It’s a new year, which means new events to come! Making 2018 a successful year for events may seem like a daunting task at first, but we know just how to get started. So, if you’ve been wondering how to plan for a successful new year, start with creating great meetings.
Revamp your B2B marketing strategy
Bring new life to your B2B marketing strategy with strategic events. It’s vital to understand your target audience so that your strategic events make the most impact. Our roles as event professionals have truly shifted into meeting strategists as MPI notes in this great blog. Understanding your event’s end goal, and what appeals to drive the message to your audience is vitally important. So where do you start? What type of events do you plan and activities within those events to keep your attendees engaged? Start thinking about your audience’s typical hobbies, habits and interests, survey them. The data you capture from these events will help you further develop your marketing strategy. Events create the perfect blend of what organizations need to shape content messages, and learn about the latest marketing insights with engaging food, fun and audience interaction. A few questions to consider when planning your B2B strategy that could drive attendance and welcome industry newbies to cross paths sharing ideas and building long lasting relationships that will extend past the life of the event.
- Does your organization have a strong presence at the event, such as s speaking engagement, sponsorships, peer-to-peer leadership engagements, or exhibit booth?
- How will you engage with audience attendees and pass along insights to build customer relationships?
- What are upcoming trends? How can you turn that information into successful promotional campaigns to drive content and create learning environments that are engaging?
- What campaigns are required to promote the event through your social media platform?
Choose diverse events that will cover a variety of key marketing topics, including mobile, user experience and technology trends as they will impact customer behaviors and in turn, help you achieve your overall B2B marketing strategy. Event marketing is a key communication platform, that provides attendees the opportunity to connect with stakeholders and clearly communicate your message. Companies are believing in the power of live events and this trend will only continue to grow in the coming years. Begin the year, with a strategy event marketing plan … set the right goals, utilize relevant KPIs and define metrics to measure effective ROI for ongoing success.
Create the right environment.
As all event planners know, great meetings and events are all about creating an unforgettable social experience for attendees. First, get your attendees ready for the event by encouraging them to download any relevant apps, make their reservations, and get plenty of sleep, so they’ll be mentally alert for the program.
Next, take a look at your content. Foster connections with meaningful messages, in the form of engaging stories with data to backup the message. Use sounds, light and music to evoke desired feelings of calm, enjoyment and more in the attendees, and set aside plenty of space for them to network and mingle.
Creating the right environment for your event and with the event design you choose will likely have a big impact on your event’s ability to meet your business goals. Designing your event around your audience and even the new millennial audience and the impact of experiential design on millenials factors into the set-up and logistics of your programs. Don’t be afraid to try new things - change meeting rooms to be more collaborative, straight across seating is not very conducive to collaborating because guests can’t really interact with one another. Mix up environments to facilitate what you would like the attendees to do while at the event. Attendees like to learn through engagement, interactive learning and peer-to-peer discussions. Be sure to provide areas for networking and recharging all your devices to stay connected while attending an event and being away from your home base.
Optimize your event!
First, do you know how optimized your events are? Take our quiz and the share your results with colleagues.
Next, when you’re ready to ALIGN your event strategy, DESIGN a supporting agenda that align the event theme, mission and key objectives to engage attendees, EXECUTE a flawless event with industry professionals and ANALYZE your event metrics to measure impactful ROI through detailed trends and predictive analysis. Contact OmnienceTM!
Our Event Optimization RoadmapTM will get you ready for a successful new year and impactful events. We look forward to beginning our journey with you.