Chapter 04
The Role of Events in Marketing
Given the exponential rise in digital technologies and digital marketing, is there still a place in marketing for real world events? According to SmartInsights, within the B2B work events can be just as effective as digital marketing, helping to raise brand awareness and facilitating conversation with prospects, helping suppliers to understand needs and pain points.
However, during 2020, many industries have grappled with virtual events for the first time, as the global Covid-19 pandemic made large public gatherings impossible. With the recent restrictions on travel, digital-based events are a fantastic way to engage directly with clients and encourage conversations,” says Dutton. “Utilising new technology platforms, allowing for the use of live polls, debates and interactivity, all provide incredible insight that can then be used to inform different parts of the organisation.”
During 2020, many industries have grappled with virtual events for the first time, as the global Covid-19 pandemic made large public gatherings impossible. With the recent restrictions on travel, digital-based events are a fantastic way to engage directly with clients and encourage conversations. Utilising new technology platforms, allowing for the use of live polls, debates and interactivity, all provide incredible insight that can then be used to inform different parts of the organisation.
Catherine Dutton, Global Vice President Marketing
CMOs must take a considered, data-led approach to events too, believes Emma Acton, VP of global field marketing with TIBCO. It’s all too easy to invest in an event just because it’s attended by competitors, or which has long lines of people waiting to talk to vendors. But the key is to identify the right event, with the right audience.
“You’ve got big developer conferences where we’re throwing out thousands of pairs of socks and building a bit of a community, up to very specific events where you’re in touch with 50 or 60 C-level executives and you can have fantastic conversations,” says Acton. “It’s about how the organisation approaches those events.”
In other words, it’s not just about sending the sales team to any event and throwing up a few banners. CMOs must have a marketing strategy for events, so that the right preparation is done, using various mediums to promote the event and the company’s attendance. The business development, sales and pre-sales teams should all be briefed with information about the event, so that customers can be invited, meet up with their account team or be introduced to subject matter experts. Other potential elements to consider about events – what content can be created from the event? Is there scope to create blog posts, case studies, videos? At TIBCO, the company has also explored AI bots to follow up on more generic leads, where there isn’t the resource available to dedicate a salesperson.
Almond is also convinced that physical events are more important than digital spend, in many ways. “We sell a mixture of hardware, software and services and events are absolutely critical to our business development. In this day and age, still, the opportunity to talk to the customer, to have a conversation about how I can help you, is invaluable. Yes, I can put digital out there to get your attention, but the human conversation is what drives what we do.”
"Physical events are more important than digital spend, in many ways. We sell a mixture of hardware, software and services and events are absolutely critical to our business development. In this day and age, still, the opportunity to talk to the customer, to have a conversation about how I can help you, is invaluable. Yes, I can put digital out there to get your attention, but the human conversation is what drives what we do.”
Stuart Almond, Industry Lead - Media & Telco