Event management strategies align every aspect of your event toward its intended objectives. To begin crafting your own event management strategy, you must first define your campaign's primary goals.

Once you do that, you must also tie those targets in with your brand goals. This will allow your company to review insights and set key performance indicators that will show whether those goals have been met. You cannot move forward with the look and feel of the event — or even focus on the consumer experience — until these elements are in place.

Event marketers need to reach new attendees now more than ever. According to an Eventbrite Pulse report, 64% of event professionals called it their biggest challenge.

One way to clear that engagement hurdle is through social media. Your ideal event attendees could be more open to connecting via their preferred social channels, though this approach does give way to a pair of questions: How do you know you’re reaching the right audience at the right time? And while social media is a useful tool, how does that translate into loyal and engaged customers?

Event design isn’t just the way something looks. It’s the way those visual elements work together to convey a brand story that people want to learn more about.

An event isn’t just the hall or center that hosts it. Nor are events limited to the displays, booths, and workshops that compose them. Events are those things and so much more, all working in conjunction to convey something much more significant — a brand story.

Events help this narrative jump off the page or screen to resonate with attendees and build the sort of emotional connections that translate into conversions and loyalty. This story is at a company’s foundation, the proverbial “why” that every organization should have if it hopes to click with its target audience.

Every event needs a plan before it can get off the ground. Organization and attention to detail will ensure that every facet of the event — from marketing to logistics to vendor management — is aligned and ready to go. Keeping track of those variables is quite an undertaking, but creating an event management strategy can keep everything in focus.

But where do you even begin? Start by identifying a primary objective that connects to your brand goals. After that, your job is to ensure that every step of your event planning ladders up to help you achieve those goals. Otherwise, you’ll never know what you need marketing to say, what role logistics will play, or what you need to tell vendors.

Innovation has long been key for brands that want to keep their messages fresh. Precisely how that innovation looks, however, depends on a brand's unique goals.

Verizon wanted to draw consumers into its event space, which is why it partnered with Snapchat last year for an augmented reality treasure hunt. Whiskey distributor Glenfiddich aimed to wow its audience, which is why it developed a personalized, digital app-enhanced tasting. And to help its messaging cut through the clutter and competition, lifestyle brand Refinery29 designed its 29Rooms event as a way for brands to do just that.