Marketing professionals from a variety of industries came out to hear Sharyn Collinson, Managing Director of Fixation Marketing, and Jon Gonzalez, Chief Development Officer of Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), discuss fund-raising, event planning and nonprofit marketing strategies. The May 19 event was held at the lovely Georgetown University conference hall in Arlington, VA.
Marketing professionals from a variety of industries came out to hear Sharyn Collinson, Managing Director of Fixation Marketing, and Jon Gonzalez, Chief Development Officer of Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), discuss fund-raising, event planning and nonprofit marketing strategies. The May 19 event was held at the lovely Georgetown University conference hall in Arlington, VA.
According to survey research on event marketing, 90 percent of all generated revenue comes from event fundraisers and the remaining 10 percent from virtual marketing campaigns. Studies show that the risks involved in the planning and execution of live events are fairly low compared to a virtual marketing event hosted solely online. Additionally, live events encourage networking between the client and the vendor.
Data collection and market research is one important component of event marketing, primarily because it is a useful tool that industries use to allocate necessary capital to drive sales. Data collected assists marketers with effectively targeting specific demographic groups; allowing them to better determine the level of attendee registration and other important client information.
Survey research, email marketing, direct advertising and media marketing are just a few
of the strategies marketers use to generate sales through active audience registration. Businesses gather vital audience data through various e-marketing tactics such as virtual brochures, direct marketing, e-marketing campaigns, web surveys, e-mail lists, telemarketing and interactive advertising. Despite today’s virtual world, research finds that traditional methods of print advertisement, telemarketing, sales calls, and email marketing are still preferred by the marketing industry. Sharyn recommends that businesses do not base their entire marketing campaign solely on a digital marketing plan, but utilize a blend of virtual marketing and direct traditional marketing formats in their marketing mix.
One proven method of tracking live audience participation feed is through deployment reports and Consumer Package Goods (CPG). CPG utilizes Geomaps to track the type of consumers who are actively registered for specific events and the sales value consumers actually bring to the event as a whole. Deployment reports keep track of the visitors who bounce back from a previous registration touchpoint. Many companies utilize Beta Testing in their email marketing campaigns as part of an integrated approach to target the demographic audience. Many businesses today heavily leverage the use of key words and touchpoint emails as an integrated approach to track subject participation. According to survey results, 76percent of attendees rate face-to-face interactions as an important tool for relationship building. Sascha Segan from PCMagRadio reports that the three phases of relationship building are: Know, Trust, and Like. Non-verbal communication is one vital component when establishing a B2B or B2C relationship. In non-verbal communication, 55 percent of what is said is decoded through physiological cues; 38 percent in the voice and 7 percent with words. While promoting an event online using hypermedia methods may appear to be easier, in reality this popular strategy is not a replacement for the human factor at live events, which will enhance customer loyalty.
SXSW is a prime example of an extremely successful event marketing company that cleverly leveraged both the virtual environment and live audience attendance. SXSW had been triumphant in their event marketing tactics, due to their ability to attract a massive online and offline crowd through engaging and interactive media.
SXSW’s ability to leverage large crowd participation through live media and face-to-face events has been instrumental to their success. Fixation Marketing is one highly successful event marketing company with over 200 clients and growth of 65 percent annually. With a large audience demographic in the thousands and massive net per square footage of space, Fixation marketing was able to generate large revenue in the millions due to their event promotion strategies. The key to a successful event is through high level audience positioning, activation and measurement of support, streamlined services, simplified account management, and proactive communication. Some pointers for leveraging success are: Approach with an “answers approach” rather than a “questions approach”, use integrated event opportunity both online and offline, position the event for easy access, use embedded hypermedia links to engage the audience during the event, and embrace branding through sponsorships.
Robert York, the founder and CEO of IEG, uses grassroots marketing as a fundraising tool for non-profit firms. Some advice for non-profits: engage the sponsor, never sell products prematurely without a thorough understanding of the audience, and always anticipate proactive audience feedback. In order to have a successful B2B or B2C relationship, a comprehensive audience communications plan is essential. All marketing professionals need to make sure that this is a part of their integrated event marketing program. Key takeaway: A successful event marketing campaign engages the audience through positive and interactive branding and fosters relationships – both online and offline.