Navigating the Top Challenges of Corporate Event Marketing

Corporate event marketing has become a critical component of customer acquisition. Corporate events facilitate in-person relationship-building, boost employee satisfaction, and foster a sense of community amongst the attendees. Plus, they allow you to tease upcoming changes to your business, such as new product releases or partnerships. 

Despite the unique advantages of corporate events, marketing them can be challenging. Unlike cut-and-dry statistics, such as email click-through rate or social media engagement, measuring corporate event marketing ROI can be difficult as it’s not always clear where attendees come from. Event marketers also need to acquire the right target audience, set their company’s event apart, and master robust event data software.

Fortunately, corporate event marketing doesn’t need to be daunting. With a little planning, research, and tech-savvyness, you can achieve your goals and sustainable growth. Let’s explore some of the top challenges event marketers face and how you can overcome them.

Challenge #1: Finding the Right Target Audience

The best marketing campaigns are tailored to audiences that would benefit the most from attending your event and buying your products. However, it can be difficult to customize your messages to the interests and needs of many attendees, especially when you host an event with an array of keynote speakers and products on display. Fortunately, you already have some tools at your disposal to help you structure your messages and pinpoint your target audience.

The best assets you have are your data management systems. Pull data from your CRM to better understand what your average customer looks like. Determine how old they are, their net worth, what they usually purchase, their interests, and other relevant information to your business to make a profile. This allows you to step into your audience’s shoes to make tailored marketing messages. Also, if you’re marketing an event that your company hosts repeatedly, use your event registration software to understand who signed up in the past and how you can attract them again. 

These insights help you create marketing collateral that resonates with most of your customers based on data.

Challenge #2: Setting Your Event Apart

The point of corporate event marketing is to get attendees through the door of your event. To set your business apart from others in your industry, you need to highlight why your event is unique and what your attendees can achieve or gain from coming. For example, here are some ways to set your event apart:

• Leverage your partnerships. If your event is centered around supporting a nonprofit partner for your CSR campaign, you can let your audience know that all proceeds will benefit their cause. 
• Advertise the event’s unique activities or theme. For instance, if you’re advertising a corporate golf event, mention that it has a $500 prize pool or other special activities to encourage more signups. 
• Incorporate a virtual component. It’s never been easier to host your event partially (or fully) online and involve attendees from across the world. Besides increasing attendance, OneCause’s guide to hybrid events states that virtual event components are also more cost-effective and eco-friendly. Simply create and send out a meeting link via Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet, or another virtual conferencing platform so people can participate online. 

By effectively communicating the value of your event, you’ll attract newcomers to your event, acquire them as customers, and keep them coming back for more. 

Challenge #3: Competing in the Digital Space

For corporations, standing out in the digital world is key to broadening your audience. That being said, making intriguing and unique marketing content in the oversaturated online space can be challenging. So, how do you go about marketing your corporate event amongst the sea of other competing businesses online?

First, assess your SEO status. According to Fifty & Fifty, less than 1% of searchers look for results past Google’s first page of search engine results. Updating your current website and pages to be SEO-friendly allows you to rank above your competition and achieve more visibility. Start by researching the simple changes you can make on your website in the short term to make it SEO-friendly, such as adding alt text to images and being deliberate about keyword inclusion. Then, revise your long-term content strategy by creating new and revising old educational blog posts on your website. 

Next, look into online advertising opportunities. Establish where your target audience spends their time online and buy social media and Google Ads to spread the word about your event and company. If you have room in your budget, trying these methods can guarantee more exposure online.

Challenge #4: Measuring Your Campaign’s ROI

Unlike other types of advertisers, event marketers face the unique challenge of gauging ROI and campaign performance. After all, it’s more difficult to determine which attendees came from email appeals versus social media marketing versus your website.

To overcome this roadblock, start by asking your attendees directly. After they’ve signed up online, include a drop-down list of your marketing channels for them to tell you how they found your event. Take it a step further by including separate URLs that redirect visitors to your signup page based on the platform they’re on. This allows you to track your conversion rate for each marketing channel.

Challenge #5: Using Event-Centric Tools

Marketing an event requires a different approach than other forms of marketing. While digital marketers can rely on specialized tools to execute digital marketing campaigns, event marketers have limited options for suitable online platforms for event marketing.

To streamline the lead acquisition process while maintaining functionality, use sophisticated marketing platforms with intuitive integrations and features so you don’t have to transfer information between your CRM and event management platform manually. Some popular marketing tools that your event marketing software might integrate with include Hubspot, Salesforce, Marketo, and Google Analytics.

Corporate Event Marketing: The Bottom Line

Despite the obstacles that many event marketers have endured, the tide is changing. By following the tips above and evolving with the changing landscape of event marketing, especially regarding virtual events and digital outreach, your company can improve lead generation, thought leadership, and brand awareness. With the right tools and strategies, navigating the challenges of corporate event marketing can be more manageable and rewarding than ever before.