Event Marketing: Event Marketing in a Nut Shell, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Management Theory

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Program Description

Event marketing is one of the fastest growing fields of marketing. It is all about "creating experiences" and is becoming a much more sophisticated discipline as corporations and organizations recognize the need to integrate events into the traditional marketing mix. It is currently a multi-billion dollar industry in North America

WHAT IS 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.

Also called event creation.

What is Event Marketing - Event Marketing in a Nut Shell ??

Event marketing is one of the fastest growing fields in marketing and advertising today.

It's everywhere you look in today's culture although; you probably don't readily

recognize the majority of the event marketing programs when you see them. That's

because there are many flavors to event marketing and there are no hard rules about

what exactly is and isn't event marketing.

Free sample of coffee you picked up from the Dunkin' Donuts logo wrapped vehicle =

Event Marketing. The huge, custom-converted tractor/trailer semi with dozens

of Playstation 2 stations where you played the hottest new game titles while at the X

Games = Event Marketing. That was an Event Marketing program in action.

Whether you are at the Super Bowl , Ozzfest , the Van's Warped Tour , the Olympics , or

just your local mall or grocery store , there is an event marketing program there or, at

the very least, waiting for you right around the corner.

Event marketing brings the advertising to the consumer by direct hand-to-hand sampling

or interactive displays. While advertising and major marketing programs blast millions

of consumers with the same general messages on television or mass media, event

marketing targets specific individuals or groups at gathering spots where they hope to

make quality individual impressions.

Programs rely on an Event Marketing street teams to execute the daily program and

accomplish any and all program goals. While everyone at the event marketing company

involved in the creation and construction of the program probably had an MBA or a

 Brief clarification  Budget drafting  Cash flow management  Supply chain identification  Procurement  Scheduling  Site design  Technical design  Health and Safety  First Aid Services  Environmental and ecological management  Risk management The key disciplines closer to the event are:

 Health and safety, including crowd management  Logistics and vehicle selection  Rigging  Sound  Light  Video  Detailed scheduling and agenda planning  Security

Event Management Resources

A List Guide is a comprehensive resource for event managers, event management companies and anyone planning an event. It includes hundreds of venues, suppliers and activities from around Australia.

Event Venues The A List Guide venue directory can be used easily to find suitable venues in your city.

Event Suppliers The supplier directory can be used to find event suppliers that specialise in Amusement Hire & Interactive Entertainment; Audio Visual, Staging & Lighting; Awards & Prizes; Bands, DJ's & Musical Equipment; Beverage Catering & Logistics; Catering; Catering - Specialty Cuisines, Cakes & More; Cleaning Services and Bathroom Hire; Computer Hire & IT Solutions; Corporate Gifts & Merchandise; Corporate Hospitality; Decorations, Theming & Props; Entertainment & Performers; Equipment, Furniture & Plant Hire; Event Management; Event Websites, Apps & Software; Exhibitions, Signage, Flags & Banners; Fireworks, Lasers & Visual Effects; Florists; Fundraising and Charity Auction; Graphic Design, Web Design & E-Marketing; Guest Speakers, MCs & Celebrities; Health, Pampering and Beauty; Identification & Registration; Industry Media, Tradeshows & Contacts; Personnel & Support Staff; Photography & Videography; Safety, Security & Medical Services; Stationery, Invites, Packaging, Design & Printing; and Transportation, Freight & Logistics.

Steps involved in

camapining an Event

Marketing

Steps involved in creating a promotional campaign for your event

Note: Before creating a promotional campaign get the basic idea of some business and marketing terms.

Step 1: Setup advertising objectives.

Why you want to advertise? What is your objective of advertising? What do you want to get through advertising? For e.g

• You want to advertise to create awareness about your event.
• You want to advertise to get sponsors and clients for your events
• You want to advertise to thank you your sponsors and clients.

Step 2: Decide your promotional Activities

How you are going to promote your event company, your organizers, your sponsors, your clients and your partners, pre-event, at-event and post-event. Before I go any further, let's get an idea of what is media and what is media vehicle.

Media refers to various means of communications. Broadly speaking there are five categories of media: Print, Electronic, outdoor, Transit and Miscellaneous media. Print media includes: newspapers, magazines, press releases, tickets, passes, invitations, banners, posters etc. Electronic media includes TV, Radio, Internet, Telephone, electronic signage etc. Outdoor Media includes Hoardings, Billboards, and Balloons etc. Transit Media includes promotion through cars, cabs, buses, trucks, trains, planes etc. Miscellaneous media includes everything else like: events, word of mouth publicity etc.

