Creating an Engaging Event Strategy

Events can be powerful tools for building brand awareness, generating leads, and fostering relationships with customers, partners, and employees. Creating a successful event, however, requires more than just a great idea and a well-executed plan. To truly engage your target audience and drive results, you need to develop comprehensive event marketing strategies that take into account a range of factors, from the event’s place in your portfolio to the messaging you want to convey for each event.

Event Portfolio Management

Before you begin planning your event, it’s important to consider where it falls in your overall event portfolio. Different events will have different goals and requirements, and it’s important to ensure that your resources are allocated appropriately. Our event tiers guide can help you determine which resources should be made available for your event. Event tiers are typically based on the scale and importance of the event. For example, a small-scale event may be classified as Tier 3, while a large-scale event that is crucial to the organization’s success may be classified as Tier 1.

Our event portfolio management guide can help you effectively manage your event portfolio. An event specification guide (ESG) is another important document in the event marketing strategies toolbox. This guide outlines the requirements and objectives for each event, ensuring that they are aligned with the organization’s goals, makes sure all stakeholders understand the event objectives, and sets the event up for success.

Importance in the Overall Marketing Strategy

Each event in the portfolio should be integrated into the overall marketing strategy. In addition to the direct benefits of hosting an event, such as lead generation and brand awareness, event-generated content can be repurposed into other marketing campaigns. This allows companies to optimize their resources and get more “bang for the event buck.” By repurposing content, companies can extend the reach of their event while also adding value to other marketing campaigns.

For example, a company that hosts an industry conference can repurpose keynote presentations into blog posts, white papers, and social media content. They can thus increase their reach and engagement, while also positioning themselves as a thought leader in their industry.

When planning an event it is important to think beyond the immediate benefits and consider how event-generated content can be leveraged into other marketing campaigns. As a result of this, companies can maximize the impact of their event and create a lasting impression on their target audience. Event marketing strategies can have a great impact on how hard marketing resources can be put to work.

Defining the Target Audience(s)

Your event’s success depends on engaging the right people. Defining the target audience is a crucial part of any event strategy as it helps to ensure that the event is tailored to meet the needs and interests of the attendees. When it comes to corporate events, there can be a range of different target audiences to consider. These may include:

1. Employees: Depending on the type of event, one target audience could be employees within the organization. This could be anything from a team-building day to an annual company conference.
2. Clients: Another target audience could be clients or potential clients. Hosting events for clients can help to build relationships, improve brand loyalty, and generate new business.
3. Industry Professionals: Events can also be aimed at industry professionals, such as trade shows or conferences. These types of events provide an opportunity to showcase products or services to a wider audience.
4. Media and Influencers: If the event is designed to generate publicity, then media and influencers could be a target audience. Inviting journalists or influencers can help to get the message out to a wider audience.
5. Stakeholders: Events can also be aimed at stakeholders such as shareholders, suppliers, or partners. These types of events can help to build relationships and foster collaboration.

To figure out who the target audience is for a particular event, it’s important to consider the event objectives and what the event is intended to achieve. Understanding the goals of the event will help to identify who the event is most relevant to, keeping in mind that corporate events often have a lot of overlap between the audiences. Once the target audience is identified, it’s important to consider their needs and interests in order to create an event that is engaging and relevant to them. This might mean conducting research or reaching out to potential attendees to gather feedback and input. Ultimately, understanding the target audience and their needs is key to creating a successful and engaging event.

It’s important to define your target audience(s) and tailor your event to their needs and preferences. Remember, there may be more than one audience, and they may be external and internal. Our event portfolio management guide can help you identify your target audience(s) and create a strategy to engage them effectively.

Event KPIs

Event KPIs, or key performance indicators, are a set of measurable metrics used to track the performance of an event. These indicators are used to evaluate the event’s success in achieving its goals and objectives. Event KPIs can be divided into several categories, including portfolio-level, business-level, and event-level KPIs.

• Portfolio-level KPIs are metrics used to measure the performance of an entire event portfolio, which can consist of multiple events. These KPIs can include the number of events held, the total revenue generated from the portfolio, and the overall ROI of the portfolio.

• Business-level KPIs are metrics that evaluate the event’s impact on the organization’s business goals. These KPIs can include lead generation, customer acquisition, revenue generated, and cost per lead.

• Event-level KPIs, on the other hand, measure the success of individual events. These KPIs can include attendance, ticket sales, engagement metrics, social media activity, and attendee satisfaction ratings.

Determining event KPIs is critical to measuring the success of an event. Determine these metrics based on the event’s goals and objectives. When used effectively, event KPIs can provide valuable insights into the success of an event and help event managers optimize future events. For example, if the cost per lead is high, identify areas for cost savings or reevaluate lead generation strategies. If attendance is low, explore ways to increase event promotion and engagement.

Overall, event KPIs are essential for evaluating the success of an event and determining the ROI. By establishing relevant KPIs, event planners can track their progress and adjust their strategies accordingly to ensure that future events are successful.

Our ROI, ROE, ROO guide can help you identify the metrics you need to track to measure your event’s success. Bizzabo has a great article on the event industry’s metrics and data, and is a great place to start before defining your own success metrics.

Event Messaging

Event messaging is a critical component of event marketing strategies. It is essential to develop messaging that aligns with the target audience and the event’s goals. Incorporate messaging throughout the customer journey of the event, and align it with the company’s brand and overall marketing message. By getting the messaging right, companies can create an engaging event that delivers lasting results.

Defining the target audience is crucial when developing the event messaging. Event messaging needs to be tailored to each target audience to ensure that it resonates and engages with them. For example, the messaging for a B2B event may be different from the messaging for a B2C event. For a B2B event, messaging may focus on how the event can help attendees to network and build relationships with industry peers, while the messaging for a B2C event may focus on the event’s entertainment and social aspects.

Consolidate your event messaging throughout the customer journey of the event, from pre-event communications to post-event follow-up. Before the event, your messaging should generate interest and build excitement around the event. During the event, messaging can be used to guide attendees through the event and keep them engaged. After the event, use your event messaging to thank attendees for their participation and follow up with leads.

Event messaging should also fit into the wider marketing strategy. The messaging should align with the company’s brand and overall marketing message. By repurposing event messaging in ways such as email marketing campaigns, content marketing and social media, companies can extend the reach of their event and get more value from their event investment.

At Beyond Branding Events, we specialize in creating comprehensive event marketing strategies that deliver measurable results. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you create engaging events that drive your business forward.