Strategic events are central to any successful organization’s overall marketing strategy. These can be sales kickoff meetings, product launches, press events, global and user conferences, expos. Your event strategy is the key to ensuring your event and events program produce successful outcomes. If executed right, strategic events have the potential to bring big results. According to a survey by Event Marketing Institute, 70% of event marketers reported that events are a significant source of new leads for their business.
Regardless of where you’re at with your strategic events journey, it’s important to strategize your events as part of your overall B2B marketing strategy. In this blog, we’ve highlighted five ways for you to take your event strategy to the next level.
1. Clearly Define Your Big-Picture Goals: Before you start, you need to figure out where you’re headed and come up with reasons for hosting an event. What do you want to achieve through this event? Who is your target audience? Once you have these answers, it will be easier to plan and execute a more strategic event. If you’re achieving a larger corporate or marketing objective by leveraging a strategic event, keep in mind the route you take to get there needs to have a detailed roadmap. In other words, your event will require its own objectives— the tactical objectives it must achieve to ensure you meet your overarching goal.
2. Engage Your Target Audience: Make sure your event is tailored to meet the needs and interests of your target audience. This could be done by conducting surveys or focus groups to gather information about what they want to see, hear, and experience at your event. A thorough audience analysis by understanding your target audience is crucial to planning a successful event. Consider factors such as demographics, interests, and buying behaviors to tailor your event to the needs of your attendees. Incorporate interactive elements to make your events more engaging and memorable. Consider incorporating activities such as games, quizzes, and networking opportunities to encourage attendees to actively participate and build relationships with one another.
3. Make the Most of Technology: Technology has transformed the event industry, and there are many tools available that can help you make your event more strategic. The right event technology can be a powerful tool for making your events more strategic. For example, you can use event management software to streamline the planning process, gather valuable data about your attendees, and enhance the overall experience. From event management software to virtual event platforms, make sure you are using the right technology to meet your goals.
4. Collaborate with Other Organizations: Partnering with other organizations can help you reach a wider audience, provide new perspectives and expertise, and create a more impactful event.
5. Measure and Evaluate Your Success: After the event, take the time to evaluate its success. Collect feedback from attendees, analyze data and metrics, and make changes to your approach based on what you learn. This can be done by tracking attendance, engagement levels, and feedback from attendees. Use the data you gather to continually improve your events and make them more strategic. This will help you continually improve your events and make them more strategic over time.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your events are well-planned, engaging, and aligned with your business goals. Certain’s event management products help you create and manage registration, event websites, marketing campaigns and more. You’ll gain strategic insights and utilize integrated onsite hardware all from one provider and bring lasting value to every event. Contact us for a free consultation with one of our event experts.