I came across this company today that organizes marketing events for big name national brands. The events are parties that are hosted in private homes across the United States, all on the same day, and apparently they attract thousands of hosts and tens of thousands of guests.
These are clearly marketing parties – products and services are not sold during the party. Some of the goals of the parties include brand awareness, word of mouth advertising, and attracting new customers. Additionally, sponsors collect guests’ demographics and contact information.
Guests are treated to movie and TV show previews, get to try out new products, or can help a charitable cause.
The company name and link can be found at the bottom of this post, but before you rush off to learn more about them, let me get to the point of why I’m writing about them.
Reading about the company had me wondering whether consultants should consider something like this as an alternative to the direct sales home party. If your market has become hesitant to host sales parties or hostesses are having trouble getting guests to participate, it’s time for an alternative approach. People might be more open to a party that offers a makeover and free samples, or a look at a new product line and some coupons for future purchases, but promises no sales presentation and doesn’t offer anything for sale at the party.
From the consultant’s prospective a marketing party is similar to an advertising campaign that produces returns a week or month down the road…. an investment in future sales.
Have you ever presented any type of direct sales party other than the traditional sales party? Or do you think you would consider offering something like a marketing party? Please leave a comment with your thoughts.
The company that organizes the marketing parties for brand name companies is called House Party™ and can be found at HouseParty.com.
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July 23rd, 2009 at 6:44 PM
No I have not heard of this before, but it congers up to mind something of an Open House where those in DS would present their wares but have no real items for sale per se. Many use this format when they are kicking off their new business or during the Holidays to show the new wares before the catalog comes out,
So carrying it over into a marketing party is an interesting twist. Would it work in my community? Not sure. It also brings to mind of the parties in the 80′s where you were brought in to buy into distributorships or distributions of product.
hmmmm Interesting
July 24th, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Hi Chris. Thanks for commenting.
I definitely wouldn’t recommend reviving those distributor buy-in parties of the 80′s, because if I recall, some of them used deceptive practices. Friends might be invited over for dinner with no mention of the business opportunity presentation that would be made. I prefer complete transparency.
I pictured parties more like the preview of new products you mentioned or some other kind of demonstration. For example, with Tupperware you might offer a class or demonstration on organizing the pantry or cooking with kids.
I don’t know… like you said, it might work better in some markets than in others, and some product lines might be more easily adapted to something like this.
Or maybe it’s just not one of my better ideas.
August 1st, 2009 at 5:35 AM
Nice and interesting blog.I agree with you on reviving those distributor buy-in parties of the 80’s this is an issue which is always there in between me and my friend…
August 7th, 2009 at 11:49 AM
One of my good friends does weekly networking parties at his house to promote whatever network marketing opportunity he’s doing at that time. They are usually well attended and do get him direct signups at the end of the party. I went to one and listened once and he doesn’t make it sound like a sales pitch at all, more of a “come, let’s meet and talk about opportunities that I have going on right now” and then friends invite friends, who invite friends, etc. Seems to do pretty well for him.
August 8th, 2009 at 8:05 AM
Thanks for posting that Greg. It sounds like your friend is up front about why he’s inviting people over, which is great. And it’s good to hear that it’s working for him. It was the old deceptive practices that I didn’t like. It sounds like his friends are quite enthusiastic about the parties too since they’re bringing other friends.
May 19th, 2010 at 12:57 AM
A very good marketing strategy is very important in promoting your products both online and offline.”~-
May 25th, 2010 at 9:48 PM
i really love to attend in parties because it is fun an you met a lot of new friends..-.
June 17th, 2010 at 3:41 PM
We are even more astounded about on-line marketing because of understanding how the youger generation communicate with the outside world with their technology. My 13 year old nephew just sent me a site they had developed to keep track of areas of interest for their classmates. They needed to know how one could generate marketing on the system to . so proud of them.