A New Event Marketing
Yes, but are you Marketing your Event?
by Tim Bostwick | Published in September 2007 Focus on Event Marketing
Have you noticed that the task of marketing an event is often the last item on the to-do list — if it’s even on the list?
At AMI, we’ve had the privilege of working with many excellent corporate and association meeting planners with deep experience in site selection, technology and logistics, as well as a passionate commitment to their events’ success. When it comes to marketing the event, however, these pros are often stumped. We ask the question, “How are you getting the people?” — and the answer is, “I don’t really know; they just show up.”
In an era of tight budgets, shrinking and disappearing shows (Comdex!) and strong competition for attendees’ time, wishful thinking won’t cut it anymore. Planners need to adopt a thorough methodology for that perennial prerogative of getting butts in seats.
The Marketing Problem
Why is marketing left out of event plans? Mainly because most shows are well-established and attendance is not a problem — for example, the American Chemical Society, which is holding its 233rd national meeting this year. Another reason is that most planners don’t come from marketing backgrounds. They have other highly developed and valuable skills — project management, site selection, registration and production, to name a few. And since most established associations don’t spend much time on marketing, there’s not much chance to develop these skills.
Most of us don’t have the luxury of 233 years of market development and we’re thrust into attendance development positions whether we like it or not. For example, your attendance and revenue might be down 10 percent from last year and the executive board is looking to you to get the numbers back up. Or you may have recently expanded the association’s membership criteria; how will you find new attendees who fit the enhanced profile?
I had the fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate!) experience of being in direct sales for many years before going into the events business. Lead generation in these companies revolves primarily around cold-calling and appointment-setting at shows. Every lead is treated like California gold dust circa 1849 — something extremely rare and coveted.
Because my paycheck depended on it, I became intensely interested in the art and science of lead generation. Where do customers actually come from? Where were they before they became customers? How did they find us or we find them — trade shows, cold-calling, direct mail, e-mail broadcasts, advertising?
When I launched the Enterprise Management Summit in 1994, I was faced with a big problem: How do I get paid butts in seats when no one on the planet knows about this show? The funding model required significant conference registration plus enough show floor traffic to justify the sponsorship package fees we needed to charge. What skills from the software business would help me with this daunting marketing task?
Develop the Prospect Profile
The first technique I borrowed from my software days was to define exactly whom we wanted to attend. Though it took some time to formulate, this “prospect profile” became an invaluable roadmap, driving decisions about which publication sponsors to seek, what lists we needed to obtain (via barter deals with the pubs) and virtually every subsequent marketing decision.
For example, we knew that enterprise managers are senior-level IT personnel in large companies. The enterprise management software vendors were concentrated in high-tech centers such as Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, but the practitioners were scattered around the country.
We then had to consider list sources (see sidebar). We examined other demographic criteria such as job title, company size, geographic area and buying authority. Ideally, you should assemble one large list from your various sources and direct all media toward that list — mail, telemarketing and e-mail — so that one medium reinforces another.
However, it may not be possible to obtain lists that have phone numbers and e-mail addresses in addition to the basic name/address record. So you may be forced, for example, to purchase one list just to get phone numbers. You can still maintain an integrated campaign, however, by at least mailing to all lists. Rarely is there enough budget to telemarket to every name in your database anyway, so you can maintain an aggressive campaign by telemarketing to the subset of your total list representing your highest-potential prospects.
Segment your Market: Local versus National
We then segmented our market into local and national submarkets. The local market comprises people who will attend the conference if it Is within a 50-mile radius of their workplace (i.e., they can drive and don’t need to stay overnight).
We discovered that the major barrier to attendance among most conference-goers was not the conference fee but rather time out of the office. This local base of attendees became our “show floor” market. We knew that even if they didn’t provide conference revenue, they would flood the floor and indirectly provide show floor revenue. This local audience also migrated over time into our national attendee base as their loyalty to the show grew.
The national market comprises people who are committed enough to the event to travel. The sexiness of the venue becomes the issue here. This market wants to go to Las Vegas, Orlando or some other major city, and at a time of year when the weather is nice. As noted above, time out of the office is a major decision factor, so the venue must be dazzling. Counting travel to/from the venue, most conferences involve a week out of the office.
The Venue as a Marketing Decision
We had been focusing on the cost and logistical aspects of the venue, but we quickly realized that it was also a major marketing decision. We needed a venue that would attract both this group as well as provide a strong local prospect base. While Las Vegas would attract a national attendee, it didn’t have a large local IT base; ditto for Orlando, Hawaii and even San Diego. Washington, D.C., the San Francisco Bay Area and Boston, however, offer both. We ended up running almost every summit for seven years in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C.
Watch out for Part 2 — designing the marketing campaign — of 3 in this series on effective marketing, in the December 2007 issue!
About the author: Tim Bostwick
Tim Bostwick is an executive vice president with AMI, a conference management firm located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Contact: tim@amotive.com