by Simona Covel
EVENT MARKETING
Hosting a company event can be powerful marketing: You meet potential customers face-to-face, demonstrate your expertise or cachet in the market, and engage them. But events can end up expensive cocktail parties if they’re not done right. You need to make sure there’s significant consumer engagement long after the event is over.
“What people do wrong is they don’t have a clear objective,” says Tres McCullough, co-founder of Fathom, an experiential marketing firm based in New York City that has done events for clients like LG and Gatorade. “A lot of companies have a great idea, everything is watertight and clear, and they race to execution mode. The event engages the client base, goes off without a hitch. Then it’s gone.”
The key is to identify a measurable goal that everything is geared toward accomplishing. “Anyone can throw a great party, but this isn’t about throwing a great party. It’s about hitting business objectives,” McCullough says.
Decide Your Objective
Start by asking yourself precisely why you’re hosting the event, says Audrey Shedivy, founder of Henry Grey PR, a public relations firm and marketing boutique based in Chicago. She has coordinated events ranging from small gatherings to a Rodeo Drive store launch. According to a 2011 survey from BtoB magazine and marketing company Marketo, 83 percent of companies want to generate leads from their events. But that’s not the only goal many companies have. Seventy-two percent are looking for increased customer engagement, and an equal number are looking to build their brand.4
“Are you hosting the event to thank your existing customers and attract new ones? Are you launching a new product and want to create buzz among influencers?” Shedivy poses. “Whatever your goal for the event, identify that up front. It will help guide your decisions in planning the event.” If your goal is to deepen relationships with existing customers, you may want to plan a series of small workshops around the country, for example. But if your main objective is branding, you may plan a single, large event with high-profile keynote speakers who drum up lots of outside interest.
Create a Guest List
To get people interested, you need to give them a reason to show up. “This is where you can really get creative,” Shedivy says. “The draw for your event could be its location, such as a new hot spot in town that people are eager to check out, or it could be the entertainment you’ve hired if you have access to a recognized artist. New product launches and pop-up openings are a draw in and of themselves, as people are excited to be the first to see something cool.”
How you draw people in will differ depending on the type of business and type of event. Rebecca and Uri Minkoff, co-founders of the Rebecca Minkoff fashion brand, faced a changing retail environment, with more transactions happening online. So they turned a store into a destination, hosting eight yoga classes a day for a week, hosted by a well-known New York yoga studio, at the same time the brand was launching an athleisure line of apparel and opening a new store in Los Angeles. The classes “created so much word of mouth and goodwill,” Rebecca Minkoff says—and boosted sales both in the store and online, as word spread through social media.
Any successful event, no matter the type, requires a good turnout, Shedivy says. “Build your guest list keeping in mind the big picture goal for your event,” she says. “Request that invitees RSVP. It makes your event feel more special and it will help you keep a handle on how many people to expect. Unless you know your guests very well and are certain they will all show up, assume that about 40 percent of those who RSVP won’t show up.”
Make sure you have time to generate enough buzz—about six months is generally safe. The speakers you have at your event are ultimately what generates your audience, and the good ones book up fast. You need to be able to plan around their schedules. Also, your attendees need to plan their travel schedule. The sooner you can start spreading the word, the better your turnout.
If your event relies on recruiting big-name speakers, offer ways to help them achieve their goals to encourage them to sign on. Give them dedicated space at the event, create Q&A sessions, “fireside chats,” private meet and greets or a special photo opportunity where your audience gets a chance to connect with the speakers. Maybe a few select attendees have a private dinner with the keynote speaker.
As you nail down the standout features of the event, don’t forget to consider basic logistics. Your ideal date and time will be determined by your target attendees. Thursday evenings tend to be popular for professionals, while breakfasts or lunches work well for stay-at-home parents. Make sure you know your target market’s weekly routine so you’re catering to them.
Generate Buzz
Once you have your speakers locked in, start running targeted social media ads that are shown to your ideal audience. Focus your ad sets on people who are already following your speakers because some of those fans will be eager to see their idols live.
You can also target your ad sets to show to people who live in the area where your event is taking place. Facebook and other channels’ detailed targeting options allow you to show the ads precisely to people in the area, even down to the zip code.
Ask your own community to spread the word about your event. You can set up a private Facebook group or use a dedicated hashtag. Attendees will be able to network with one another, creating both buzz and an advantage for them.
Incentivize your speakers and other promotional partners to promote your event. For example, you might ask them to email their customers and offer them a chance to give away a handful of tickets for free or incentivize it with a discount code. That way, their followers will get an exclusive deal, making them feel even more special, and you’ll generate more buzz for your event. You can also do Facebook livestream interviews or Snapchat story swaps with those who have a relevant following.
