01When an event beats an ad, and when it does not
An ad rents attention for a moment. An event gives a small group an hour of your actual work, with you in the room. In our view, that trade pays when the customer is local, when the purchase rests on trust (a salon, a gym, a bakery, an accountant) and when one good customer is worth many visits over time. It pays badly when you sell a cheap one-off product to buyers anywhere, when nobody nearby has the problem you solve, or when you cannot spare the hours. We have no benchmark comparing events with ads and we cite none. The comparison you can trust is your own, counted.
- Fits: local customers, purchases made on trust, customers who come back
- Fits badly: cheap one-off products sold to buyers anywhere
- Fits badly: nobody nearby has the problem you solve, or you cannot give the hours
- No benchmark: compare with your own count
02Pick one event that shows the work
The event should be a small version of what you sell, not a party with your logo on it. A salon runs an evening that shows what it can do. A gym opens one free group session. A bakery tastes the new batch with neighbours. An accountant answers founders' questions over coffee. Choose a date with a reason (an opening, a season), a start and an end time, and one next step for every guest. If you would rather share the room with another business, that is a partnership, and our post on local partnership marketing covers it. This one is about an event you own. Ask your local council what a small event needs (space, food, music) before you announce it: rules differ by place and we have not covered them.
- A small version of the real thing: a tasting, a session, a demo, a Q&A
- A room where you can talk to every person
- One date, a start and an end time, and a reason for the date
- One next step per guest: book, order or sign up
- Check with your local council what the event needs before you announce it
03Invite people who already know you, then count
The first guests are your current customers, each asked to bring one person, plus the neighbours and partners who already trust you. Invite them yourself, one by one: in person, by message, or on an email list you already hold with consent. A printed flyer is another route, and our post on print marketing helps you judge it. Give the event one way in: a sign-up sheet, a link or a plain reply. At the door write down names and, only with a yes, a contact, and ask new people how they heard. Ask before you photograph anyone or add them to a list, and keep that yes in writing, for example a tick box on the sheet. Data rules on contact lists are not covered here, so ask a professional before you write to people who are not already customers.
- Current customers, each asked to bring one person, then neighbours and partners who know you
- One way in: a sign-up sheet, a link or a reply
- At the door: names, a contact only with a yes, and the question 'how did you hear?'
- One message to each guest a week afterwards, and nothing more without their yes
04What it costs, and how to compare it with an ad
An event is not free just because you pay no platform. The real cost is the space, the materials, the food, your own hours and whoever keeps the business open while you host. Add it all into one number. Then divide it by the new customers who booked or bought in the following month. Do the same for any ad you have run: money spent divided by new customers. Compare the two numbers. If the event wins, hold another. If it loses, stop. We publish no typical cost per customer and cite no study, so the figure that matters is the one you count. An event also leaves photos (with consent) and a story to tell, but new customers are the number to compare.
- Total cost: space, materials, food, your hours, whoever covers the business
- New customers who booked or bought in the following month
- The same sum for an ad: money spent divided by new customers
- Event wins: hold another. Event loses: stop
05What PROOF48 can do here, and where it is the wrong choice
A person hosts an event, and no PROOF48 plan organises events, invites guests or plans them. What we can build is the page guests land on: one offer, one call to action, a contact form, a booking link and a map. A business website of up to about five pages or a landing page falls inside the 48-hour offer. Websites cost 500 to 2,500 EUR and you pay only after you see the preview. For the comparison with ads, GROWTH at 1,497 EUR a month includes Meta and Google ad management, with ad spend billed separately. We are the wrong choice if a message and a sign-up sheet are enough, if your diary has no room for a host, or if you want a monthly plan that runs the event for you.
- The event and the host are yours; no PROOF48 plan organises events
- The part we do: the page guests land on, 48 hours, paid after the preview
- GROWTH, 1,497 EUR a month: Meta and Google ads, ad spend billed separately
- A message and a sign-up sheet are often enough without any page
Telling nearby people something specific is happening
FreshBatch, built by PROOF48, is a food marketplace, not an events tool. Its case study lists producer storefronts, live batch publishing from a phone, customer notifications when a batch lands nearby and a campaign system for producers to run offers. It does not describe events, and we do not publish its transaction volume. What carries over is the principle: tell people nearby that something specific is happening, at a time they can act on.
See the build: FreshBatchQuestions, answered
Does an event really beat an ad?
Sometimes. In our view it can when your customers are local, buy on trust and come back. It does not for a cheap one-off product sold to buyers anywhere. We have no benchmark, so count the cost per new customer for both and compare.
How many people should I invite?
Enough that you can talk to every one of them. We publish no ideal number, because we have no data on it. Start small and count what the first event brings.
Do I need a website to host an event?
No. A message and a sign-up sheet are often enough. A landing page helps when strangers will see the invite and need the time, the place and one way to say yes. That page falls inside our 48-hour offer.
Does PROOF48 run events for clients?
No. No PROOF48 plan organises events or invites guests. We build the page guests land on, and the host is you.
Where PROOF48 fits
In our view, a small local event can market a business better than an ad when customers are local, buy on trust and come back: one event that shows the work, invited guests, one way in, one next step, and a count of new customers against what it cost. PROOF48 runs no events and has no measured results to quote, but it builds the page guests land on in 48 hours, paid after the preview.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.