Media vehicle is a specific medium. For e.g. if 'Internet' is media, then MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo etc are media vehicles. If 'TV' is a media, then specific TV program like 'Celebrity Apprentice' is a media vehicle. Similarly if magazine is a media, then specific magazine say 'playboy' is a media vehicle.

How Print Media can be used for Promotion

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Event Marketing

Event Marketing

Integrating a variety of communications elements behind an event theme.

Event Sponsorship Financial support of an event in return for advertising privileges.

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Cause Marketing Sponsorships

Association with a cause has a positive effect on consumer’s perceptions of a brand or company.

CIBC Run for the Cure

Ronald McDonald‘s Children‘s Charities

A means of emotionally connecting with consumers.

Some companies develop and sponsor their own good causes.

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Product Promotional Tours

Experiential Marketing

Finding ways for a target audience to interact directly with a product.

A team arrives at pre-determined locations to actively promote and distribute a product.

Mountain Dew implements themed skateboarding tours.

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To Participate or Not?

The decision to participate in event marketing should be based on predetermined criteria.

• Exclusivity
• Must compliment other IMC strategies
• Reach target effectively
• Appropriate image
• Media coverage opportunity. The “fit” between event and sponsor is crucial.

When you work so hard to plan an event, of course you want a great turnout and return on investment.

How can you ensure your event will be a hit? It’s all about marketing. A campaign that targets and appeals to qualified leads is the first and most important step to event management success. We’ll

break down key factors that encourage attendee interest and spike event enrollment.

Step 1 —Identify qualified contacts and leads. To begin a marketing campaign, you need an audience

to reach out to. Create a contact list that focuses on your key demographic. If your event theme or topic doesn’t apply to a portion of your customers, don’t bother sending them invitations- it will be junk mail

to them and their lack of response will hurt your success rate (and your reputation for delivering valuable information). Segment customers or contact who would be interested in your event and build a

qualified leads list. If you’ve hosted events previously, remember to invite former attendees. A mix of familiar and new faces means more networking opportunities.

Step 2 —Determine your means of promotion. Event promotion can take on a variety of forms and

you need to determine what best fits your needs and budget. This could include email campaigns, online

ads, personalized letters, postcards, phone calls, newsletters or social media. In this digital age, online marketing and social media campaigns tend to be more effective than direct mail. This strategy poses a major advantage for event hosts; not only are online and social media tools affordable (often free), but

they are trackable. There are several companies and online platforms with tracking tools that measure your marketing success, with reports on- open rates, click rates, “Likes”, “Retweets”, overall return on

investment, and more. These real-time promotional tools are incredibly helpful, efficient and give event planners more insight into their customers than ever before.

Step 3 —Leverage your event website. Your event website is your biggest promotional tool. The most

important aspect of the site is registration. Event registration should be fast and easy for you and your

future attendees. (There’s plenty of event registration software available for this process.) Offering deals like group packages and early bird discounts can also greatly increase your number of registrants. Your

site should also contain an event schedule, session highlights, sponsors, and contact information. Overall the site needs to be easy to navigate, and should be visually interesting. If you’ve hosted the event

before, include photos or video clips from last year. Anything that will entice and motivate your future attendees can help, which leads us to step number 4.

Step 4 —Offer something attendees can’t resist. There are dozens of ways to make your particular

event irresistible. For instance, everyone loves free swag. Merchandise such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, water bottles, or reusable bags with your event name or company logo are always appreciated. You

could use free or discounted goodies to further promote your sponsors or event speakers. Give away advanced copies of a book penned by a featured event speaker, or tickets to one of their future

seminars if possible. Offering social events with free food and cocktails could also increase attendance; it’s another opportunity for networking, and a fun, relaxed one at that. Featuring high-profile speakers

and revealing new products are irresistible as well. Your attendees will love being in-the-know in their industry.

Step 5 —Follow up post event. Once your event is finished, don’t cut ties with your attendees.

Distribute post-event surveys to find out what worked well and what didn’t. It will remind your attendees that their opinions matter and you can use the feedback for your benefit. Use data from the

surveys to analyze and compare metrics to improve your future events. (Several event registration software platforms can assist in this process.) Finally, send personalized thank you notes- another task

your computer can do for you. Your attendees will appreciate the thought, adding to their overall satisfaction regarding your event. The more customer satisfaction you receive, the more loyal attendees

you’ll gain. With the right approach, you can easily and affordably market your event to make it a success. These five event management steps are just a few of the things you can do to get event

exposure, but they are sure to help boost your registrations and increase revenue.

