An event is something that takes place in a given time and space.
It usually involves several entities, including, producers, sponsors, actors/participators and audience.
Events can be in-person or virtual/digital.
In-person and virtual events when executed in a unified way offers a treasure trove of data that leads to unified brand message and amplified brand reach. An orgnaization might have different stakeholders planning and executing different events at different times. However, if they can be aligned and synced, the organization enjoys improved ROI and the attendees benefit from it.
In this article, we have discussed the different kinds of events and identified opportunities for unifying various parts of the event planning and execution process across a brand’s event portfolio.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT EVENT TYPES
Live Events for Product Launch, Product Updates & Sales Continuity
These events focus on pre-sale activity or the post-sale customer audience. It is designed to create initial product awareness, and is often built on previous interactions, adding value to an existing customer relationship. Often times, a tangible reference program is built in to lure in new prospects. The agenda is controlled by the sponsoring organization.
For example, INBOUND organized by Hubspot is an yearly inspirational marketing event held at Boston Convention Center. It is four days of inspiring talks and educational sessions with 24,000+ attendee, including agency clients from over 100 countries.
Digital Events or Online Events
Online events include webinars (interactive — see the brief “Rethinking Webinars for Demand Generation”), webcasts (lecture format) and hangouts (on-camera discussion).
More expansive web-based events (e.g. virtual trade shows) offer attendees and sponsors some of the benefits of a trade show without the associated cost, travel time and logistical planning. These include a “Virtual Booth Experience” where a company creates an interactive 3D rendering of their exhibit booth and touchpoints allow for videos, jpegs, pdfs and information capture much as would happen at a live event.
This can be followed by videoconferencing for follow-up targeted meetings.
A virtual meeting can enable interactive discussions; it can be live or a pre-taped presentation; and it can be a repository for information and updated information on products. It’s the combination of “live via virtual” plus “info on demand” that makes this option a cut above a regular website or landing page. That same combo may prove beneficial for some marketers when coupled with a return to live trade show exhibiting.
Online events include webinars (interactive — see the brief “Rethinking Webinars for Demand Generation”), webcasts (lecture format) and hangouts (on-camera discussion).
More expansive web-based events (e.g. virtual trade shows) offer attendees and sponsors some of the benefits of a trade show without the associated cost, travel time and logistical planning. These include a “Virtual Booth Experience” where a company creates an interactive 3D rendering of their exhibit booth and touchpoints allow for videos, jpegs, pdfs and information capture much as would happen at a live event.
This can be followed by videoconferencing for follow-up targeted meetings.
A virtual meeting can enable interactive discussions; it can be live or a pre-taped presentation; and it can be a repository for information and updated information on products. It’s the combination of “live via virtual” plus “info on demand” that makes this option a cut above a regular website or landing page. That same combo may prove beneficial for some marketers when coupled with a return to live trade show exhibiting.
Trade Shows
Typically, these are theme-based, industry specific organized events where exhibitors and sponsors compete for the attention of attendees and members of the press. Typically, there are four players in this type of setting: the owner of the show, the producers of the show, the exhibitors, and the attendees.
For example, The RSA Conference is a series of IT security conferences. Founded by Jim Bidzos in 1991, as a small cryptography conference, it is attended by over 45,000 security professionals each year. RSA conferences take place in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the United Arab Emirates each year. The conference also hosts educational, professional networking, and awards programs.
Typically, these are theme-based, industry specific organized events where exhibitors and sponsors compete for the attention of attendees and members of the press. Typically, there are four players in this type of setting: the owner of the show, the producers of the show, the exhibitors, and the attendees.
For example, The RSA Conference is a series of IT security conferences. Founded by Jim Bidzos in 1991, as a small cryptography conference, it is attended by over 45,000 security professionals each year. RSA conferences take place in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the United Arab Emirates each year. The conference also hosts educational, professional networking, and awards programs.
Customer Conferences
These are commonly multi-day events, although a single day may be feasible. They drive loyalty among current customers and educate them about new offerings or updates on current offering. These are usually company sponsored events. The sponsoring organization controls the content and attendee list. Often the company has a separate team and specific budget to fund and organize the events.
