Event Marketing & Experience

Event Marketing: This is How it Will Work for Your Brand

Victoria Rudi
March 19, 2019

Table of Contents

We live in an attention economy.

People have a fixed amount of attention resources to give. However, there are also an increasing number of brands and media channels vying for that attention.

It’s almost impossible to stand out from the crowd and make your brand or company noticed.

You’re competing not only with other businesses in your industry, but also with thousands of other distractions (both small and large) that promise the instantgratification or immediatesolutions people seek.

From cute cat videos to valuable articles, there’s a constantly growing information overload. Your social media accounts, blog, or podcast will help your visibility, yet they’re not enough for growing a high-quality audience.

You can’t play the immediate gratification game constantly.

This requires transforming your company into a real media house. Different actions are needed. One of the solutions is event marketing.

What is event marketing?

Events are powerful communication tools companies can use to deliver their messages and significantly increase their brand awareness.

Event marketing describes the process of promoting your business leveraging in-person engagement and experiences, which usually takes the form of seminars, conferences, workshops, product launches, etc.

Event marketing is an efficient way of generating new leads, educating people about your products or services, and increasing the customer experience.

As Greg Oates, editor at Skift Magazine, highlights,

“CMOs are investing more in live events because they deliver brand messaging effectively amid the growing cacophony of digital marketing in our daily lives.”

So if you haven’t taken event marketing seriously until now, maybe you should start experimenting with this transformational strategy.

How can event marketing help your brand grow?

Using event marketing as part of your promotional strategy is not as easy as publishing daily Instagram posts. On the contrary, apart from significant resources, solid event marketing also requires a strong vision.

However, if you’re still trying to figure out how to make it work for your company, here are a few approaches you can take when planning your next event:

Give your attendees something to talk about

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Why do people love attending events?

The answer is simple: Because events are extraordinary and usually pack lots of surprises.

Apart from that, events are a wonderful escape from the daily professional routine that also provide fresh industry insights and new, meaningful contacts.

And what do people do when they experience something out of the ordinary? That’s right—they talk about it.

According to the Experiential Marketing Content Benchmarking Report,

“There is no other marketing medium that provides anywhere near the power of live experiences to generate authentic customer content that event participants share enthusiastically with their friends, family and social networks.”

Thus, your mission is not to simply plan and run a gathering where you can present new services or products.

On the contrary, you should focus on designing memorable experiences attendees will love and discuss with others.

Transform people’s perception about your brand

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Your guests don’t actually care that much about your product or services. They mostly care about how your brand makes them feel.

Events are a great opportunity for your company to provide positive and gratifying dynamics that will make people want to associate with your brand.

Add massive value during events

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Events aren’t your platform for communicating how great your services or products are. On the contrary, to make brand events work, you should think about the ways in which you can provide actual value to your attendees.

Whether it’s by attracting awesome speakers who’ll provide new insights or setting actionable workshops that will help attendees overcome a challenge they have, you’ll want to shift the dynamic from asking to giving.

This will lead to a more effective way to strengthen the relationship between your brand and your audiences.

Create a space for real connection

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Although we are comfortably living in a digital world, we can’t deny the increasing importance of face-to-face experiences. “The Decision to Attend” 2017 study, conducted by The Experience Institute, highlighted that 76% of interviewed people (from different generations) confirmed the relevance of live events as a positive environment for building connections.

As a result, these new relationships can strengthen your brand’s network. Apart from that, it can help you interact more with your audiences and better understand their needs and expectations.

Wrap-up

Whether you want to connect or reconnect with your leads, prospects, existing clients, or event employees, event marketing is one of the most effective ways to deliver your brand message while focused on serving (not selling) your audience(s).

 

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Discover how Eventtia helps world-leading brands digitize and scale their events

Victoria Rudi
Senior Content Specialist
With a Master’s degree in Event Management and a keen follower of SaaS technologies, Victoria is an event content master, producing insightful and valuable for Eventtia’s blog and beyond

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