Event Marketing And Business

Event Marketing Opens Doors For Your

Business

Event Marketing is merchandising a business to groups of potential buyers. Most sales systems have a specific target market or a selected company that is pursued to become a customer. Event marketing can be accomplished in two ways, either as a participant or as a sponsor. There is no limit to the different ways that event marketing can increase company awareness and introduce prospects to the advantages of partnering with your company.

you must have a presenter who is comfortable with grabbing the attention of the viewer, holding their attention in a fun, informative style, while providing valuable information and insight.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship will get you noticed and get your company’s name and product/service branded in your customer’s mind. One of the best ways is to sponsor a local sporting team (professional or amateur). Sponsoring a sporting event, or sponsoring a Little League baseball, football, or soccer team is a great way to get your name out in the community. For an investment in their uniforms, your name and logo will be seen by every team member, families and community groups. If your company name is part of the team’s name you will also receive free publicity in the newspaper.

Concerts and Malls

These are great venues for event marketing. Most malls and concerts have booths for rent and they offer a great place to explain the benefits of working with your company. This venue is a great way to hand out media kits or brochures to the visitors at your booth.

Online Event Marketing

Online event marketing enables you to attract new customers, build your company brand, and increase revenue. Maximize the outcome with a well-coordinated plan of related programs. Consider incorporating product or service explanations or an interactive method where the visitor can find answers to their questions. An event can be implemented on your site or in partnership with a related media site.

THE MARKETING PLAN

How can a digarketing plan

improve my event?

In an effort to remain ahead of the curve, we believe it‘s important to amplify the use of a digital

marketing plan in event marketing. In light of the new Canada anti-spam law (CASL), web

marketing is going to be crucial for companies that would like to acquire the members and contacts

that they had in their list that they are no longer able to reach. With the objective of capturing these contacts and converting them — whether they are members, participants, or sponsors — objectives need to be met, and as a business running an event, a digital marketing plan can help you attain those objectives.

C- Social networking: Interact with others by sharing and creating create content through online

communities like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even forums that relate to your subject matter. It

can be used to promote your brand or event, tell participants and audiences at large about your

product or event, gauge what others think about your event, attract new participants, and build

relationships with your existing participants. You have to make everything you do shareable. And if

you want them to share it, you need to make sure they can find it with a simple search and that your

content is valuable for your intended audience.

3- USE INBOUND MARKETING, NOT

INTERRUPTION MARKETING

Interruption marketing is paid ads that are found on the right-hand side at Facebook, the paid ads at

the top and on the right-hand side of Google results and the sponsored hashtags (#) and accounts on

the right-hand side and updates at Twitter. Ask most web users and the majority of them will tell you

that they simply ignore these ads.

Inbound marketing, however, works quite well, although it is more about earning people‘s interest

rather than buying it. It‘s much better to be the first organic result on Google rather than one of the

paid results. The former is not always easy to attain, but with the right plan of action, it is certainly

doable.

4- CREATE SOLID LANDING PAGES

Optimization is not strictly for content; it‘s important that you optimize your website as well. Your

landing pages need to be user-friendly and straight to the point. If you want to ensure the most

signups or registrations for your event, for example, you need to make sure that your landing page

drives the right message home. This is where your unique selling proposition, a video or slideshow of

images, the benefits of attending your meeting, client testimonials, and a solid call to action.

5- FOCUS ON YOUR WEBSITE

ARCHITECTURE

The beauty of a great digital marketing plan is a great website. And what makes a great website? It‘s

when a visitor intuitively knows where everything can be found. I can‘t tell you how often I end up

on a website and have no idea where to find what I‘m looking for. There needs to be a method to the

madness and you always need to keep the end user in mind when putting together your website. After

all, this is the face that people see before they opt to sign up for your event or register for your

services, so you want to make sure that what they see responds to their needs and interest (e.g.,

professional development).

6- DEVELOP A SOCIAL MEDIA

PLAN

Too often, businesses think that social media requires nothing more than merely a few posts on the

varying social networks and not much else, but there is a lot more to being present on social networks

as an organization or conference. If you are promoting a conference, for example, you can‘t simply

push the link on Twitter every day until conference time; you need to be ever-present, engaging, and

answer any questions by attendees, as well as prospects. Did you know that 42% of customers who

complain to businesses on social media expect a 60-minute response time? Why? Because they

usually get a response in that time. You need to make sure you‘re present and available to answer

your participants‘ inquiries.