These are commonly multi-day events, although a single day may be feasible. They drive loyalty among current customers and educate them about new offerings or updates on current offering. These are usually company sponsored events. The sponsoring organization controls the content and attendee list. Often the company has a separate team and specific budget to fund and organize the events.
Sponsorship | Reward Events
This type of event relies on a third-party activity (e.g. sporting or cultural event) or a reward-oriented location and activity to drive success. After all, “marketing is a battle of perceptions, nor products.”
Usually, these events are well aligned with the concept of cause-related marketing.
“Cause Marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a for-profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit.”
A simple way to achieve this is through the use of events or even pop-up stores.
For example, the Pinky Swear Pop-up Show in the Mall of America. The Pinky Swear Foundation has a mission to help kids with cancer and their families with financial and emotional support. They achieve this by raising awareness of pediatric cancer, raising money for the children affected, and partner with like-minded organizations, like Love Your Melon, to spread their mission.
This type of event relies on a third-party activity (e.g. sporting or cultural event) or a reward-oriented location and activity to drive success. After all, “marketing is a battle of perceptions, nor products.”
Usually, these events are well aligned with the concept of cause-related marketing.
“Cause Marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a for-profit business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit.”
A simple way to achieve this is through the use of events or even pop-up stores.
For example, the Pinky Swear Pop-up Show in the Mall of America. The Pinky Swear Foundation has a mission to help kids with cancer and their families with financial and emotional support. They achieve this by raising awareness of pediatric cancer, raising money for the children affected, and partner with like-minded organizations, like Love Your Melon, to spread their mission.
Channel Events
This type of event focuses on supporting the channel business. An externally focused event can be hosted or sponsored by a supplier brand on behalf of its channel partners, or a supplier may invite channel partners to an internally focused event.
For example, AWS re:Invent is a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services for the global cloud computing community. The event features keynote announcements, training and certification opportunities, access to more than 2,000 technical sessions, a partner expo, after-hours events, and so much more.
This type of event focuses on supporting the channel business. An externally focused event can be hosted or sponsored by a supplier brand on behalf of its channel partners, or a supplier may invite channel partners to an internally focused event.
For example, AWS re:Invent is a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services for the global cloud computing community. The event features keynote announcements, training and certification opportunities, access to more than 2,000 technical sessions, a partner expo, after-hours events, and so much more.
HOW TO REAP VIABLE DATA FROM EVENT MARKETING
If events are the epicenter of your brand culture, collecting data, and turning that data into insight and action for creating further conversation with your clients and prospects is curcial for sustaining their attention.
Event Registration — Your Data Powerhouse
Create a template on how you are going to capture data for the event registration page. A template makes the process consistent and repeatable. It also paves the way for data to be conveniently integrated in marketing and sales systems.
Build a landing page with a registration form.
Think of this landing page as the official registration form. Be sure to include the time, place, reason for the event, and any other relevant information your guests need to know.
Think of this form as the RSVP card for your event, where your guests can let you know if they're attending, and their preferences for your offering. For example, if you are serving food, here they can let you know about their dietary restrictions. Create a custom contact property to capture contextual information to aid post-event follow-up and user experience.
The registration page is a great way to get to know your attendees.
Knowing your attendees helps you to dig into the pile of data and draw actionables to provide them with personalized experiences while reaching out to them with marketing campaigns.
Branding with Overall | Drawing Distinctions Between Different Events
Often companies are unified on the messaging that runs across program families but lack consistent naming across event types. Consider using a consistent name and theme across event types within a certain time frame.
Draw distinctions about how events are being delivered and to report more effectively on how themes are performing.
Attendees can benefit by understanding which events they should attend in a series (e.g. an attendee interested in agile marketing can see upcoming webinars and roundtables on that topic).
Above all, this gives you the easy path to extract data on the intent of your target audience.
To understand a buyer’s intent, you must consider their behavior holistically. To do that, dig deeper about who the buyer is, value of the content your contacts are consuming, their company titles and the role they play in the organization’s buying process. Understanding what pages on your website your target accounts are looking at and how they are getting there will not only confirm buying intent, but it will also illuminate what your messaging should be.
Social Media — Gift that Keeps Giving