The Complete Guide to Event Marketing

Why is Event Marketing Important?

According to this report, 95% of marketers agree that live events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world.

Additional statistics from the report include:

• Most marketers (31%) believe that event marketing is the single most effective marketing channel.
• An overwhelming majority of C-Suite executives (87%) believe in the power of live events and plan on investing in them more in the future.
• 84% of event attendees say that they have a more positive opinion about the company, brand, product, or service being promoted after the event.

What makes the difference between a good and a great experience is your knowledge of what is happening now. This guide discusses the big shifts happening online and offline, which corporate event professionals need to be aware of, to market their events more efficiently.

Remarketing

In the fickle low attention span world of the Internet, remarketing offers event marketers the opportunity to reconnect and stay on top of clients or attendees’ minds. The principles of remarketing are pretty simple. A marketer engages an online ad agency (or directly through Google) and puts a specific tag on their website. Those who view that page will find a targeted piece of advertising seemingly following them across other websites.

With remarketing, the major step of visiting your website can turn into a series of touchpoints on engaging platforms like Google, YouTube, and Facebook and lead to a conversion. As we’ve discussed how journeys are becoming longer before action, remarketing is your strongest ally to deliver a consistent and persistent message across the web.

Remarketing can be incredibly efficient for event marketing, but it can also be highly intrusive. We are now used to being “chased around the internet” by flight offers based on our search terms, but we are not as comfortable with an early bird offer for a scientific congress chasing us in the same way.

There is no question that remarketing is incredibly powerful, but with the data privacy concerns raised by recent scandals, it’s more important than ever to use these tools wisely and most of all tactfully. After all, we have nothing to win by eroding our event’s brand equity.

How to Win at Remarketing

• Create an ad for those who visited a specific speaker's bio page with their topic in the title.
• Make a remarketing ad for each trade show exhibitor or sponsor by giving them their own pages on your site. Include that in your package offerings.
• Create a countdown to early bird registration deadlines in your copy to make for a stronger call to action.

Pop-ins and Exit Intent

The battle for our attention online rages on. The battlefield is filled with shiny colors, moving images, and large buttons, as well as popups, pop-ins, and others. Some are very efficient; others are overkill and will annoy even the most patient surfer.

Unlike the distasteful pop-ups of a decade past, modern lightbox-style pop-ins won’t be blocked by blockers and won’t significantly impact bounce rate. Website visitors are trained to know that simply clicking the X in the box will allow them to go back to your site. Pop-ins are most commonly used to drive visitors to sign up for your email list but can be used for any desired additional actions such as app downloads, coupon downloads, and social media following.

First and foremost, the focus should be on creating a well-designed website or registration page. This is ideally an introduction to the event that uses concise copy that resonates with the target audience supported by images that clearly illustrate the event. In combination, this should leave no doubt in the consumer’s mind if this is the right event for them. Only once this is achieved can a carefully placed pop-in be a valuable way to highlight a call-to-action. Never before.

One of the core principles of growth hacking is making every attempt to use the most amount of inexpensive touchpoints to drive towards a conversion. Pop-ins are just the right level of behavior that doesn’t cross the line of being seen as aggressive but gets the job done.

Fine Tune Your Pop-in Strategy

• Make sure your call to action button is a different color than your background, is centered, and is clearly stated.
• Make a trade. If you want something special from your visitors that requires a pop-in, give them something special in return.
• Be as concise as possible. A visitor should be able to read the entire pop-in in 5 seconds or less.
• Be on-brand by utilizing your site’s colors and still feeling like you are part of the same page
• Offer customer support on pages with lots of copy after they spend more time than the average time someone spends on any given page (based on your analytics).
• Sell your keynote speaker’s book to all those who register and offer a bonus ebook or companion update.
• Ask why they would consider attending your event with three options leading them to three different pages made up for their very specific needs.

Exit Intent

This style of pop-in is an even more sophisticated variation of call-to-action visitor interruption. They are triggered by a visitor’s behavior, often as a last-ditch effort to convert before they leave a page or your website.

Effective Triggers for Exit Intent Pop-ins

• Time-based - These drop-in after a certain amount of time is spent on a page. How much time someone spends on any given page is a telling way to determine how interested they may be in what you have to say.
• First-time visitors - Your first impression is often the most crucial. Deal with common misconceptions or quickly endear yourself to these visitors with the best you have to offer.
• Abandoned carts - With e-commerce products such as ticket sales, there’s nothing more frustrating than an abandoned shopping cart. Remarket those who left before completing the sale with an ad that offers a percentage off within a short window.
• Add-ons - If you have a registration page, pop-ins for additional complimentary items are a way to turn a smaller sale into a larger one.