The more you focus your marketing efforts around building a community and making your audience feel special, the more you’ll create “ambassadors” who will help you market your event through word of mouth. Just be aware that your job is not over once you’ve gotten everyone to turn up to the event. You want to truly add value to the businesses of your attendees, so that they continue to show up year after year—and bring their friends.
Make the Most of Your Invitees
If you’re hosting an event to drive leads, make sure not to keep all of your focus on the event itself. It’s important, sure, but so are the opportunities surrounding the event—from the save the date to the reminder email and post-event follow-up. Businesses that are strategic about these touch points do much better than those who just focus on the event itself.
That includes not forgetting about your attendees as the weeks and months go by. Continue engaging with them throughout the year by creating special contests and activities. Once the group grows into a tight-knit community, they’ll happily share upcoming events with their friends and on their social media pages. And don’t exclude those who RSVPed but didn’t make it to the event. Things come up, and it’s normal to have more than a third of planned attendees not make it. That doesn’t mean they’re not interested, so keep them engaged.
How Much Does It Cost?
The cost varies dramatically based on the type of event. A bagel-and-coffee breakfast at your office will cost you thousands less than a cocktail party at a hot restaurant. Somewhere in between the two is a lunch-and-learn session at a local university club or similar venue.
When it comes to speakers, some lesser-known ones will participate as long as travel expenses are covered, while others command speaking fees that can reach into the five figures.
If you elect to invest in a well-known keynote speaker, make sure you take advantage of the time that you have her. Record a short video interview or podcast for your website, or if she’s an author, ask her to sign books that you can use as part of a promotion or incentive. Remember that high-profile speakers often have large social networks; if they agree to spread the word about your event, the investment
can pay off in dividends.
And don’t forget the cost of marketing. Spreading the word through your already existing channels is free. But if you plan to send printed invitations, or advertise via promoted social media posts, incorporate those costs into your projections.
Can I Measure It?
Often. It depends on the objective of your event and how well you track outcomes. You may land a client as a direct result of an in-person networking session, or close a deal with a key supplier. You may add dozens of new subscribers to your newsletter, which is a significant starting point for your sales funnel.
Sometimes the ROI from an event is the unexpected or perhaps, a secondary goal. A company throws a recruiting event, and inadvertently closes its biggest deal of the year. A tech company hosts a networking event to drive sales leads, and ends up hiring two of their best employees. That’s the beauty of events—you can track more than one key performance indicator. Just make sure you have an infrastructure in place to collect information and track every opportunity that comes up from your event, including those you weren’t anticipating.
Can I DIY?
The planning and details necessary to pull off even modestly sized events can be daunting. Before you commit to a let’s-roll-up-our-sleeves event marketing mentality, do a little homework on event planning companies in your area. You can decide whether you need your event solutions provider to take charge or be a part of the ranks depending upon your budget.
An event planner may charge an hourly fee, or he may charge a percentage of the total event cost. Either way, unless the event is very small, you’ll be spending thousands of dollars. Event planning can be excruciatingly detailed—think decisions about whether 2 percent milk or skim should be served with the coffee—and time consuming. The upshot of outsourcing event planning is that you’ll have fewer challenges along the way, leaving you maximum time to concentrate on your business objectives.
MAKING THE MOST OF A TRADE SHOW
A trade show offers a rare platform where you can market and sell in the same place: You’re given the advantage of knowing that just about everyone you speak to will have an interest in or use for what you sell. While typically marketing is a first step and a way to direct a potential customer to your website or store, at a trade show you are marketing to someone who could immediately turn into a sale. Since a good majority of the sales process can be done right then and there, for most business types, the funnel from first exposure to purchase is much shorter. Shorter lead nurturing means more sales.
That doesn’t mean you can just show up with a flashy display and call it a day. Trade shows are expensive, exhausting, and intense. Get the most from your investment: Set measurable objectives before the event and stick to them.
Start Before the Show
“People have this idea that a successful trade show is one where you have 10,000 people walking past your booth,” says Malcolm Gilvar, executive vice president of sales for the Trade Group, a trade show design and consulting service. “But that can be a barrier to your success.” Getting the right kind of traffic to your booth starts before the trade show with pre-show activity such as email blasts or marketing campaigns. “Define who you want to come to your exhibit and target them specifically,” Gilvar continues. “If people did nothing but that, it would be an amazingly successful event.”
