Over the last two years, I have gotten to host and coordinate dozens of workshops and I am here to tell you a little secret. If you are a small business or creative entrepreneur and you aren’t participating in workshops, you should!
Today we are going to be diving into why this sweet little activity is so important and how it can help transform your business…and you guys it isn’t because it will make you rich after one night of teaching!
Ok, before you stop reading after that last statement, hear me out. So I know that I just said that workshops won’t make you rich. And if you are looking for a get rich quick ticket item, this isn’t the place for you. But if you are here because you want to grow your audience and you want to connect with your community in order to organically grow your business, then this is a huge opportunity for you!
1. People love fun activities!
Now more than ever, people are turning towards activities with their friends that are more experimental and full of activity. We are also seeing a trend in people wanting to connect and find a community that they have something they have in common with. Think about it, we work all day, 5 days a week and then on top of it, there are the commutes to work, exercising, taking care of our families, going to church, cleaning our houses and whatever else piles onto our plates on a weekly basis. And then we are supposed to have an active social life! GEEZZ! I am tired just thinking about it!
Insert fun workshops and these social activities that in the past needed to be planned and well thought out are suddenly take care of for us. All we have to do is buy a ticket and show up. It is pretty awesome!
2. You get to take advantage of free marketing….
So at this point you have probably attended a workshop of some sort with your friends and know how much fun you have had…and you are probably going through and thinking about that awesome instructor that lead the workshop. Do you know what that is? That my friends
When we think about all the ways that we can market our businesses, things like social media advertising, print ads and pop up shops probably start to jump into our heads. These are absolutely great ways to promote and propel your journey to success and are necessary for our marketing portfolio. But have you ever thought about what type of marketing gives you access to a captive audience for 2 hours? Where all tickets are purchased up front so you know exactly the amount of supplies you need to prepare yourself with? Where you are introduced to a community that is new to you?
Ok, yeah. That’s pretty cool. Now let’s look at it a different way. What would you say if someone approached you and told you if you spent an evening talking about your passion and in return they would give you 10-24 new followers? I know for me I would be all about it! I can spend hours on a social media post and….crickets…..I think we all know the feeling!
By taking advantage of the rise in popularity of these workshop-style events, you get to do exactly that. And I will tell you this, there is no other marketing tool that is quite as effective as having a face to face encounter with someone where they walk away feeling accomplished and more knowledgeable…all because of you! Now times that by how many seats you fill up!
Which leads me to my next point of why these are just so darn important. Social Proof.
3. If we don’t have social proof…we don’t exist.
In this day and age, having social proof is a MUST! We all know that the very first place that we run to check someone out is on social media. If someone doesn’t have social proof that they are good at what they say they are, then its a non-starter for most of us. By hosting your own workshop, you are putting yourself in front of an audience of new people that get to experience your talents. By the end of the night, these people know just how great you are and they are taking photos and posting to their accounts about how much fun they are having and how much they are learning.
When this happens you create that much needed social proof and have the ability to use this to help promote yourself in the future. This is one of the biggest assets that we can have when it comes to our clients!
So let’s recap.
Hosting a workshop can be seriously beneficial to our small businesses. From creating an opportunity to use experiential marketing to generating that much needed social proof that businesses thrive one, you will be setting yourself up for more success!
Want to apply to host a workshop with us? Click below to get started!