8 Things Your Venue Listing Needs to Stand Out
Having your restaurant, hotel, or unique venue listed on a venue directory like VENUES By Tripleseat and EventUp should absolutely be part of your overall marketing plan and budget. However, just being listed won’t be enough to generate the leads and event growth you are seeking.
To really grab the attention of event planners while they are actively browsing and searching for their perfect venue space and to grow your lead revenue, there are eight things that your listing or profile needs to stand out from the crowd.
1. Great photos
The single most important thing on your listing is the number and the quality of your photos. At EventUp, we’ve found that profiles with three or more photos see a 33% increase in profile page views. Prospective customers have a hard time envisioning what their event could look like if they only have one grainy photo for reference.
Make your most standout photo the main header image — people want to see your space first, and food second. Your header image is the image that is used across the directory as the first image that viewers see. Make it the best photo of the space that you have. Unless you’re a catering company; you would want the focus to be on the food and setup.
Having five to 10 quality photos of your venue is ideal. And more doesn’t hurt — event planners are very visual and creative people and want to view all the photos.
2. About section
This is a detailed description of your venue, your offerings, your menu, and why your venue is unique — #BragAboutYourself. I mean it if you have the best rooftop, patio, dumplings, margarita — whatever your specialty may be — talk about it, show it, and make your listing visitors want to experience it. Include up-to-date and accurate information on what you offer and the types of social and corporate events you can accommodate. List hours and days of the week your venue is available, the types of packages you offer, and what is included and what is not.
Get detailed: What is it like to work with your venue as an event planner? Do planners get an assigned event manager or work with a whole team helping to plan and execute their event? What will need to be planned/ordered from a vendor? Do you have preferred vendors?
Highlight past events you have hosted that really stand out or specific details that may spark imagination for others such as a celebrity wedding, an organization that uses you as their preferred vendor, or any must-have design elements like ice sculptures, a dessert table with a chocolate fountain, or a glow in the dark dance floor. What are the specific details that set your venue apart from everyone else around you? Those are the factors that you will really want to highlight and brag about.
3. Venue tours
In today’s climate event planners are relying more and more on virtual tours to see a venue space and possible capabilities before requesting a quote or booking a site review. It’s best to record a few virtual tours with a blank space and set up for different types of events that you have hosted. This helps the event planners envision the possibilities that your unique space offers them.
If you have any video footage of an event that you have hosted, include these under the tour section of your listing profile (with permission from the videographer and clients, of course). It’s a glimpse into the event experiences you can create at your venue.
4. Positive reviews
Adding positive reviews from Google, Yelp, and Facebook offers a wide variety of feedback. More than 80% of people trust reviews online even if they don’t know the person who wrote the review; they are more likely to request a quote when it’s positively reviewed.
5. Pricing
Even if most events are highly customizable, which can change the overall price, event planners are looking for a starting budget or guideline to determine if your venue is realistically within their personal budget.
6. FAQs
Copy over your frequently asked questions (FAQs) from your main website to help answer as many questions as you can during the browsing phase for event planners. If you don’t have any set FAQs, now is the perfect time to establish them. What are the most common questions that you seem to be answering over and over between phone, email, and social media accounts? Take those questions and answers to set up your FAQs across your website and listing profile.
7. Floor plans
Another valuable tool for event planners is floor plans, especially for larger events or corporate functions. There are lots of options for floor planning software: AllSeated‘s platform includes tools such as managed guest lists, 3D floor plans to-scale, 360 Real Plans-3D, virtual reality walk-throughs, seating charts, timelines, mobile check-in, and more. Social Tables users can add customized online floor plans and seating charts to their Tripleseat bookings through the Social Tables suite of products.
Even if you do not have any professional plans created by a vendor or software company you can easily create simple plans in Canva or Photoshop that will still provide a planner an idea of the overall layout and available space they have to work with.
8. Complete profile
When you are creating your directory profile, completely fill out each section available. The benefits of filling out all sections are two-fold.
First, adding all the options your venue offers increases how often you appear in search results. When event planners are looking for the perfect venue for their event, they select options and amenities that mean the most to them; you want to make sure that your venue appears as often as possible on the search results page for those options that you do offer.
Second, the more complete your profile is the more an event planner can understand your venue and unique space and visualize what their event would look like with you. Do not limit your search results possibilities by leaving anything blank or generic.
Get in front of thousands of event planners and increase your bookings
Updating these eight types of information in your VENUES and EventUp profiles sets your listing up for success. A complete and optimized listing enhances your potential for thousands of event planners to browse and fall in love with your event space and submit a quote request. Great pictures, detailed information, and answering those common questions upfront makes your venue stand out from the crowd and helps grow venue event revenue.
Need more resources to make your listing even better? Check out these blog posts: