Live events are powerful. And they don’t have to be budget drainers--they can actually be big money-makers for your organization. In fact, recent Forrester research shows that successful organizations allocate nearly 25% of their B2B budgets on events, noting that these in-person events are the second most effective marketing tactic. With all this money being earmarked, it makes sense for planners and marketers to join forces and work to increase your ROE (Return on Events) to make events a profit center as opposed to a cost center. Here are a few quick tips on how to get started.
Personalize invitations to increase attendance
Treat your invites like targeted e-marketing campaigns by segmenting audiences by contact type and job role with a clear call-to-action that will resonate with them, getting more people to RSVP.Increase your online visibility to create a goldmine
Employ a user-friendly event registration system to create both an easy online registration process and targeted event website. Any good event management technology will come with the necessary tools to help you easily increase the visibility and traffic to your event website by including SEO keywords--allowing you to track registration form submissions and bulking up your event’s bottom line by providing additional sponsorship opportunities.Engage at every stage
Use social media, viral marketing (videos, pics, contests, teaser campaigns) and promotions to drum up interest before your event. Keep the content flowing and get attendees buzzing during your event with sponsored mobile apps, tweets, posts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and blogs. When all is said and done, offer event recaps, highlights, infographics, photos and videos to your attendees. The goal is to extend the life of your event beyond just the event dates, getting your attendees more invested in your organization.Be great and integrate
Events are a key piece of the marketing mix and therefore your event management system should integrate with your other sales and marketing tech stack and tools such as your CRM system, e-marketing solution and social media tools. Share data, automate processes, track registrations (and attritions), quickly build reports, measure ROI and save valuable planning time by combining event and marketing tools. By making your events more measurable, you increase your chance at profitability. These are a few early tips of where to get started in combining planning and marketing efforts. Event planners and marketers should dive into these areas together in order to save time, increase productivity, deliver engaging experiences for attendees and generate amazing, profitable events. Read our Definitive Guide on Event Marketing.
John Hunter
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