7- USE ANALYTICS TO FIND OUT

WHAT’S WORKING

All of your online efforts would be useless if you didn‘t measure them. You need to figure out what

worked and what didn‘t, and you need to leverage the numbers for your next event. Your event

doesn‘t end when it‘s over; it‘s a repetitive cycle that requires 365-day engagement. If you want to

find out where your customers are coming from via social or any other web marketing effort you

deploy, analytics will help you decipher what works best. By constantly measuring the results, you

can figure out where your audience is and how to leverage your communication efforts.

Event Marketing

The Power of Event Marketing

According to a 2012 study by the Event Marketing Institute:

 58% of event marketing participants purchased the marketed product after the event  86% of these consumers became regular customers

A successful event marketing campaign provides value to attendees beyond information about a product or service. A discount, free sample, charity alignment, or fun event will make customers feel like they are receiving a benefit and not just attending a live-action commercial.

In contrast to traditional advertising, which blasts millions of consumers with the same general television, radio or billboard message, event marketing targets specific individuals or groups at gathering spots, in hopes of making quality individual impressions.

The key to pulling off an effective event marketing campaign is to identify the target audience correctly and create an experience that remains in participants‘ memories. By finding an opportunity to interact with the right demographic of people – both current customers and prospective buyers – a brand can build favorable impressions and long-lasting relationships. The best, most creative events create interactions that not only reflect positively on the brand at the time, but generate a buzz long after the event is over.

Who employs Event Marketing?

As long as a business is able to track and identify their target audience, they can find a way to appeal directly to them. For example, if a company sells sporting products, they can market at a sporting event. If they sell technology products, they can offer demonstrations of the latest and greatest technologies at a convention event.

In fact, any company that provides a product can give out samples, as long as it isn‘t illegal. Even companies whose products aren‘t able to be handed out as samples (like pharmaceutical companies or doctors‘ offices) can provide interactive experiences to consumers. For example, a company that manufactures a medication for high blood pressure could set up a machine that takes blood pressure readings next to a booth supplying literature on their drug.

Event marketing shouldn‘t take the place of traditional or community marketing, but should be a supplemental tactic to both. If a brand‘s national commercials feature a well-known mascot, for example, that mascot could make an appearance at an event and pose for photos with attendees. (See also Community Marketing)

How is an Event Marketing plan developed and employed?

Event marketing is unique because each event must be approached differently – in this respect, a marketing team doesn‘t necessarily need an overarching ―plan‖ for their various events. Instead, it is important to base each individual event marketing tactic upon the brand‘s overall marketing

plan and how it fits into the personality of the event. By approaching each event as a separate chance to make an impression, a brand can tailor their efforts to best impact each audience.

Maximize your Event Marketing budget

1. Host competitions or contests
2. Sponsor and/or participate in meet-ups or user groups
3. Host an unaffiliated pre-party or after-party for an industry event
4. Host a party or networking event during a competitor conference
5. Volunteer as an industry speaker

Still, teams must consider three aspects when developing an event marketing plan. First, the company should consider the personality that their brand is trying to convey. A brand like Coca- Cola, who has historically tried to place their product as a harbinger of global peace, happiness, and simple pleasure, made an excellent choice by installing vending machines that dispensed ―happiness‖ along with soft drinks.

Second, company must keep their target audiences in mind. In recent years, grassroots efforts by men‘s heath coalitions have popularized ―Movember,‖ a November-long moustache-growing contest to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other cancers affecting men. This initiative would never have taken hold if not for the ironic popularity of moustaches among young men, the audience who could most benefit from men‘s cancer awareness. (See also Event Marketing)

Third, companies need to consider what lasting impression they wish to leave on their audience. Many people remember the 2005 Sony campaign where the company dropped – and filmed – 250,000 bouncy balls on the streets of San Francisco in order to advertise the color display their new Bravia LCD television was capable of.

Brands can impress event crowds through a variety of creative tactics, not just sheer visual appeal. For example, one tactic that brands use is to create an event within an event. The idea is to create a compelling reason for patrons to stop and explore your brand, not just another booth for them to walk past. At the Sundance film festival, Ray Ban sunglasses put on a truth-or-dare themed campaign, which was fun for participants and also translated into social media shares after the event was over.

Event marketing can also be much more subtle – many companies use QR codes on their posters and branding materials that work to integrate physical and virtual branding. These QR codes can lead users to mobile sites offering discounts and special offers on physical products. Additionally, some companies offer exclusive event benefit coupons to those who ‗like‘ them on Facebook.

What types of careers work with Event Marketing strategies?

A career in event marketing can have many different faces. While a stereotypical event marketing career involves a great deal of travel due to events happening at places around the country, there are many options in the field that offer security and predictability. Event