FUNDAMENTALS

OF EVENT
MARKETING

HOW-TO GUIDE
 Fundamentals of Event Marketing
HOW-TO GUIDE

According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), there are 14,451 tradeshow events
held annually in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Tradeshows are just one of a variety of
event types that organizations use to promote their brand and generate leads. Events have strong
appeal for many organizations because they facilitate face-to-face interaction with large groups
of customers and prospects.

This How-To Guide is designed to provide practical advice for executing an event marketing strategy.
This guide outlines use cases for event marketing, event marketing best practices, the keys to a
successful event, and a detailed action plan to begin your event marketing initiative. It is intended
for use prior to and in conjunction with our Executing an Event Marketing Plan How-To Guide.

What Is Event Marketing?

From a marketing perspective, an event is simply an activity designed to bring a specific group of
people together at some venue at a specific time and for a specific purpose. Here are some other
definitions of event marketing:

“The activity of designing or developing a themed activity, occasion,

display, or exhibit (such as a sporting event, music festival, fair, or
concert) to promote a product, cause, or organization.”

BusinessDictionary.com

“Event marketing is the effort to spread recognition of an entity by

association with a social event. Constant competition for the public’s
attention rages in print and broadcast media. Event marketing moves
that competition to the experiential arena and hopes to engage the
participant more fully and make memories more lasting. An experience
that is fun, participatory, and readily available may translate into the
desired action by the event attendee, making the effort cost-effective.”

WiseGEEK.com

2 FUNDAMENTALS OF EVENT MARKETING HOW-TO GUIDE

The fundamental events-marketing premise is to offer something of value to attendees, often
education or entertainment, that draws them to the event. This gathering of attendees, who are
typically customers or prospects, is then exploited for marketing purposes.

What Constitutes an Event?

Events come in a wide variety of forms, including but not limited to the following types:

Trade Shows Conference Exhibits

Webinars Virtual Events
Ribbon Cuttings (e.g. new office) Press Conferences
Focus Groups Training and Education Sessions
Customer Socials or Reception Product Demonstrations
Sponsored Sporting Events Business Dinners
Shareholder Meetings Product Launches

Value of Event Marketing

Event marketing is an excellent strategy for many companies because

Events concentrate groups of customers that represent a company’s target market in one place and
at one time.

They facilitate face-to-face interaction with customers and prospects, which is usually the most
prized form of interaction.

Because of the face-to-face interaction (or real-time interaction in the case of virtual or online events),
they create a stronger impression than other forms of promotion. This impression is ideally favorable,
but poor execution at an event can damage the relationships or create negative impressions.

The quality of interaction at events can accelerate the sales cycle. As the following diagram illus-
trates, different types of events are effective throughout the sales cycle:

3 FUNDAMENTALS OF EVENT MARKETING HOW-TO GUIDE

 Need Discovery Consideration Decision Review

Press Events
Tradeshows
Announcements Training
Customer Retail
Open House Webinars
Product Demos

Event Marketing Spectrum

For some companies, events are the primary marketing strategy. For others, events are just one of
many tactics used to accomplish sales and marketing goals. Your company’s level of commitment
to events will vary depending on the forces driving your marketing strategy. Using the chart below,
determine whether events are a strategic part of your marketing mix or are more tactical in nature:

Events As a "Tactic" Events As a "Strategy"

Infrequent events, as needed Frequent events needed to hit revenue targets.

Complementary to mission Critical to success of mission

Ad hoc team, minimal resources Dedicated team and resources

Viewed as a cost center Viewed as critical investment with clear ROI

Decide where your organization falls on this event marketing spectrum by selecting the character-
istic below that best describes your disposition:

Low - You use events infrequently, but you still need to do them well.
Med - You use events periodically, and want to get more out of them.
High - Events are a strategic part of your marketing plan, and you want to show ROI.

Note: Even if events aren’t a strategic part of your marketing mix, you must be sure to do them
well or risk damage to your firm’s reputation.

4 FUNDAMENTALS OF EVENT MARKETING HOW-TO GUIDE

Key Success Factors for Events
Events come in a wide variety of forms, including but not limited to the following types:

Key Success Factor Reasoning

Clear objectives for each event If you are unsure of objectives, how can you show results?

Meticulous planning Events can be stressful if they are not carefully planned.

Flawless execution You can’t afford to have an event turn into a disaster.

Solid promotion Events are successful only if you have enough attendees.

Measurement of results You need to know which events provide the most ROI.

Bottom Line
Event marketing can accomplish many key objectives: lead generation, sales cycle accelera-
tion and overall brand perception enhancement. Does it make sense for your business to use
events as a marketing strategy? To answer this question intelligently, first consider your objective
for participating in or hosting them.

Reasonable objectives include lead generation, brand awareness, thought leadership, partner
recruiting, media exposure or something else. Set an objective before you do anything else,
because you’ll optimize your presence at an event around this objective.

Your planning and preparedness will determine the extent to which event marketing will produce
the desired outcome. Assessing your organization’s current commitment to event marketing and
creating a detailed event marketing plan will help you get a return on your investment in events.

5 FUNDAMENTALS OF EVENT MARKETING HOW-TO GUIDE

 Action Plan
STEP 1 - Review

Event Planning Made Easy

1 Review
with This How-To Guide

Review our Executing an

Identify Where
2 You Fit on Event Marketing Plan How-To
Guide – to understand the
Spectrum
all the steps in the event
planning process. The first step
in this planning process is to
set objectives for your event
3 Download marketing initiative.

For many companies, the

objective is lead generation.
Whatever it is for your
organization, have clear
Prepare Your
4 Company
objectives and build your event
marketing strategy around them.

Executing an Event Marketing Plan

How-to Guide

VIEW RESOURCE

6 FUNDAMENTALS OF EVENT MARKETING HOW-TO GUIDE

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