"Home Is Where the Beer Is" Event
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One of my best events to date has been my series of beer and trivia events. For starters, I contacted a local bottle shop that I knew had a well-attended trivia night. That allowed me to have a captive audience and to piggyback on to an existing event. For each event, I partnered with a lender to split costs and help with promotion.
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Speaking of promotion, I created a Facebook event and used ads targeted at renters, millenials, and people close to that bottle shop (because it draws a large neighborhood crowd). I also placed signs at the bottle shop at each table and in the bathrooms. For tickets, I used Eventbrite, which allowed me to track how many people found the event online and get their email addresses for marketing later. For everyone who signed up, I promised a free beer and an entry to win one of our prizes at the event.
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At the event itself, I created paper tickets using the online design tool Canva. I made half of the ticket my lead generator, and put a spot for their name, email/phone number and if they were a homeowner, buyer, seller, renter or investor. I also added their zip code for marketing after the event. I told them that by filling out that side, it would serve as their entry into our giveaway and that we would contact them using that info (which made sure there was no fake info!). The other half of the ticket was their free beer, which was all tallied up on a tab for us by the bottle shop. When we would meet someone, we would fill out the lead side for them, rip it in half, and put the lead side in a drawing and hand them their free beer coupon.
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Outside of the active lead generation, I had koozies and bottle openers created with my logo. I put my business card inside of each koozie and gave it to the attendees.
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The trivia side of the event came as the announcer took a break from their regular trivia event. The lender and I stood up and each had a few questions to ask, geared toward first time home buyers and investors. We got them to think about the process by asking things like "what's the lowest downpayment option available?" ($0 in some cases!) "Who pays the buyer's agent commission in a transaction?" (in North Carolina, it's only the seller!) "How much would a monthly payment be on a $200,000 home?" and one for fun, "What was the most expensive home in the Triangle?"
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Our prizes were a cooler that the winner could fill up with bottles at our cost and a growler that they could fill up at the bottle shop (to give them business).
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At the end of the event, I got 24 qualified leads and the total cost was about $40 per event, not including promotional items. Peoples' feedback was that it was nice to talk to an agent in person, it was a non-threatening environment, and that they couldn't believe how fun and easy the process could be!
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Podcast of the month
My podcast suggestion of the month helped me calm my fears and prepare to discuss the coming months with clients and friends. NAR Economist Lawrence Yun chats with Brian Buffini on what to expect, how this differs from 2008 and other ways to help grow your business during this unusual time.
Must-know Raleigh fact:
We take our food SERIOUSLY! According to OpenTable, 2 of the top 100 rated restaurants in the country, Brewery Bhavana and Crawford and Sons are right here in the Triangle!
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If you come visit me, we'll swing by Brewery Bhavana to grab some moon cakes, beef lo mein and pick out our own flowers to make a bouquet for the road!
