Event Planning Is On The Rise, and So Are You
If you’re an event or wedding planner, you’ve probably seen a lot of growth in clientele and event numbers over the past few years. By 2028, the global events industry market size is expected to be $2,194.40 billion, which is good news for event planners like yourself! In fact, event planning jobs are expected to grow by 8% between 2023 and 2032. From corporate events (in-person and virtual) and weddings to birthday parties and baby showers, event planning is clearly a growing field. These uptrends can spell exceptional growth for your event planning business, which also comes with more work. Therefore, it might be worth it to consider a virtual assistant for event planners.
Why Should You Hire a Virtual Assistant for Event Planners?
As an event manager, you want the events you put together to exceed your client’s expectations, but we know this isn’t an easy feat. After all, there are so many moving pieces involved when organizing an in-person, virtual, and/or hybrid event. The last thing you want to do is drop the ball when helping others celebrate a special moment or coordinating a corporate conference that’s meant to enhance a company’s brand.
The level of responsibility involved in retrieving materials, working with vendors, listening to your client’s requests, and more can lead to stress and overwhelm. Your growing to-do list likely leaves you feeling like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, especially if you’re running your business alone.
However, you don’t have to carry the weight of responsibility all by yourself. A virtual assistant for event planners is a cost-effective way to get the high-level support you need without the employee price tag. They’re a flexible option for those who need a professional who can adjust to their changing business needs.
Tasks You Can Delegate to a Virtual Assistant
With a growing clientele base comes a growing list of tasks. Event and wedding planners have a number of niche jobs to conduct every day, but there’s no end to the tasks you can delegate to a virtual assistant for those big events. Here are just a few ideas to consider when delegating to a virtual assistant. A remote assistant can…
Virtual Assistants Can Do Administrative Tasks For Event Planners
There are tons of tasks you can assign to your event planning virtual assistant. For instance, they can help you with:
- Recording notes in a CRM following client and prospect interactions
- Sending contracts to clients and sending reminders if needed
- Creating digital folders for each client
- Developing and tracking client proposals
- Supporting calendars, committees, meetings, travel, expense reports, etc.
- Coordinating all event details, including budget, catering, technology needs, presentation materials, guest lists, security, entertainment, decorations, marketing materials, and travel support
- Handling the venue booking process from start to finish, which includes, but is not limited to, insurance requests, payment, and follow-up
- Build and maintain an extensive database of industry contacts, vendors, and venues
- Overseeing client experiences from conception through post-event
- And more!
Virtual Event Planning Assistants Can Help With Customer Support Tasks
Great customer support goes a long way in the event planning industry. Falling short in this area could be devastating, so it’s important to stay on top of things. A virtual assistant for event planners could:
- Answers phones in a pleasant and friendly manner (if you schedule them to be available during a certain block of time)
- Take messages and give callers information about company services, menus, resources, hours of operation, etc. If they don’t know, they can direct the caller to the correct person.
- Email requested materials to clients and staff
- Manage communications with event sponsors, presenters, speakers, guests, etc.
- Upsell services
- Reply to text messages and emails
Virtual Assistants Can Manage Your Social Media
These days, it helps a lot to have a social media presence as an event planner. Some event planners have their photos and videos shared thousands of times, which can lead to more bookings and more money. However, trying to handle social media tasks while also doing your event planning duties isn’t easy to do alone. A virtual assistant for event planners can assist with:
- Create a social media strategy for various platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
- Retrieve your photos and videos and organize them in a digital folder so they access them when generating content
- Research content that would resonate well with your audience
- Use Canva, Photoshop, or another tool to design graphics
- Schedule your social media content calendar
- Monitor the analytics and make adjustments as necessary
- Reply to comments and direct messages that come in
- And more!
Virtual Assistants Can Nurture Your Leads With Email Marketing
Social media can get leads to your website, but email marketing can turn them into paying clients. Let a virtual assistant for event planners handle the following:
- Preparing campaign content by obtaining the copy, finding images, and creating graphics
- Scheduling the content to send weekly, biweekly, monthly, or whatever frequency you choose
- Evaluating the results to check for the open rate, clickthrough rate, and more
- Uploading email addresses, names, and other details
- Setting up automated emails
- Segmenting your subscriber list
- And more
Virtual Assistants Can Help With Some Tech Tasks
Technology can help your business stay ahead of the curve, but it’s not everyone’s strong point. Fortunately, a virtual event planning assistant can help you with that, too! Your dedicated virtual assistant can:
- Add or update your portfolio to include new photos and videos
- Organize blog posts so leads can read about previous events you’ve pulled off
- Set up your CRM tool (e.g., Honeybook, Dubsado, Keap, Planning Pod) and/or project management software (Asana, Trello, ClickUp, etc.)
- Assist with integrations that can help you automate various tasks
- Set up a teaching platform like Teachable, Thinkific, Kajabi, etc., so you can launch an online course to teach other event planners
- And more!
Your Virtual Assistant Can Aid With Personal Tasks As Well
Need a virtual assistant to help with your personal tasks as well? No problem! Here are some suggested ways a virtual assistant can help you:
- Find and schedule house cleaners
- Search and shop online for gifts, clothing, etc.
- Manage the family calendar
- Arrange for grocery delivery
- Help plan vacations
- Schedule doctor appointments and family events
- Arrange for transportation
- Research child care options
- Set up pet care services (dog walking, vet visits, etc.)
- Research senior care services
- Help with meal planning
Find the Perfect Virtual Assistant for Event Planners
You’ve decided you need a virtual assistant for your growing event planning business, but where do you start? There are so many things to get done in a 24-hour day that it can seem like an extra chore just to find the right virtual assistant. Between project planning and coordinating clients, who have time to set up a job listing and interview potential assistants?
Let Imperative Concierge Services help you find the right virtual assistant! We have over 8 years of experience matching virtual assistants to clients’ specific needs.
Hire a Virtual Assistant for Event Planners and Get Your Time Back
Your business is growing in a field that’s expected to see an explosion of growth in the next decade. Get ahead of the curve and get some of your much-needed personal time back by hiring a virtual assistant.
