Marketers and marketing departments are under increasing pressure to deliver more sales leads and more qualified leads. B2B Marketing events have traditionally been a lucrative source of quality sales leads when expertly planned and executed.
Marketing Options International have taken over 25 years of event experience and developed 14 top tips to ensure your B2B Marketing events are a success. Use this guide to maximize the success of your next event.
14 Top Tips for Event Success
1. Understand your Audience
The very first step should be to understand your audience ask these questions:
- Why are you running an event?
- Who are you trying to target and why?
- What benefit will your event provide to the audience?
- What pain, issue or need will it address?
- Why will/should people come? Are you offering anything new and interesting?
- What speakers & topics would resonate with your audience?
- What event style is likely to appeal to your audience and therefore maximize attendance levels?
- Where are your audience based? Where would be suitable to hold your event?
- When would be suitable to hold your event both for your objectives as well as for audience maximization?
- Is anyone else doing anything similar? What is your USP?
2. Allow Enough Time
Allow yourself enough time. A typical event takes at least 8-12 weeks to arrange with venue finding being a potential Achilles heel depending on location and time of year.
3. Test your Message
Due to time constraints this step is often skipped but should be considered vital to ensure that you’re targeting the right audience with an attractive message. Test your message with 5% of your target market.
4. Set Clear Objectives
Make sure you (and all other stakeholders) are clear on what you’re trying achieve at the event.
Areas to consider for objectives include:
- What feedback would you like from delegates against content, logistics and value from the event?
- Number of registrations and conversion to attendees?
- Number of sales and / or marketing leads desired?
- What sort of interest would you like to generate as a direct result of the event?
5. Set a Budget
It is essential to set a realistic budget and stick to it. When defining an event budget consider:
- Campaign creatives and theme
- Communications pre and post event
- Venue
- Signage and materials on site
- Audio visual requirements
- Stage / stand design and build
- Furniture
- Lighting, branding options and floral arrangements
- Food and beverage
- Delegate gifts, giveaways, incentives, stand traffic drivers
- Hospitality
- Speaker fees
- Interactivity
- Event & production management and support
- Delegate management and communications
- Travel, accommodation and visas for delegates, speakers and team
- Contingency of 10%
6. Build an Events Team
Establish an event planning team and nominate a Project Manager to coordinate and oversee all activities. This team will depend on the scale and location of the event. As a team aim to meet every week and bi-weekly in the last 4 weeks prior to the event.
7. Venues and Catering, not Just a Location and Food
Whilst your traditional hotel venues offer a great, easy option for any event do not limit yourself to just these. Our experience has shown us that more unique venues help to attract delegates and ensure that the event itself is memorable.
Don’t scrimp on catering the budget. Catering times are often a critical networking periods and it is during this time when you want the focus to be on the conversation and not on the lack of or quality of food and beverage.
8. Develop an Integrated Communications Plan
An integrated communications plan is essential to the success of any B2B Marketing Event. It is advised that you aim to touch each member of your target market a minimum of 5 times in the run up to the event and therefore, it is critical to allow enough time to do this effectively.
9. Personalisation
Make sure you have the correct details for each and every member of your target market. Take the time to check the spelling of their name, company and address and where possible remember the past touch points and where they have engaged with you. This allows for deeper segmentation based on their past behaviour and with that comes much higher response rates.
10. Audience Participation
Where possible seek to engage your audience during the event. There are a plethora of innovations around that can automate polls and solicit feedback both prior as well as on site during the event. There is high regard among delegates for organizations whom encourage feedback and interaction from their delegates.
11. Moments of Truth
A moment of truth is any point of engagement with your company and your target market. Make sure that as a team you map out each moment of truth and ensure that each and every interaction is well thought through and adds value at every stage.
12. Minimize Dropouts
It is vital that as many of the delegates whom register for your event, actually convert to on site attendees.
Ask registered delegates for their objectives and requirements for the event, send through interesting and relevant content, call 2 days before to check they have everything they need and send a text message the morning of the event to ensure that the delegates know where to go and who to contact should they any issues finding the event.
Remember above all be professional and timely and provide each delegate with a personal concierge service – after all they are your GUEST at your event and it is important that they feel valued as such.
13. On the Day
Meet the day before with all persons associated with the staging of the actual event. Ensure all parties know what their roles and responsibilities are as well as any key deadlines. Have your speakers test their slides and allow for a rehearsal.
On the day allow yourself enough time to set everything up. Double check all signage, all collateral and branding. Ensure that your team are familiar with the location of the entrances, the facilities, the wifi connection and the emergency evacuation procedure. And ALWAYS anticipate that a delegate will arrive 30 minutes earlier than you expect!
14. After the event
It’s all to easy to pack up your boxes after an event, breathe a sigh of relief and focus your energy on the next programme. But after the event has finished this is when you are likely to engage the most with the target market.
Make sure that 24 hours after the event you send a thank your email to all those who attended and an email to the non-attendees providing them with a summary of the event and where appropriate access to materials presented.
Within 72 hours aim to have spoken to all attendees to solicit feedback and investigate any opportunities for sales engagement.
Summary
B2B marketing events can offer a great source of quality sales leads and are a valuable tool in the marketing mix. People buy from people and by facilitating face-to-face discussions relationships can be quickly developed helping short term sales wins and fuelling the sales pipeline.
Use the 14 Top Tips listed in this Best Practice Guide to maximize the success of your next event.
For more information on how Marketing Options International can help you with your next event please visit: http://www.mointernational.com/services/live/event-services/
