4 Examples of Event Marketing to Inspire You
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Event marketing is a hugely effective marketing strategy, employed by a wide range of businesses. When done right, businesses can experience significant increases in leads, higher brand engagement, and a strong customer base. It’s an effective and rewarding marketing strategy that lets brands get really creative.
To inspire you with your next campaign, we’ve found four examples of some great event marketing that really made us sit up and take notice.
REFINERY29 & 29ROOMS
Refinery29 is a lifestyle and culture brand based in the US, and as part of their strategy, they regularly run 29Rooms. This is an annual celebration of arts and culture, featuring interactive exhibits, unusual artwork and, of course, a few celebrities too.
The event consists of 29 different rooms, with each one decorated according to a theme that changes each year. Past themes have included “Powered By People” and “Turn It Into Art”, and each one is a vibrant, diverse celebration that draws thousands of visitors every year. This year’s event featured a recreation of a millennial teenager’s bedroom (complete with working Nintendo 64), a swing made purely out of swirling fabric, and a station where visitors could really register to vote.
Takeaway tip: Refinery29’s diverse and interactive events provide a glittering backdrop for some strong marketing. The way to really grab your attendees is by offering an interactive experience that gets them involved. If you’re going to create an interactive event though, it’s important that it fits in with your overall brand.
Relevancy is key when it comes to creating events, and it’ll pay off in the long run by capturing attention and bolstering your reputation for creativity and innovation.
FACEBOOK IQ LIVE
A few years ago, social media giant Facebook launched Facebook IQ, a customer research tool that lets brands and agencies get a better insight into their audiences. To promote the tool, they launched the Facebook IQ Live tour, heading around the country to give users an insight into consumer behavior.
With any other company, this might seem like a tame event, but not so for Facebook. Rather than simply giving dry speeches and lectures on its product, Facebook created an engaging, dynamic experience for their attendees. Statistics and figures were turned into immersive installations to help deliver statistics and messages. It even featured a dance troupe, as well as an Instagram Cafe and a guest appearance from comedian Aziz Ansari.
Takeaway tip: Facebook IQ is proof that even the most uninspiring event niche can be turned into an engaging, immersive experience. Anyone can deliver dry, tepid lectures, but it won’t stay with your audience. To really make it memorable, you need to step out of the mainstream. Get creative with your event and think of new ways to deliver information.
Even simply adding in physical elements can be enough to make things memorable — set up an installation and pepper it with branded merchandise for people to take.
MOZCON
MozCon is a three-day digital marketing conference in Washington, established by SaaS brand Moz. It covers everything from SEO tips to client relations, and it’s something of a mecca for the industry. As you might expect from a digital marketing event, this is a conference like no other.
As well as lights, music, costumed characters, and lots to see, the conference is also innovative in its use of technology too. To keep the conference affordable and available to all, Moz leverages technology in a variety of ways. For example, Moz uses check-in technology and apps to obtain real-time data throughout the year to calculate how many attendees to expect, allowing crucial logistical decisions to be made ahead of time.
Takeaway tip: With such an array of useful technology at your fingertips, you’d be remiss if you didn’t make use of it for your next event. Self-service check-in kiosks can save your guests time queueing and save you money on staff. Lead retrieval technology, too, can quantify your event attendance with real-time reporting.
Not only will technology speed up your queues and save you time and hassle, but it’ll keep your guests happy, too. (Tap into Boomset to find the best-fitted event technology to make life easier and your event experiences greater!)
DAVID LLOYD & NAPERCISE
The British sports and leisure brand, David Lloyd, runs a string of high-end gyms and health clubs, offering tennis, squash, swimming pools and more for its discerning customers. To boost signups for its racquet club, the brand created a one-off class for the general public to try a new exercise called ‘napercise’…
Marketed as the solution to new parents’ sleep troubles, the exercise itself actually consisted of simply climbing into bed and getting a good night’s sleep. Of course, the class itself was intended as a gentle satire of popular exercise classes, but the message was clear (and effective): David Lloyd cares about its customers’ health and wellbeing.
Takeaway tip: The reason David Lloyd’s event is so successful is that it acknowledges — and addresses — its customers’ desire for health and wellbeing. It’s a fine example of how targeted marketing can work with real-world events.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Create events that cater to your customers’ needs. These will compel guests to engage with your brand because they stand to gain something from it, giving you a chance to generate leads in a natural, organic way. When it comes to event marketing, there are plenty of approaches you can adopt. Identify your goals early on and craft a creative event that meets those goals, while keeping your guests hooked at the same time.
Guest Author Bio: Patrick Foster is lead writer and editor at Ecommerce Tips, where he shares his years of experience in the ecommerce industry with aspiring entrepreneurs. From marketing to branding, Ecommerce Tips has it all. Check out the latest news on Twitter @myecommercetips.
There are tons of possibilities to automate your events from entry and beyond. Start by building your event technology stack as YOU see it fit for your objectives: