With so many details on your plate, sitting down to write an event strategy plan might sound like a lot of busy work. But if you aren’t crystal clear on your strategy, the lack of focus will waste more time than you realize.

Worse? You can’t afford to waste that time when the events industry is more competitive than ever, with the number of event organizers growing by 14% from 2021 to 2022. 

Whatever kind of event you’re hosting — or whether it’s your first or 50th — you’ll need a great strategy to make it stand out. A strategy gives you direction on the steps you need to take and helps you communicate it clearly with anyone else you might be working with. 

So how can you create an event strategy that is actually useful instead of a 20-page document you’ll forget about shortly after it’s created?

Keep it simple: A single-page document is all you need. Use this free template and follow the instructions below to develop a foolproof strategic plan for your event.

Illustration block of two people planning an event strategy with a link to download the template.

How to create an event strategy plan using this template

From defining your event’s purpose and target audience to establishing actionable goals, this comprehensive guide will ensure you have a robust and actionable strategy. 

It’s all about focusing on the essential elements that drive success while keeping complexity to a minimum. Let’s dive in and learn how to use your event template.

Determine your event goals and metrics

Your event is driven by your goal and how you measure success. While goals might be obvious for events like a charity fundraiser, for more complex events, you may need to prioritize a variety of goals.

Goals and metrics can include things like:

Whatever your goals and objectives, make sure they’re measurable in order to prove the value of your event. Then build the rest of your event strategy to achieve these goals.

A person working with a cat skeleton
Curated by Ryan Matthew Cohn / Cat Skeleton Articulation Workshop / New York, NY

Identify your audience

Every type of event has a target audience, and understanding its diversity is crucial. Your audience isn’t a homogenous group; instead, it’s a vibrant mix of individual tastes, preferences, and habits. 

Each of those groups of potential attendees might use different social media platforms and pay attention to different information sources. That’ll make a significant difference as you make your event marketing plan and create your social media marketing campaigns and email campaigns.

For example, if you’re trying to reach 18- to 29-year-olds, you might consider using TikTok or Instagram, while other social channels like Facebook could be a better option for an older audience.

Here are a few examples of unique audiences that real event professionals brought together across different types of events and some ways that they might have reached them.

If you’re not sure where to find your target audience, experiment! Track your marketing to see what’s working and what isn’t, and adjust accordingly.  

Target your ideal audience with Eventbrite’s marketing tools today!

Pinpoint your attendees’ needs and how you’ll address them

Why will attendees come to your event instead of everything else they could spend their time and money on? Answering this question will help you build an effective event strategy.

Start by identifying the core need or problem your event solves for attendees. Then use that insight to create a strategy for how your event will solve that problem better than any other event or solution could — your unique value proposition.

Follow these steps to determine how you’ll meet your attendees’ needs for future events.

A performer on an outdoor stage
SoulfulofNoise / Soulful Sundays / Los Angeles, CA

1. Identify your attendees’ core needs

What do your attendees need that they will find at your event? Why should they spend their hard-earned money and limited time attending your event? The answer will greatly depend on your event details, but here are some examples:

For a real-world example, consider Busboys and Poets’ open mic events. They’re catering to two audiences: people who need to feel like they experienced a unique show and volunteer performers who need to feel like they will be welcomed while making themselves vulnerable onstage.

You can only answer this question effectively if you have a deep understanding of who your audience and your ideal attendee is. Use this guide to learn seven priority attendee personas to consider for your next event.

2. Think strategically about how your event can meet this need

Now that you know what your attendees need, your strategy should explain how your event will fulfill it for them. In other words, how is your event the solution to your attendees’ core needs?

Here are some examples of event types and the needs they meet:

This isn’t just helpful for your event’s strategic plan, it should also be part of your event marketing strategy. To boost your event attendance, you can build your event promotions around what needs you’re meeting.

When the Pennsylvania Brewery Running Series organizes its 5Ks, they make sure it’s fun for the family by accommodating pets, strollers, and people of all ages. The untimed run is accessible to people of every age and level of ability.

A person teaching another about glassblowing
UrbanGlass / Getcha Glow On / New York, NY

3. Find your unfair advantage

What makes you able to provide a unique experience for your attendees? This isn’t a value proposition (we’ll get to that next) but a statement about your event management specialties.

Are you an unceasingly hard worker? Do you have connections with great vendors? Can you make deals that leave everyone happy or bring together attendees of widely diverse backgrounds?

For example, UrbanGlass doesn’t just have a great facility. Their unfair advantage is their passionate teachers, who are talented at showing others how they can blow glass themselves — something that can look like a daunting task at first!

Identify what makes you and anyone you might be working with on your event team uniquely advantaged event organizers, and you can focus your efforts on what you do best.

4. Define your event’s unique value proposition

What does your event have that others don’t? Your answer to this question is your unique value proposition. It’s a one-sentence summary communicating why someone should choose your event over others. It might include details like:

This is more about the event itself than the person doing the event planning. For example, unique experiences like juggling, acrobatics, magic, and the other attractions of the Colorful Hat Circus & Variety Show make its value proposition special.

Once you have your unique value prop, you can use it to strengthen your promotions and your sponsor pitches.

Get serious about your costs — and your revenue

Now that you know your goals and comprehensive plan for attendee engagement, it’s time to get detailed about how you’ll hit those goals. That’s where your budget and revenue come in.

Your event strategy plan should include an outline of projected costs and your revenue sources. Detail your actual costs or expected budget, then document what revenue sources your event relies on, such as ticket sales, VIP packages, merch sales, onsite vendor sales, or sponsor packages. 

Estimate what percent of your revenue you expect to earn through each channel so you know how to prioritize your work to hit those goals.

You don’t have to be a math whiz to keep your event’s spend on track. In fact, just follow the steps in this post to ensure every penny is spent wisely.

A group performs on a dance floor
Eventbrite / Re.Mixer LA / Los Angeles, CA

Bring your strategy to life with the right tools

Crafting a foolproof event strategy plan might seem overwhelming, but it’s a necessary step to outshine competition in the bustling events industry. It’s all about defining goals and key performance indicators, understanding your audience, identifying their needs, and building your unique value proposition. 

A simple, one-page event plan template that you can reference again and again will help keep you on track through your planning process. Also crucial is a robust budget outlining projected costs and revenue sources. However, this can be a challenge without the right tools.

With Eventbrite, you have a powerful ally that provides the resources needed to make your event a resounding success. From ticket sales and VIP packages to marketing and advertising, Eventbrite streamlines your processes, saving you time and effort. 

Start planning your next successful event with Eventbrite today!

A person working with a cat skeleton