Think One Person at a Time
Trade shows offer you a natural way to forge a connection, since your customer is able to put a face to your name and isn’t dealing with just another voice on the other end of the phone. Make the most of it. When an attendee approaches you, you know you have their undivided attention and the opportunity to educate them in a way you don’t usually have: You have your target audience right in front of you. If you use your time with them wisely, you could not only introduce them to your product or service but also educate them on what makes your company different and why they should do business with you.
Don’t underestimate the power of good old-fashioned connections. When Inc. columnist John Brandon attends the huge CES event each year in Las Vegas, there’s one tried-and-true method that seems to work best—a method that far too few companies employ. “As I would walk down the hallway, sometimes a person approached me and asked a few quick basic questions. How was the show going for me so far? Was I a member of the media? Did I have a few minutes to see a new product?” Brandon wrote on Inc.com “The reason this worked is that everyone has a desire to be noticed, to stand out from the crowd. You want people to learn your name. You want a personal touch.”
Other trade show reps, he says, sat hunched at their display table, maybe staring at a laptop screen. “The good trade show booths saw people as humans. The bad ones were like ghost towns run by people who didn’t care if you were alive or dead.” When reps approached him with conversation, empathy, and kindness, he ended up more likely to cover the product in his writing, Brandon says.
The strategy is about more than just having an upbeat attitude, letting people know about product features, and welcoming people to a booth. It’s a technique (hopefully genuine) that shows an understanding that people are busy and want personal attention. They don’t want to be nameless. It takes one person at a time to have a successful trade show booth.
While a strong pitch is a start, it works even better if you couple it with a real-life look at the product. If possible, let visitors to your booth interact with what you sell. Offer demos, or iPads loaded with your software. Put three or four iPads on your stand and people will pick them up.
How Much Does It Cost?
Trade shows are pricey. A small booth can be $5,000 or more. That’s just for raw space—you’ll need to outfit that booth with rented tables, wall coverings, and other wares, quickly bringing the costs over the $10,000 mark and sometimes even exceeding $20,000. If you’re traveling, those costs can add up quickly. Plus, you’ll need to factor in any client dinners or other networking expenses you anticipate.
How Measurable Is It?
Very. As long as you research the event, trade shows offer certainty, because you are guaranteed to reach your target audience. Tracking sales that come from trade show interactions is generally pretty straightforward.
Qualified sales leads are not the only way to measure success at trade shows and events. Networking matters too. At one of the events WordStream attended, the team met marketers from a company with a similar target audience. Together, they scheduled and co-promoted a webinar. The result? More than a thousand sales leads, which the companies shared. “I’ve spent months trying to build the same relationships over email and the phone,” Kate Gwozdz, a marketing specialist with WordStream, said. “But there is nothing like meeting someone in person and getting something on the calendar right there.”
CASE STUDY
WordStream’s Bumpy Road from Zero to Sixty Leads
FOR ALL ITS SUCCESS, WordStream, a software-as-a-service search engine marketing platform founded in 2007, had trouble maximizing trade shows. The Boston-based company hired marketing specialist Kate Gwozdz for the express purpose of gaining more qualified sales leads and boosting brand exposure at key industry events.
Success wasn’t immediate—it grew out of some key speed bumps and lessons learned. Some of those lessons came from understanding the reality of the trade show floor. For WordStream, a key first step in qualifying sales leads is walking prospects through a free online tool. In any given month, between 60 and 70 percent of the company’s qualified leads come from the free tool, which is called the AdWords Performance Grader. But at one key conference, the Internet connection was spotty at best. “For the most part we couldn’t even get the bandwidth to make it run,” Gwozdz recalls. Only twenty-nine attendees completed the free tool at the two-day event which, all told, yielded seven qualified sales leads. That’s better than nothing, but less than ideal given the company’s overall outlay on the event (including travel and accommodations) was $18,000.
One big problem: when
the free tool was unavailable, suddenly there was no one in the booth who could quickly determine whether someone was a qualified lead by simply asking a few questions. The team didn’t even consider that they’d need that skillset. “We just assumed we’d run them through the free tool,” says Gwozdz. Because of that experience, the team learned to staff events with multiple sales reps who can react to any situation.
WordStream staff also learned the hard way to make sure their product was a fit for event attendees. This, too, probably seems obvious. But sometimes it’s hard to assess the fit until you actually talk to potential customers. At one popular industry conference, it turned out that the attendees—sophisticated paid-search professionals—were a bit too advanced for WordStream’s solution, which is designed for non-experts. Complicating matters, some attendees who wanted to try the software were stymied when they couldn’t remember their AdWords login information—which meant they couldn’t use the WordStream tool.
At that event, only twelve attendees completed the free tool in two days, and the company came away from the event with ten qualified sales leads. Still not the ideal ROI for an overall cost (including travel and lodgings) of $25,000.