We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Criswell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.

Alright, Ryan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I came up with Cute Story Events after a long round of multiple interviews with several companies for an event planner position. None of them seemed to be the right fit, and the job I really wanted, after 4 interviews, decided to hire another person. I was disappointed, but at the end of the day, I felt that I could create the perfect role for myself and run my own event business. I had over 13 years of experience planning corporate events and festivals, and even working behind the scenes in catering and photography. The week I had my last rejection, I created a website and social media presence and began looking for clients. I was nervous about putting myself out there, but I felt I could easily convey my passion and expertise with potential clients. In the first year, my business grew like crazy! In my first three months I was working with 4 clients on different events, including two in other states. It surprised me how many people needed an event planner and the exact expertise I could provide. It was so exciting to be working on wildly different events and using everything I learned over the years to help my clients achieve their goals.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began my event planning journey while working in hospitality. I started at the front desk of a hotel and later moved behind the scenes to work in the banquet department, as an admin for sales & catering, and then eventually moving up to an event manager. I loved planning every detail of an event and then seeing it come to life. During this time I was also volunteering for SXSW and learning to love the chaotic energy of festival planning. I had an amazing role of managing the largest crew of over 450 volunteers in 10 venues over two weeks. I also worked as a venue manager, helping craft the attendee experience and overseeing timelines and logistics. During the pandemic, I switched to planning virtual and hybrid events all over the US, which was a new learning curve, but it was an amazing experience to see people from all over the world connecting and coming together.

A lot of my corporate clients come to me because they don’t have an event planner on staff, but need their event to run perfectly. I also work with community groups, who don’t have the event planning expertise they need to manage all the moving parts. I also provide day-of event support for smaller events who need to be able to enjoy their event without worrying about the small stuff. With my background and experience. I’m able to provide a wide variety of services tailored to my client’s needs. I can share event and event marketing strategy, create the timelines and agendas, onboard speakers and sponsors for a smooth experience, manage volunteers and vendors, and everything in between. I’m able to take the stress of event planning off the table, so my clients can focus on their customers and ROI.

There’s so much work that goes into planning an event that people don’t realize. Once you start planning, it can quickly become overwhelming and I’m here to step in and take the stress off your plate. I want my clients to feel like they have someone they can talk to and bounce ideas off of. I always tell them to message me when they are awake in the middle of the night worrying about an aspect of the event so that I can solve it for them. I become a cheerleader for your brand, and can hype you up and get your event to the finish line.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I love keeping in touch with clients. I like to pop in and let them know I had a blast planning their event and can’t wait until the next one! I usually send an email 2 times a year, ideally before they start planning their budget for events that quarter. After each event, I like to send a gift through Goody or Thnks to let them know I appreciated their support and would love to work together again. Keeping up with my clients on social media is also a great way to connect. It just takes a few minutes to comment on a new post or share a milestone to my feed. This shows the client I am still invested in their success and let’s them know I’m cheering them on. This year I might add in virtual holiday cards to stay top of mind going into the next year. By keeping in touch with my clients regularly, I let them know they can come back to me any time they have an idea for an event. It’s been great building loyalty with my clients and being a trusted resource for them.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m definitely not a social media expert, but the way I built my audience is by following relevant brands and occasionally sending messages just saying hi or that I’d love to collaborate. I also attend a lot of networking events and at the end of the night, I go online and follow everyone I met and tell them it was great to meet them. This helps them remember our conversation and hopefully remember me next time we meet. I received the biggest boost from social media when I ran my own event, a nostalgic book fair. I used relevant hashtags, fun graphics, and ran ads for a small amount of money. So many people were interested in following my page to see what I would come up with next. I think hosting a small event for folks to get to know you and your brand is a great way to grow your following and drive interest to your business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cutestoryevents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cutestoryevents
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cutestoryevents

Image Credits
10 Pillar Productions, Marketing By Mackenzie, Creative Soulutions