Long-form Content

Content is a crucial lifeline of event marketing. Event marketers have a responsibility to develop and use good content in their event marketing. Long-form content such as content videos or blogposts may take more resources to develop, but in most cases, it is well worth it. Poor content, in any format, quickly loses viewers or readers. There is no excuse not to create professional content that is relevant to your event’s target market.

Call it an article, white paper, report, blog post, or even a guide, in the age of 140-character tweets, what place is there for long-form content in your marketing? The answer lies in knowing your audience. The more niche you can get and the more value you can provide that niche, the higher likelihood of success with longer-form content. Your brand’s social media content is the appetizer, but your long-form content can be the meal they are looking for. You have to focus on writing something no one else could, to groups, no one else is writing to.

Consumers are wise to clickbait and weak manipulative content. Remember this:

Content marketing is not a way to get people TO your products, it IS one of your products.

Long-form content allows for deep analysis of one topic or a wide comparison between key topics. It also allows for all types of repurposing, which is particularly useful for social media. As more long-form content is developed, the opportunities multiply as this gives you the ability to cross-reference and combine content into further content. Long-form content is alive and well, and event marketers are more creative than ever at using and reusing it.

How to Leverage Long-form Content

1. Map out various topics of interest to your community that is linked to your event. It’s worth considering your event site’s SEO when planning content development.
2. Research each topic in detail. Consider collaborating with speakers, authors, or influencers to add more depth.
3. Create the content to the best of your ability and include links to any relevant good quality content, particularly relevant links to other pieces of your long-form content.
4. Adapt your long-form content to other formats. After all, you want to give your audience as many opportunities as you can to consume your content. For example, a blog post can also become a spoken word video and a podcast.
5. Share widely, using your own email and social media channels as well as any other relevant channels, including Facebook and LinkedIn groups where permitted. Repurpose the content into concise social media posts, such as image quotes, video highlight clips, and poll questions for Facebook or Twitter.
6. Update your content periodically and share it again.

Growth Hacking for Events

The lines between what is currently considered marketing best practice and growth hacking get blurred every few months. Usually, growth hacking marketing is defined as a form that emphasizes more experimental campaigns focused on fast results, especially in the areas of growing audiences. Growth hackers A&B test and pivot quickly in order to show momentum-building results. The reason growth hacking is featured in our trends is because the marketing landscape is moving so quickly that only through result-driven trials can you determine the right formula for success.

Many clever event marketers use automation and machine learning to grow communities, gain followers on social media and fill up events. The tools available are constantly improving and techniques are never far behind. Growth hacking involves constant experimentation and testing with plenty of risks along the way.

Growth hacking will undoubtedly continue to grow, but as consumers become more concerned about their data privacy, questions about the marketing techniques used will continue to be raised. Event marketers that rely too heavily on the wrong type of growth hacking risk alienating the community around their event. The smart event marketer will use wholesome tools and techniques that offer clear value to the event participants.

Social Media Follower Growth Hacking

Rapid unsustainable practices are the product of poor growth hacking techniques. Buying followers in order to trick people into thinking you are credible, and most forms of content automation will hurt rather than help any strategies that are based on long-term success.

Web-based applications such as Tweepi allow you to target the followers of competitors or influencers in order to rapidly build your audience. Targeted automation of post liking on platforms like Twitter and Instagram also often results in fast follower gains without being seen as a spamming technique (as with post commenting automation).

Tease to Convert

If your main goal is website conversion, social media posts geared at reeling people in for the full story on their site are key. Steer clear of clickbait schemes by focusing on value in your post with additional value on your site. Enticing graphics will help convert clicks and variations of images with different takes on the calls to action will also stretch out a campaign. For example, if you are sending them to a list, give them one of the items in your post and have the rest located on your site.

Sharing Strategies

Social media tactics are the best forms of growth hacking because you have the opportunity for impressions you don’t pay for through social sharing. Social media posts designed to entice followers to share them take precision. Self-promotion and ads are rarely shared or retweeted unless you have something that is ending very soon and exclusive. Timely posts that leverage moments everyone's talking about are overwhelmingly the most shared content with instructional content being second. Direct your tweets at influencers with unique messages to them (but please space out requests so they feel special and not blasted at). Don’t forget the easiest way to get a share or retweet – ask for one!

Event Sizzle Reels and Promotional Videos

1. Invest in high-quality video, spectacular (and legal) drone shots edited to trendy music.
2. Make it obvious what the event is about in the first few seconds.
3. Show event features and transmit the event’s culture or the feeling of being at the event.
4. Don’t squeeze in every feature, this video is about impressing rather than providing detailed information.
5. The videos can be used across all channels at almost any time in event marketing.
6. If possible, create different versions focusing on the latest updates as you get closer to the event.

Session Recordings

1. Make sure to get permission to record speakers, panelists, and everyone involved in the session.
2. Session recordings offer a great long-tail search-based discovery mechanism, so make sure you include a full session and event description on YouTube.
3. This type of content is of great value to the community and there is a clear sales message inherent in the content.
4. Add accurate captions to your videos for maximum impact.

