10 Reasons Why Your Company Should Invest in Events

Planning and hosting an event is a lot of work. But whether your company is large or small, there are clear benefits of hosting an event. If you’re on the fence about whether it’s worth it, let’s take a look at some of the main benefits of events to remind you of why you are putting all this work into it.

1. Gain access to your core audience

Your event will be targeted to your audience, and when they show up, you’ll have lots of time with them. And this time is not just about pitching services or selling products, either. As a marketer, it’s important to talk with your peers and customers and get in-person feedback. With this face-to-face event time, you can ask your audience what their problems are and how they solve them. When you get into the details with them, you can learn far more than you would be able to otherwise.

2. Boost your content marketing

Events and conferences are content marketing machines, and your social media, video and blog will all benefit. You can generate event-related content by capturing video of speakers and presentations or live-Tweeting and Instagramming the day. Also, don’t underestimate the social prowess of your attendees. They’ll likely share photos and updates from the event with their networks, and you can always give that a boost with a user-generated content contest. Either way, your content marketing calendar will be filled with high-quality, original content.

3. Networking

For most people, networking is the number one reason to attend an event. This will hold true for your attendees, and it will also hold true for you and your team. Event planning can be an all-hands-on-deck bonding experience. In the lead up to the event, stakeholders from all over the company can get involved in planning and execution and work together. Then, once it comes time to open the doors, events are a great shared experience, from speakers and breakout sessions to lunch and cocktail hour. Events always bring teams closer together.

4. Education

Most employees want to stay on top of current trends, especially with technology causing rapid change across many different industries. Smart leaders understand the importance of training and professional development. Hosting an event will give employees the chance to learn from experts in the field and establish your company as a thought-leader and go-to educational resource in the process.

5. If you don’t, your competitor will

Events are a part of business life, and people in your industry are looking to attend for networking and education. If you start hosting a quality event, it will gain fans and it will be easier to repeat and hold the event corner in your industry. If you take your event off the calendar, a competitor might fill the void with their own event.

6. Launch a new product

There’s a reason Steve Jobs always announced new Apple products at company events. If you’re launching a new product, platform or service, an event is the ultimate way to do it. You can control the content and flow of the presentation, and go into detail about the benefits in front of a captivated, engaged audience. You can also invite media, influencers and other VIPs to make sure they hear the news first. There’s no better opportunity to make a good first impression than immersing your audience at an event.

7. Create an emotional connection

When done right, events can make lasting emotional connections in ways that other marketing channels simply can’t. For one thing: events are fun. Flying into a different city, experiencing the local culture, meeting new people and competing in an exciting game is fun in ways that a webinar or a white paper just can’t achieve.

8. ROI

The clearest case for event marketing is return on investment. Whether your KPIs are leads, sales, brand awareness or even thought leadership, event marketing is a highly effective channel. And with event apps, you can track behavior and sales data down to the granular level.

If you’re not sure if the numbers will work, consider adding sponsorships. Inviting sponsors can go a long way toward paying for the costs of the event or an event app, and if the sponsor is a good fit for the audience, it’s a win-win for everyone.

9. Trust

Trust is an important asset to have for any company; especially for newer and smaller companies and startups. When customers are evaluating your company and products, hosting an event (and sharing all of the content generated along the way) will help you come across as much more established and reputable.

10. Brand loyalty

A brand is more than a logo, product, or website. It’s how people perceive your company, what they think of you, how they feel about you and why they support you. As we mentioned above, an event is one of the most powerful opportunities to create a strong, long-lasting emotional connection. If you wow your attendees, they’ll be the first to sign up again next year and the year after that. For more around building brand loyalty at your event, click here.

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There’s no debating the importance of events. Event apps have become an integral part of events, and they make many of the benefits above possible. To learn more and get the most out of event tech, schedule a free demo and talk it over with a Stova expert!