Unique Venues Consulting Guide 2023

Who We Are

Unique Venues has been the leader in connecting unique people with unique spaces for 37 years In 1986, we began as a print publication mailed directly to planners and then became the first web directory site for non-traditional venues several years later. Since then, we’ve been marketing and consulting one-of-a-kind venues, like yours, to bring you leads and improve venue sales, operations, and marketing strategies.

At Unique Venues We Believe...

In supporting unique spaces and non-traditional venues in growing their business with intentional partnerships that create genuine connections and lasting impressions

That our team of experts is our greatest asset; we enhance experiences and partnerships through authentic human connection and trustworthy advice through a consultative approach .

That each venue is unique and so are the people who operate them. Diversity is in the fabric of our DNA, and we strive to promote what makes your venue different.

In celebrating the notion that people gather for varied reasons and that audiences are filled with humans of every race, gender expression, spiritual belief, sexual orientation, age, political leaning, and more

In providing a human touch to every lead that we send to make sure that you and the planner have the potential to achieve your goals while maximizing efficiency.

Our

Consulting Reach is Unparalleled

With an extensive list of over 200 consultations in our portfolio, we are experts in helping our partners improve & grow their business sales and operations.

Clients That Use Our Consulting Services

We Want to be Your Trusted Consulting Partner

Our extensive list of consultative services provides you with options to improve the sales, marketing, and operational outcomes at your venue..

Consulting Engagement Solutions

Business Plans

Our most popular consultative product and the one that started it all is the Business Plan. More than 200 venues in the past 25 years have used a tailored business plan from Unique Venues to increase organizational effectiveness, spur growth, and maximize revenue generation and space utilization. Using established experts in the conference and events industry, a team of consultants works with your venue to evaluate your current staffing, operations, sales process, and all marketing and outreach strategies, and develops a comprehensive report that offers the key elements in a business plan

Key Elements in a Business Plan Include:

• Program Vision

• Staffing Recommendations

• Operational Recommendations

• 3-Year Sales Action Plan

• Implementation Roadmap

• Pricing Comparisons

• Operating Pro Forma

Using the report, venues can prioritize change, advocate for needed resources, market your venue with intent, sell with clear goals and objectives, and develop a timeline for realistic program growth

The Business Plan is perfect for both new venues looking to get into the meetings and events space, or established venues looking to elevate their program and maximize their potential.

Starting at $25,000 USD + Travel Expenses

Sales Action Plan

Growing your conference and events business and increasing revenue annually takes a commitment to regular marketing and sales activities and the execution of a multi-pronged outreach plan. Are you new to the industry and are unsure of where to start? Do you struggle to focus on these types of activities due to the need to service existing business? Are you looking for new ways to reach untapped markets? Unique Venues has been assisting venues with their sales action plans for more than 25 years

• General Strategies – Marketing strategies such as website, social media, collateral, photo and video, etc., with crossover use for all market segments

• Corporate – Strategies to attract board meetings, recruitment fairs, workshops, retreats, and educational trainings conducted by businesses and corporations

• Association – Strategies to attract nonprofit professional, para-professional, and special interest groups for educational and developmental conferences and events

• Government – Strategies to attract planning meetings, town halls, workshops, and educational trainings conducted by government organizations

• SMERF – Strategies to attract social events such as weddings and reunions, military gatherings, and educational, religious, and fraternal organizations that hold meetings and events

• Other – Other targeted strategies, based on your business model and interest, including youth groups, internally developed programs, and film & television shoots

All strategies are prioritized based on potential impact and aligned with the three-year plan.

Starting at $10,000 USD

Consulting Engagement Solutions

Marketing Intelligence

Are you ever asked to find out what your competitors are up to? What are their prices? How well do they respond to an RFP? How do their venues compare to yours? What competitive advantages do they have that may impact your ability to compete? Through a Unique Venues Marketing Intelligence and Competitor SWOT Analysis consultation, you gain answers to these questions and more We make strategic recommendations for you to implement that raise your level of competitiveness so that you can attract and book more business.

Starting at $13,000 USD + Travel Expenses

Intern Housing Program Review

Are you looking for a way to fill some of the existing availability in your overnight accommodations, but struggle to find the right groups to fit within the existing gaps? If so, housing interns at your property is a great way to add some incremental, non-group revenue to your annual income and increase your overall occupancy. If housing interns is a new opportunity for you, or if you need a fresh set of eyes to review your existing program, Unique Venues can help . We explore your property’s ability to attract interns based on local and regional competition, establish a market positioning strategy, develop a plan for outreach that differentiates your property from other competitors, review pricing, policies, agreements, and operational plans, and project the potential return on investment for an intern housing program at your property .

Starting at $10,000 USD + Travel Expenses

Consulting Engagement Solutions

Website Review & Improvement Plan

Do you have a website presence, but need to align your website promotion strategies with your goals? Is your website outdated and in need of a refresh? Does it underperform in search results, pageviews, and user engagement? Unique Venues can help! Using established best practices in website design, we thoroughly review each indexed page of your venue’s website and provide a detailed report in three distinct areas:

• Design & Content – Using on-page analytics and industry awareness, our team reviews the site architecture, overall brand identity, design elements, and macro-level content, providing recommendations to enhance the quality of content given and the ease of accessing information by your prospective clients.

