How to Plan a Successful Launch Party

A launch party gives you a chance to build relationships with your staff and customers. Here is how to plan a successful launch party.

A launch party is one of the best reasons to plan a celebration for your business. It indicates the arrival of something new, whether it’s a new brand, product, or service – and the introduction of new opportunities for your company. This event is also a wonderful opportunity to get people in the team together to relax, unwind and let off some steam. 

You might be surprised to learn that throwing the occasional party for your staff can actually help them to build better connections with each other – because they feel like part of a community. Plus, a launch party is a chance to form a better relationship with your customers too. The question is, how do you plan a launch party that’s sure to make the right impression?

1. Know Your Goals for the Party

Usually, the aim of a party is to celebrate someone or something, and have plenty of fun in the process. However, when you’re hosting an event for a business, the goals can become a little more specific. For instance, you might decide that you want this celebration to be the perfect opportunity to start gathering new leads from clients that might be interested in your new service. If that’s the case, you should definitely have a presentation where you show off what’s coming up soon. 

If you’re planning on getting people excited about moving into a new office building, then your goal could be to put employee minds at ease and improve their engagement. Maybe you can measure how people feel by asking them to rate the new office at the end of the night. 

2. Start Planning Early

Like with most parties, the more time you have to plan, the better off you’re going to be. A successful celebration takes a lot of work and consideration. You’ll have various points to think about, from who the guest list needs to include, to how you’re going to cater the event and when the venue should be. On top of all that, you need to get the budget for the celebration approved too. 

Planning the party well ahead of time will help to ensure that you don’t miss any important factors. It also ensures that you can start sending out guest invites early enough for your customers to include you in their calendar. That way, you’ll probably end up with more attendees. 

3. Think about the Goodie Bags

Most parties come with some gifts to think about – whether it’s a birthday present or an anniversary gift. With launch parties, the idea is to give little presents to your clients, and sometimes your employees too. Goodie bags will remind everyone of the event and give them a memento of the important day to look back on in the months and years to come. GiftCannon has some great ideas for that sort of thing if you’re stuck for inspiration.

It’s best if you can plan what you’re going to include in these gift bags as early as possible. For instance, you might include branded merchandise, sweet treats, or even a discount code for the new product you’re going to be selling. 

4. Make it Exciting

A launch event is supposed to be an exciting experience, so look for ways to make the celebration as thrilling as possible. Goodie bags and gifts are a good start, but think about the other details too, such as whether you’re going to have guest speakers come and talk about your product, or whether you’ll be having a live demonstration of the new service that you’re going to provide. The goals of your launch event will help you to figure out what kind of entertainment and exciting activities are appropriate. 

Remember that great music is often the key to a good party, so having a live band on-premise that can churn out the tunes is often a good idea. You might consider using playlists if you don’t know any bands that are particularly suitable for your company. 

5. Remember the Catering

Finally, remember to think about the catering. You don’t want people leaving your launch event early because they’re hungry and you’re not dishing out snacks. Having plenty of drinks flowing around the venue will help to keep the conversation going between employees and clients, and it should assist with the atmosphere too. 

When it comes to food, think about whether a sit-down meal or a grazing board of snacks and buffet items might be more appealing to your visitors. The style of event you’re hosting will help to direct you to the right kind of catering. 

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