The events industry is getting more and more competitive, year on year. Since I started my first event company back in May 2013, and launched the popular brand ‘Strictly Go Networking’ for music, fashion, film/TV and art professionals, I have watched the marketplace become more and more competitive.

This chimes with Eventbrite’s own findings in their annual Pulse Report, which showed that 67% of organisers are expecting to grow their events this year, and over half will be launching news ones, all of which creates more competition.

Related: Eventbrite Pulse Report 2016: All the event industry statistics you need to know

As a result, I now have to work twice as hard and market my events ten times as hard just to sell the same amount of tickets. To put this into perspective, when I launched our first Music Industry networking event back in November 2013, I marketed it through just one powerful affiliate partner network, and we sold the event out in less than 24 hours.

Now I have to market it through 10+ networks to sell it out. Some of my events have been hugely successful, and others have faded into obscurity. What you tend to find is that when one person comes up with an innovative idea that becomes successful (like I did back in 2013), it’s only a matter of time before others jump on the bandwagon.

Whilst this means you will have to work harder, it doesn’t always mean failure. In some ways, competition isn’t always a bad thing, because competitors can bring fresh ideas to the table, which you can integrate into your event, or compete with to create something even better.

Also, if you do manage to ride the competition wave out, and maintain your stature in the market, it’s a great testament to your entrepreneurial flair. Imagine saying ‘our event is the biggest in the marketplace.’ If that’s true, people would rather come to yours any way! But there are a number of steps you need to take to earn that type of industry reputation.

To elaborate even further, ‘Strictly Go Networking’ was, and still is – the biggest music industry networking event in London. Since I started it, a few noticeable copycats have set up their own versions, but they haven’t quite made the mark like we have. Music professionals would rather come to our event than theirs, even though our event is more expensive.

On the other hand, our fashion networking events have lost their ‘power’ in the industry. Sadly, the copycats have taken our place in the market (at least for now). But is it because of the industry? No. Because our last fashion conference was hugely successful.

Questions to consider

There are a number of different metrics you need to consider:

1. Do people really need your event? If not, the novelty may wear off. Don’t fall into this trap (i.e. a ‘fad’ event that looked good at the time, but people got bored).

2. How many people need your event? If the market isn’t big enough, is there room for more than one version of the event (i.e. yours, or theirs)?

3. What exactly is it that people need, and is your event meeting that need? If it’s not, but your competitor’s event is, finding out what that need is, and delivering a better solution could give you a chance to get back on top.

4. If a copycat has stolen your share of the market, why? Look at all aspects of your competitor’s event. Is the name better? Does the logo look prettier? Do they have better entertainers/speakers/food/drink/venue (you get the point)?

5. What are they doing differently to you, and how are they marketing it? Are they marketing it better than you, and in more/better places? Is the price lower?

6. How brand loyal are your customers? How strong was your regular following before your competitor stepped in? If only 10% of yours customers come to more than one event, then it’s fair to say that they’re probably not that brand loyal.

The solution

The above questions are really important ones to ask, because after all, people pay for services for a reason, and if someone has come along and delivered a better solution than you, then the only way to get those customers attending your event again is to be strategic and clever about it, and create a ‘one up’ situation against your copycat.

And if that doesn’t work, you’ll need to think of a completely unique idea, but get your metrics right this time, so that you don’t get squeezed out again. So how do we do it?

Related: What are the right metrics for measuring corporate event success

Event brand and customer loyalty

You know what they say in healthcare; ‘prevention is better than a cure.’ The same goes with business. The only reason people line up outside Apple stores every time a new device is launched is because Apple have strategically built customer loyalty. You can do the same thing with events.

The best way to do this is to seek feedback from your customer every step of the way, right the way from ‘how does the logo look and the name sound?’ Through to ‘what do you think of the line-up, and how much would you be willing to pay for it?’ To ‘how was it? What do you think we should change next time?’

This puts your customer in charge of what happens throughout the process and makes sure that what you have delivered is something that actually meets all aspects of their requirements. I like to use LinkedIn private messaging to speak to my customers, and I check up on them every now and again to see how they’re getting on.

People buy from people, and if you’re personable and show appreciation for what they do, they will come back.

Related: 5 Steps To Be More Customer Centric

Regular advertising

The biggest chance for a competitor to step in on your territory is if you take time out from what you’re doing (i.e. go travelling), or fail to keep your brand awareness at an all time high in front of your target market. This is why writing regular content, paying for sponsored advertising and using social media heavily will keep your brand at the top of people’s minds. Again, this creates brand loyalty.

Media partnerships will also help you to build brand loyalty, because if you can get ten powerful authority figures to shout about your event in front of your target audience, it’ll give your event status and urgency, and people will take you more seriously. Not just that, but if you’re advertising everywhere, how can your competitors possibly beat you?

The concept

The reason seeking feedback from your customers every step of the way (and not just for the first event) is so important is because if you don’t meet their needs, and someone else comes along and does a better job than you at finding out what their needs are, and meets them, then you only have yourself to blame by taking your eye off the ball. This is fully within your control, so make sure you do this!

Accept failure

Sometimes, things just don’t work out even though you followed all the rules in the book and analysed it after, and everything seemed okay. If so, the real question is this: Is it worth another go, or should you ditch the idea? Or, do you need to move on and think of a brand new ‘replacement’ event and accept that the world has changed?

I can’t make that decision for you, but I have decided to stop doing networking events after my next two and stick to conferences only, as I believe the world has moved on, and we’ve moved on to bigger and better things. Sometimes, moving on is the best thing, because you can broaden your horizons to bigger, and more profitable opportunities like I have.

New ideas and up-selling

Always think of new ideas. I have a black notepad in my draw that has nothing in it except for new business ideas. If my business goes bust tomorrow, it’s okay, because I have another 50 ideas to play with. But it’s not just about putting a safety net in place. It’s about growth and covering every eventuality.

Each customer is worth more than just a single event ticket. You could get them to attend more than one type of event, and this would also create stronger brand loyalty. Think of it this way, if you deliver an amazing event and receive exceptional feedback, there may be other needs your customers have, which you can meet through a different event.

So what is your customer life cycle/value? Ask yourself this really important question: ‘What else does your customer need?’ If you keep thinking of new ideas and executing those ideas, not only will you create a more profitable business and build strong loyalty with your customers, but you’ll also cover your own back if one idea doesn’t work out, or stops working.

Improvement and change

People don’t want to attend the same event twice. They want different food, music, speakers, sponsors, bands, tables, décor (the list goes on), and so on. So make sure that you always improve your events (based on customer feedback) to create another fantastic reason for why they should come back next year, and bring their friends too.

Related: A SMART guide to goal setting for event planners

Conclusion

To conclude, you can’t always get your place back if a competitor has stolen your position, but it’s worth a go, and there are things you can do such as refining your event model, improving your event marketing, rebranding/renaming, speaking to your customers to find out what they want/how you can deliver a better service, and so on.

But on the other hand, it’s also good to remain innovative and introduce new ideas all the time, because if one of your events does fade into obscurity because a competitor stole your idea and did it better, you should be in a position where you have other services that are selling well, so that you don’t go bust.

This is how you create a successful, bullet proof event business. Always be one step ahead and never take your ideas for granted, because the world does change (trust me). It’s up to you to change with it and keep up to date with what your customers want. After all, why would anybody want to attend your event if it’s no longer delivering it’s promises?

What are you doing to stay ahead of your competitors? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @EventbriteUK!