When it comes to your business, you’ll spend the bulk of your time trying to develop and grow your brand, do your best, and all-around ensure that the future is bright. Yet while you’ll have plenty of office time when you’re running things, it’s also important to think of other ways to promote your brand.

For example, hosting an event. These can have a lot of benefits, including providing an opportunity to celebrate your successes and introduce new people to your company. Also, they can be fun. Below, we’ll take a look at four things you’ll need to do to ensure that your event is deemed a success.

Pick the Right Time

There’s a right and wrong time to host an event. It wouldn’t make any sense to host the event during your busy period; though it might not seem like a lot of work, they are. You’ll need to have a relatively clear schedule so that you and your staff can work on developing ideas. It’s best to hold the event during spring and summer, since that’s when most people are keen to attend events. Take a look at your past few years and figure out when you’re quiet period is, and go with that. You’ll also want to talk with your staff to ensure that the timing is good for them, too — it’ll be much easier to organize if they’re on board with the plan.

Have a Goal

It’s always a good idea to have some sort of goal when you’re hosting an event. For example, you might want to make connections with other business people, or you may just want to market your company. You may want to cement your branding. It doesn’t really matter what it is; what’s important is that you have a goal. Understanding what it is will help to direct the tone and style of your event, and will be used in all the decisions you have to take.

Think Logistics

There’ll be plenty of time to think about fun (more on that later), but you’ll also need to think about logistics. Unless you’ve planned parties and events before, you might be surprised at just how much planning is required. You’ll need to find a space, think about food and drinks, you may need permits to host the event, and so on. If you’re holding the event outdoors, then you’ll need to think about a porta potty rental and what you’ll do if it begins to rain. The more prepared you are, the better the event will go — it’s always the way!

Bring the Fun

You may hope that the event is good for business, but you can’t host an event and just hope for positive things to come back to you. You have to give in order to receive. So be sure to bring the fun, be it through free drinks, live music, games, or whatever else — people aren’t going to give up their time to attend an event if it’s not going to be fun!