Speaker or Thought Leader Interview

1. Capture these at a video booth at your event or in advance remotely.
2. Priorities clear audio over the perfect image.
3. Make sure there is a strong link to the event and industry but make the content timeless. This will allow you to edit the footage later in any way you see fit.
4. Use a professional host to conduct the interviews, if possible, and make sure all topics are thoroughly researched beforehand.
5. Add captions to your video so that it can be consumed without sound, this gives viewers everything they need to watch the video regardless of their surroundings or devices.

User-Generated Videos

1. Create a competition around a key event topic that only accepts offers by videos on social media using a unique hashtag.
2. Offer complimentary registrations as other event-related prizes.
3. The content may be outside your control but in exchange, you get content focused on your event.
4. If appropriate, you can compile the videos into a best-of video post on social media or use them on-site to show your appreciation.

Preview Videos

1. A few days or even hours before an event, a behind-the-scenes preview video works well on social media.
2. It doesn’t have to be professionally produced, keep it short and personal.
3. Tease the audience and offer them an unusual look at the event.

Which Video Social Platform is Right for my Event?

It seems like every social media platform has been building towards video as the content category of choice. This is the result of more sophisticated technologies to support streaming video as well as users’ fatigue towards being communicated through words. With every major social media channel investing in video, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of each platform to determine where it fits into your strategy. Remember that the key to all video content, no matter the platform, is that it needs to be visually appealing and should be kept short.

Facebook

• Video uploaded directly to Facebook seems to have a positive effect on its feed ranking based on the Facebook algorithm.
• Other positive metrics for Facebook videos include an increased volume of engagement over photos (with the additional metric of views being counted) and longer sustained engagement.
• Tell your story with and without sound in order to capture the attention of those at work or listening to music.
• The first 10 seconds are the most important. Make sure to hook people with a unique angle they can’t help but continue with in order to see the resolution.
• Use video insights in order to determine the ideal video length for your audience.

Snapchat

• Snapchat’s preferential front-facing camera is due to its users’ interest in intimate experiences in real-time.
• You can afford to be as real as possible on Snapchat videos. Behind the scenes resonates better than perfectly composed depictions of reality.
• Make it fun. This is the social media of goofy facial filters and animal stickers. Don’t take yourself too seriously.

YouTube

• YouTube is as much a video hosting platform as it is a search engine and social media site. The rules of all three should be taken into consideration.
• Make sure to use the keywords that attract the right searches to your videos as you would when you write SEO copy for your website.
• Production matters more here. While raw and uncut looks are appealing to some platforms (especially live streaming), these videos will have a longer shelf life and should be more composed.
• Make sure you have a compelling call to action with more content similar to what the person just watched in order to convert to your website.
• Keep videos short, between 1 and 2 minutes long.

Instagram

• Consult your business analytics to tell you when you should be posting on any given day.
• Use third-party utilities to add captions to your videos for those who scroll quickly through their feed and have sound turned off as their preference.
• Your feed videos should be less raw than Snapchat but don't need to be as composed as YouTube.
• Use Instagram stories too for less than perfect and the moment videos that won’t benefit from being discovered after their 24-hour shelf life.

Live Streaming Video

Any technology that concerns itself with “live” makes it immediately relevant for the event industry to understand. With each update, these streaming platforms become more and more identical except in one way they never will –user bases. Determining which technology to focus on should start with figuring out which social ecosystem is more beneficial for you to take advantage of.

How to Expand Your Reach with Live Streaming

• Videos on YouTube have a greater likelihood of being discovered over time.
• Live stream viewers react to sincerity over polished performances. Focus on personality over scripts.
• Build anticipation through FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). While often part of a campaign, each major live stream should have its own micro-campaign. In an age of on-demand content, the promotion of live stream content needs to emphasize engagement only available at the time given.
• This isn’t broadcast TV; this is social media. Streaming viewers react strongly to having their names called out and answered in real-time. Make sure that your viewers are acknowledged.
• If possible, include subtitles or work-safe captions on videos for those who would watch but can’t benefit from audio.
• For event live streaming, both Periscope and Facebook Live have stated that a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of 90 minutes are ideal. Remember, viewers will drop partway through, and others will come in midstream, so reiterate the context of what they are seeing.
• Think about the production value. It’s OK to go low budget, but if you have a huge stage production and capture a low-quality live stream of it on a handheld smartphone, it won’t send the best message to your audience.
• Consider your platforms carefully. It may be best to live stream to your most popular social media channel. You can even stream to all at the same time.
• Decide if you want to reuse the content and keep this in mind while you are live streaming, as it may affect your production.
• Tell your followers in advance or they may not join you. Don’t rely on push notifications that your followers may or may not receive.

