Meet in Kent

Prior to the pandemic, 16% of visits to Kent were for business tourism accounting for 21% of spend in the county. According to Visit Britain, the business events market is worth £31bn to the UK visitor economy, with business event attendees spending up to 30% more than leisure visitors.

The business events market was one of the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with meetings, conferences and business travelling coming to a halt. While it may be some time before we see international conferences and business travel return to pre-pandemic figures, some of the growing trends in the market present opportunities for destinations such as Kent.

The trend for remote or hybrid working and growing awareness of the value of staff wellbeing means that many corporate businesses are looking for ways to bring their staff together to collaborate, learn and motivate. Furthermore, the need for companies to reduce their carbon footprints, operate and travel more sustainably and spend money more locally, enjoying local produce and exploring local experiences are also important influences for them. With a range of unique venues and delegates experiences on offer across the county, on top of our convenient links to London and Europe means that Kent is well placed to respond to these trends.

The opportunities of working with this market, include:

• Creating new year-round income streams
• Welcoming new customers
• Increasing opportunities to create jobs and boost the local economy
• Collaboration with other venues, hotels and experiences
• Testing new products and ideas
• Co-promotion of other elements of your offer

The Meet in Kent website (www.meetinkent.co.uk) showcases our county as an inspiring place to host business events. If you are a meeting venue, experience provider or accommodation and you would like to list your business on the Meet in Kent website then get in touch - enquiries@visitkent.co.uk

Tone of Voice
Writing for a corporate audience doesn’t mean you have to lose your personality, but you’ll want to write in a way that your potential customer will understand and relate to easily.

Remember who your audience are
The people you are speaking to may be booking on behalf of their own company, or on behalf of a client and their delegates rather than for themselves.

Capacities
If you have a meeting space, be clear on the seating capacities according to layout as meeting planners will need this basic information at a glance. The main layouts to focus on are: theatre, boardroom, cabaret and reception.

Amenities
Does your meeting room have a projector and screen? Are flip charts available at an additional cost? Do you offer sheltered space for group lunches, or parking for coaches? Tell the event bookers about it all.

Your little black book
Let event planners know if you have contacts for local private hire vehicles to collect delegates, or if you have a good relationship with a local AV company or caterer.

Think image
Attention spans are short so a good image that shows off your venue to your target audience is vital. Shots of your meeting rooms or events space set up are important in helping potential customers to decide if you’re for them. However, you don’t want all images to show empty spaces. Take pictures that also show delegates enjoying your meeting space or experience. As you are targeting a business audience, avoid any images that show couples, families or weddings.

Case studies are a great way to promote your business and there are many ways to write them. We’ve listed some tips on style and tone for your listing above that are also relevant here – but above all else, this content is all about telling a story.

Here are some tips to help produce a regular stream of useful content that may help persuade potential clients to choose your venue or experience over the competition.

• Create a feedback form (on or offline), including a tick box asking for permission to use for marketing purposes or requesting permission to follow up.
• Encourage attendees of an away day, team event or experience to complete any feedback as close to the booking as possible, ideally on the day.
• An incentive such as 10% off a future booking may help to encourage people who have booked your venue or experience to give their review.
• Case studies don’t just make great content for your website, they also help it to be found on search engines if written well and of a suitable length (around 700 words is ideal).
• They are valuable if promoting your business on social media or in paid or unpaid promotion with local media, potentially creating a buzz, adding kudos or authenticity to your product and increasing word of mouth recommendations.
• If time is short, then a Q&A format is an easy way to produce your case study. You’ll just need to contact your client to request a good quality image from their day, if no official photography is taken.
• Pick selectively from your written case studies to organise a video shoot and produce a showreel highlighting positive feedback of a great experience.
• Remember to get permission from the business before publishing a case study.

• Introduce the customer
• Detail what they were looking for
• Highlight any challenges they faced
• Why they chose your venue or experience
• What you delivered for them
• Their verdict on the experience
• What stood out for them
• Would they recommend you again and why
• End with a call to action (e.g., For more information or To make a booking)

The VisitBritain industry website has a huge range of information and insights into the business events market in the UK. 

Click here to explore.