• Technology - Using a variety of tools, our team measures the technological performance of your website and related plug-ins, providing recommendations to increase site performance and page speed .

• SEO Strength – Through keyword research and search analytics, our team assesses the strength of your SEO, providing recommendations for updating meta tags and site content to improve organic search performance.

Results from all three areas are provided in a branded slide deck that can be presented to website developers, brand managers, and content developers to make targeted, strategic updates to your website to achieve impactful results.

Starting at $7,000 USD

Website Persona Development & Customer Journey Mapping

Creating a sales-oriented website that provides relevant and timely information to potential customers requires that you first understand those customers and how you move them from basic awareness of your services and products to a contracted sale. To establish your venue’s position in the meetings and event marketplace, Unique Venues works with you and your stakeholders to understand your organizational values, define a set of customer personas, and map a customer’s experience moving through the sales funnel from prospect to client. Using the final deliverable of a branded slide deck with the results of the conversations around organizational values, client profiles, customer journey, and brand positioning, your venue is prepared with the foundation to launch a website implementation or redesign that is sure to target the audiences and type of business opportunities you are looking to capture .

Starting at $3,000 USD

Website Wireframe Development

Unique Venues develops a full sitemap for your venue website, either as a standalone site or as an integrated part of your organization’s web structure. Based on the sitemap, we provide website wireframes and design direction for up to four different page types, based on your specific needs. In addition, we provide a detailed optimization strategy for driving conversions on the website and specific call-to-action recommendations. All wireframes are designed for both desktop and mobile deployment and adhere to any organizational brand standards and design guidelines

Starting at $4,500 USD

Consulting Engagement Solutions

Customer Service Culture & Program Development - Onsite

Customer service is more than greeting people with a smile and responding quickly to their questions. While these are great behaviors, it all truly starts with having a service philosophy and culture that is valued and embraced by your entire venue team and the service providers you use. In this consultation, our team works with you to develop, implement, and evaluate a customer service culture starting with mission-based philosophies that are built upon to create a comprehensive approach to successful service throughout all facets of your operation.

Focus is Given to the Following:

• Creating your philosophy

• Infusing your philosophy into your hiring plan

• Developing consistent and effective training for current staff and all new hires

• Using coaching methods to achieve success with team members

• Using service as a criterion for evaluating staff

• Developing and implementing service communication strategies for customer success

• Evaluating customer success and feedback for continual improvement

• Meeting customer needs through new and improved strategies

Forty-five days following the conclusion of the onsite meeting, your venue is given an in-depth package including a training program and guides to begin your journey to truly excel at service – a quality that rewards you with excellent planner referrals and customer retention

Starting at $25,000 USD + Travel Expenses for Two Consultants

Consulting Engagement Solutions

Organization Culture Review

Understanding your brand culture helps to determine how you portray your venue or organization to your team members, your clients, and those that partner with and serve you. Further, a solid understanding of your brand culture provides a firm foundation for financial success and helps to stake your claim in your marketplace

In this program, Unique Venues’ certified CultureTalk partners help you to define your brand culture and apply it to all aspects of your business . From hiring, training, operations, marketing, sales, and service, your brand culture is the foundation to a successful operation.

Deliverables for This Program Include:

• Organizational CultureTalk archetype assessment administered to all team members and a random sampling of clients and partners

• Analysis of Archetype Assessment results

- Understanding your organization’s three primary archetypes

- Understanding your organization’s most latent archetype(s)

• Facilitation of three focus groups with randomly selected clients, team members, and partners

• Validation of results through high-level discussion and analysis to determine the validity of results based on information gathered

• Executive brief on final organizational Archetype Assessment

- Detailed description of determined archetypes

- Outline of how they specifically apply to your business

- Recommendations on how to infuse brand culture into all areas of your business

Starting at $15,000 USD + Travel Expenses for Two Consultants

CultureTalk Team Development

CultureTalk is a great way to build a stronger, more effective team. Using a validated assessment instrument based on Jungian personality archetypes, participants receive individualized results that provide their three primary and one latent archetype. Building off the individualized results, Unique Venues leads a facilitated dialogue to generate greater self-understanding, build awareness of the strengths and latencies within the team, provide strategies to create a more synergistic team rooted in the understanding of the archetypes, along with leading the group through a series of team building activities.

Deliverables for This Program Include:

• Individual CultureTalk Archetype Assessment administered in advance of onsite visit

• Interactive presentation on archetypes and understanding individual results

• Interactive presentation on team results and understanding the group dynamics of the team as it relates to individual archetypes and how these dynamics can best be harnessed for success

• Facilitated team building activities that include group processing with a focus on archetype behaviors

Starting at $6,000 USD + Travel Expenses for One Consultant