Planning a Grand Opening? 4 Tips for Designing a Successful Celebration

Planning a grand opening for your new business or location is a nerve-wracking task. There are a lot of variables and a lot of things that you cannot control. If you're responsible for this job and want to know how to plan a great event, here are 4 early planning tips to get you there.

Know Your End Goal

What do you really want to accomplish with your party? Are you looking to generate repeat customers right away? Or is it more about networking to create relationships you can mine later? Who will you be inviting and what do you want them to do next? Understanding what your expectations and goals for the party are will inform just about every detail of a well-planned event. It will help determine who you invite, what gifts you hand out, what food to serve, and what the theme will be. 

Create Return Incentive

The main reason for most grand opening celebrations is to create longer-term customers and develop relationships. For this to happen, you need to give people reasons to return once the party is over. There are a number of ways to do this. You can give out discounts for returning to shop on another day. You can also print up some loyalty cards that can be punched during the grand opening, or offer a few specific deals over the next week or two. 

Hire Help

Throwing a corporate event for the first time can be overwhelming. There are different rules and usually more at stake than at most private events. This means that hiring a professional event planning service like Events By Nichole can be a great use of your budget. They can help you streamline planning, avoid mistakes, and know where you should focus your money.

Stay Focused

Party planning can get out of hand, and everything may seem like a good idea for a while. But you need to stay focused on building your brand, creating excitement, and reaching your end goal. As you plan, ask yourself how each item or decision contributes to these three aspects. If it doesn't, trade it for something that is more focused. This will not only help control your budget but it will also prevent the celebration from confusing guests. 

Putting these few suggestions into practice from the beginning of your planning process will help ensure that the result of all your hard work will be a celebration that everyone will remember for a long time to come.