Snapchat

The origins and initial adoption characteristics of users for Snapchat did not hint much at its potential for use during corporate live events but this social media is evolving in that direction. While other social media platforms have all found their place as tactics for specific event marketing or engagement strategies, Snapchat is just now emerging as a contender.

Here’s why you can’t overlook Snapchat’s potential impact on your event:

• Passionate user base who spends more time on Snapchat than any other social media.
• Like events, Snapchat stories are temporary, and its fan’s engagement is fueled by FOMO.
• Robust and fun one-to-one communication is ideal for attendees to ask questions about a brand during a live event.
• On-Demand Geofilters offer an event a branding opportunity more contextual than a hashtag.

Guerilla Marketing

Is there an upcoming event where the audience would be very receptive to your event as well? Set up an on-demand geofilter available at that specific location during the hours of their event. Read the rules carefully. You cannot use calls to action, hashtags, or usernames and there are a lot of design rules you will need to follow. An example of guerilla marketing would be a trade show exhibitor buying a geofilter for the whole exhibition space listing their booth number. These filters offer unofficial marketing opportunities far cheaper than event sponsorship.

Humanizing Your Event

Especially with Snapchat’s core demographic, a brand’s ability to be real, transparent, and talk directly to them is vital for conversion. For many who put on corporate events, this type of connection is difficult. Showing behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on your event is an excellent way to build anticipation. With “Snapchat Takeovers” other contributors to the event can become the temporary voice for the brand and give your audience new perspectives. Your account can be taken over by a presenter, contributing vendor, or even a different member of your planning team.

With the incredible growth in the event marketing industry, it’s no surprise that event marketers are constantly looking for ways to improve their events. One of the best ways to do that is to embrace new technology. Beacons and digital badges continue to be the darlings of event technologists. Their potential is undeniable. The rich datasets that can be compiled and analyzed in real-time are impressive.

Beacons and digital badges have become better integrated and event marketers have started to take full advantage of them to enhance the onsite experience. In turn, event participants will be comfortable enough to rely on these systems. This is when the vision of the event technologists will be fulfilled; a vision of participants focusing on face-to-face interactions while being passively aided by technology.

Make Digital Badges Work for You

• Comply with GDPR and obtain permission to use digital badges data.
• Tell event participants what to expect. For example, if they are using a passive tool that will provide them with a report post-event, knowing this in advance will affect their behavior on site.
• If you want to use beacons and digital badges to make real-time changes on-site, make sure you have the human and IT resources to be able to do so.

Beacons

Beacons are strategically placed pieces of hardware that relay messages via Bluetooth to connected devices. When integrated with a conference app, messages can be pushed to attendees based on their proximity to specific beacons. There are endless possibilities when you can automate communication-based on location context.

Trade Show Booth Placement

Using show traffic pattern data, you can make adjustments mid-show (if possible) to divert traffic but more often, it’s an incredible tool for sales towards your next event. As long as you are using the same footprint, a show producer can sell exhibitors a tiered rate of exhibition placement based on real data. An additional upsell (or value-add, depending on your packages) could be the results of data analysis of attendees’ interactions with their booth in order to help them with their conversion strategy and booth design.

Hot or Not?

If your meeting or event features elements that guests can walk towards and then walk away from, that’s important data when planning future events. Let in-kind sponsors know how many attendees and the demographic makeup of who saw their contributions in action. If you have a variety of entertainment acts occurring simultaneously, you can determine which was the most engaging to this audience.

Digital Badges

Digital badges are lightweight devices, often attached to lanyards, that allow attendees to passively exchange information with beacons during an event. They are particularly helpful at large-scale multi-room conferences and especially at trade shows.

They are superior to even bluetooth enabled apps because they do not eat up your attendee’s data plans and phone power. digital badges relay information between beacons collecting and sharing data to assist with wayfinding, recording interactions with vendors, and even networking matchmaking. digital badges are the most powerful tool of offline data analytics available for events right now because they passively collect hundreds of interactions that can make the difference between successful ROI for a sponsor, exhibitor, or an attendee. They also deliver the horizontal interaction need weave to co-create experiences, one of the strongest trends for the coming year.

Sponsor Package Upgrade

Offering a tier of your sponsorship or trade show exhibiting packages that allow the sponsor to push notifications to attendees as well as data collected and analyzed about how their booth was interacted with is a very lucrative value add. This is an especially good technique for in-kind sponsors who don’t have a sales presence at an event.

Personalize Through Personas

The personalization strategies discussed earlier are fueled by data through digital badges. Different personas can receive unique push notifications, information exchanged to and from trade show exhibitors as well as more customized communications from sponsors. Make sure your sponsors and/or exhibitors are aware in advance so they can create more unique targeted messaging for specific segments. These personas have amazing potential for speed networking sessions as well.