Brisbane Olympics: Why businesses should start preparing themselves now, so they can capitalise on the boom

Brissie, Brisneyland, BrisVegas, everyone has their own favourite name for this sleepy city. For me, it’s my home town.

The recent IOC announcement that Brisbane is the preferred host for the 2032 Olympic games, with reports that mean this is a “sure win”, seems to have gone under the radar among fellow Australians. 

In 1993 when Juan Antonio Samaranch announced that Sydney would be the host of the 2000 Olympics, I can remember staying up until 3am to hear the news followed by a massive rush of excitement across the city. Beers were flowing throughout the CBD, people were dancing in George Street and on the roofs of buses. There was a collective feeling of pride and a flurry of exhilaration at the prospect of what this meant for the future of the soon to be Olympic harbour city.

I wish the same could be said for Brisbane’s latest news.

Brisbane is no stranger to hosting international events — it’s just been a long time between drinks. As a five year old, I remember the excitement of the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the roar of the crowd when Matilda “winked” at The Queen during the opening ceremony, how the World Expo illuminated the river city in 1988 for six months with a level of energy that Brisbane had never seen before. 

Now, Brisbane is yet again set to dust off its party attire to host the world once more.

With 12 years to go until the Brisbane Olympics, here are five ways that you can start to prepare your business now to capitalise on this boom.

Make sure to have your systems in place

As company owners, we always love to do it all ourselves or are very reliant on one other person. This might have worked in our favour for a while, but as the state borders remain open and with talk of international travel bubbles forming in the near future, businesses need to get ready to reopen well in advance of the Brisbane Olympics.

It is now essential to be able to scale your businesses accordingly to meet this further demand. The Olympics bring new customers and enquiries, so make sure everything is systemised and that you can deal with the influx in sales. 

Start promoting yourself now

People love to plan ahead. If your company is in the hospitality and tourism industries, these next twelve years are going to be especially busy times for you. By putting yourself out there through publicity, you will be organically boosting your SEO — allowing you to be seen more readily by international visitors on Google.

Do not underestimate how organised people are, and how soon they will begin planning for this once in a lifetime opportunity. In the past, places have been booked out years in advance.

The Brisbane Olympics will be no exception. 

Do your homework

In an increasingly global world, it is important not to make assumptions that there will automatically be complete similarities between you and the people traveling here. There are many cultural differences that can easily get lost in communication, and taking note of this will benefit you and your business.

Make sure things are not lost in translation by doing your research. Identifying and comprehending cultural differences ahead of time can help you avoid alienating and confusing your consumer that could lead to losing sales. 

Know your customer

It is important to know now who your customer is. If you try to appeal to everyone, you will risk reaching nobody. Think about how you can educate your consumer with your product, experience or service through an online offering, that they can experience in their comfort of their own home. This will give them a taste of what’s to come while helping you gain a better understanding on building your avatar’s profile. Once you have honed in on this, you can communicate more effectively with them. 

Be agile

While 12 years is more than a decade away, the time will go quickly, and preparation will be pivotal in your success. You will want to put things into place now so that you will be ready for not only the Brisbane Olympics, but the post-pandemic era.

During these uncertain times, there is a need more than ever to be adaptable and keep up with trends because events are changing daily. Just because everybody is using a certain set of social media channels now, rest assured that in a decade there will be a totally new way of reaching your customers that we have never thought about.

What might be working for you now might not be working for you 12 years’ time. Keeping yourself educated and informed on new marketing strategies and technology that will be available in the years to come is crucial to thriving.

Acting on these five steps now will keep you ahead of the game, allowing not just the athletes to bring home gold in 2032.