Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The 3 C's of the Event

Another set of important event planning considerations were customer, capabilities, and competition.

Customer: We were fortunate to have a built in customer base. We hoped that many of Donna's existing customers would come out to the event, which they did. An additional objective, however, was to bring in new customers, specifically from a younger age group and college students. We also had to make sure that we targeted possible clients in the Ewing area because many people do not want to travel too far for salon services.

Capabilities: We tried to stick with very realistic goals. Our main objectives were to bring in new customers and a younger crowd. We had a small budget, but minimal needs. Most of our food was donated and the rest was bought with the donated Wegman's gift certificate. Other food was baked by ourselves. We were constrained to Donna's as our location but with a little rearranging we were able to convert the second room into a complete area for Hope Cuts. We had few constraints.

Competition: A main area of competition was that many people already have a specific salon and hair stylist they like to use so it can be difficult to get someone to switch. Our event was on a Sunday afternoon which could conflict with religious services or family time. People often use Sundays as catch up time. There was little competition as far as money or emotional investment, the primary competition was time.

A big part of our challenge was to assure the customers that going to this event would be worth it to them. They could receive great salon services for discounted prices, enter their name for a chance to win prizes, learn more about breast cancer, and come out for a fun day that required little commitment.

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