Starting an Event Management Company

Question: Describe about the Starting an Event Management Company? Answer: Introduction Starting an Event Management Company from home is a widely accepted concept among young entrepreneurs (Kotler, 2012). The concept of starting a business from home enables business owners to experiment and also cut cost associated with resources required. This paper analyses the various ways in which an event management business can be marketed. Further, it aims at identifying and describing the information that is required to be submitted to the HMRC. The paper summarises the various stages that need to be carried out to start an event management business from home. Towards the end, it reviews different types of IT that an event manager can use to run an event management business from home. Event Management Company Event Management Company is engaged in organising and conducting events, such as conferences, seminars, parties, weddings or any personal or professional event. Event Management Company has key five functions; Planning, Organising, Staffing, Leading and Coordination and Controlling (Ramsborg, 2000). 1. Planning: It is the one of the main functions of an event management company. The event manager along with sales and marketing team prepares a plan for the event to be conducted as per clients requirements. It involves analysing the clients profile, requirement for the event, target audience and budget. 2. Organising: This is the second function for event manager. Once planning is done, organising the event is carried. It is from this stage that the real implementation of the program initiates (Kotler, 2009). 3. Staffing: After organising, staffing is done where event manager allocates work to different personnel of the company. 4. Leading and Coordination: Co-ordination among the personnel remains one of the key challenges for event. Hence, leading the team and coordinating the team is one of the key functions for event manager (Christensen, 1997). 5. Controlling: Finally, controlling refers to managing the personnel and managing the entire event effectively. These are five key functions of an Event Management Company. Marketing Ways Adopted by an Event Management Company An Event Management Company can adopt various marketing ways to advertise their business. Top ways to market business include Networking, Advertising, Business Cards, Informative brochures, Direct mails and Social Media Marketing (Ramsborg, 2000). Networking: This is one of the common ways to market an event management business. While networking, event planners usually meet people and hence, they know what services they offer. This way, they can refer business to their friends and colleagues. Secondly, networking with managers of hotels, caterers provide an opportunity to get clients looking for reputable event management companies. Advertising: Second way of marketing an event management company is through advertising. Advertising can be print or online depending upon the resources with the company. Event managers can give their advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Also, they can post their advertisements on others website through PPC, Google Adwords etc. Business cards: Third step is to publish professional business cards. Now days, e-business cards are widely used by companies to advertise themselves. However, some companies even prefer keeping traditional business cards (Bowdin, 2009). Informative brochures: Like business cards, informative brochures can be used as an effective way to attract prospective clients. This brochure will be first thing that clients will use to judge the event management company. Social Media Networking: Now days, the power of social media cant be underestimated. Social media enable marketers to interact with consumers effectively. Hence, being active on Facebook, Twitter etc can be really helpful for an event management company. These are some of the marketing ways that can be used by an event management company. Role of HMRC HMRC or Her Majestys Revenue and Custom is a non-ministerial department of UK government accountable to collect taxes and payment of some forms of state support. Hence, for a business, it is crucial to pay direct taxes including income tax and corporate tax and capital taxes. It is crucial for every new business to get registered with HMRC (Guiltinan, 1986). A sole trader and a nominated party can be registered. A new business can register itself for corporation tax and VAT. Further, a new employer can register itself for PAYE to take on staff. Steps to be taken to start an event management business from home There are different types of options available with the entrepreneurs while starting a company. These are Private Limited Company, Sole Trader and Partnership. Private Limited Company is created by one or more persons and their contribution to the company is limited (Goldblatt, 2008). Hence, their responsibility is limited. Sole Trader is one of the simplest forms of business which can be created by only one person with less investment (Dev, 2005). Sole Trader usually chooses to trade their business on their own name and he/she retains complete over his/her business. Partnership is a business organisation in which two or more people decide to operate the business (Adcock, 2001). The partners can be individuals, business organisations, schools, government or combinations. Some of the steps to be taken to start an event management business from home are: Collecting essential resources: To start a home based planning business, first step is to gather essential resources such as computer, telephone, fax, printer, basic party supplies, business license and a truck or a van. Find ways to market business: Marketing is an essential process for any business. Next step is to find ways to advertise business. There are wide-ranging marketing ways that can be adopted by an event management company (Cravens, 2010). These are described in above section. Carrying appropriate planning: In order to start a home based planning business, it is important to have a capable though small workforce. All members should be confident, creative, possess good verbal and written skills and management skills. This is the crucial time to budget, plan and negotiate. These are three key ways to start an event management business from home. Different types of IT There are various types of IT requirement of an event planner. Planners usually IT supports in order to develop themes and designs for requirements. Hence, employing a third party IT Company or cheap IT contractors can help in coping up with these requirements easily (Bowdin, 2009). Besides this, event planners can employ another event coordinator/designer, clerical assistant, human resource professional, marketing professional (Adcock, 2001). Event planners can handle non-essential functions such as accounting, tax related jobs etc them. To start a home based planning business, planers might need significant funding that is able to pay the bills, rents and salaries for three months. Conclusion In todays complex business environment, starting a small business is a task in itself. The needs of consumers keep changing with ever evolving technology and growing awareness so marketers are generally required to carry out thorough primary and secondary research. Now days, many people plan to start small businesses from home by making small investments. Starting a business from home helps the businessmen to cut the cost associated with HR, IT, Finance and other departments. One of the rising concepts is starting an event management company from home. 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