it’s well worth getting some to do it for you professionally. This will make a huge difference in the overall quality of the invitation, and especially to your potential attendees who are likely to have developed a sixth sense for sussing out invitations.
📌Make your invitation… useful
No, we’re not talking about the details that you need to include, we’re talking about giving your invitation a second life. This could be anything from a calendar to a small notebook, the main takeaway here is that the invitation can be used for something else. This a great opportunity to show your creative approach and it’s also a great way of providing your potential attendees with a branded product of yours (that won’t be collecting dust somewhere).
📌Introduce a beautiful, custom made postcard that is… handwritten
If you really want to push the boat out and impress your attendees then send them a handwritten invitation. Yes, people still do that and it actually goes a very long way in showing how you value each attendee by doing so. Sometimes it can be hard to show a personal touch when planning and managing events and this is a great way of changing that.
📌Align your design with the brand of your event
It’s essential that your event invitation design encapsulates and reflects your event. For example, if you’re planning an event for the tourism agency, you could send an invitation in a bottle, or if you’re running an event for digital nomads, you can send a map-like invitation. Regardless of what your event is about, this is the first piece of contact between you and your audience, so paint a clear picture of what they can expect.
Roundup
So, as you can see, invitations are a great way to turn potential contacts into attendees. Make it personal and get creative. For many, this will be the first taste of your event so set the tone and show them what you’re all about.
