Business Event Marketing
A great way to attract new clients and grow your business is by hosting an event where like-minded people from relevant industries can gather to, learn, network and form beneficial relationships aka a Business event. Do this by planning Business Event Marketing.
For many organisations these events can be one of the most successful outbound strategies because of the positive face-to-face interactions between their brand and others, making it easier to gain and retain clients.
Hosting a business event isn’t all smooth sailing though, it can be really difficult to attract people to attend them, especially when competitors are hosting events around a similar time. To help you make sure your event is a success, we’ve got some tips to help you spread awareness early, quickly and effectively. Business Event Marketing has many forms, which we will dive more into now.
Reach a wide audience with Business Event Marketing
To have the highest possible chance of attracting lots of businesses to your event, you should utilise multiple channels for spreading the word about your event.
Business people are busy. So if you want to catch their attention you’ll need to approach them from many different angles. Here are four channels that we believe you’ll have the greatest chance of success in reaching them on:
A fast way to reach your target audience is via email marketing; a channel that allows you to directly communicate with your existing contacts who might be interested in attending the event. There are also ways to gain new contacts and build up an email list of potential attendees, we’ve written an article that shows you how to do this, read here.
It is almost guaranteed that the majority of your target audience will use at least one form of social media. That’s why we’re telling you to post on all of them. Social media marketing is a great way to catch your audience’s attention, post about your event on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, and Pinterest. Facebook also allows you to create events that you can promote to reach your target audience. You can get great results from both organic and paid promotions using social media, so it’s suitable for all budget sizes.
-
Event sites
Websites such as Eventbrite are not only the perfect place to broadcast your event, but they’re super handy too. You can use these websites for registration and selling tickets as well as promotion. This method will only work on people already searching for events like yours though, so opt for a combination of these four strategies if you want the best results. Business Event Marketing should be a part of your digital marketing strategy.
The power of good old fashioned direct mail should not be underestimated. This method still works well for business marketing, and although it may be going out of style, it can actually be a unique way to stand out from your competitors. You have the option to send postcards, brochures, letters or leaflets that contain relevant information about your event and a strong CTA (call to action) directing your audience to get in touch.
In addition to these outreach methods, we’ve got plenty of other tips for building a buzz around your event…
-
Create an event microsite for Business Event Marketing
Give your event a boost by creating a standalone website dedicated to it. This will serve as a landing page for all your outreach, and keep the focus on your event. Including high-quality content relevant to the event on your microsite will boost SEO and draw in leads from search engine result pages. Another item for your Business Event Marketing.
-
Make sure event outreach is mobile-friendly
A substantial amount of your target audience will access event information and content on their smartphones. If your outreach doesn’t format properly on these devices, you risk losing a lot of potential leads. We recommend building a separate, unique interface for mobile devices so that users get the most seamless experience possible.
-
Maintain event tech year-round for business
A successful event can be a great springboard for future ones. Make use of the existing buzz and try to keep your attendees engaged year-round in anticipation of your next event. Here are some ways you can do it:
- Pack your microsite with on-demand content that’s accessible year-round and notify attendees every time you upload fresh content.
- Maintain an active discussion forum so that attendees can ask questions and seek opinions on industry topics.
- Build hype for your next event with promotional content such as images, graphics and videos. Success stories and important statistics from your last event will help attract new attendees.
We hope these tips are useful, and we’d love to hear how you get on with your next business event. If you need a helping hand we can handle all things digital for you, get in touch today and let’s chat!