Marketing
Beyond the
marketing funnel
EN Editor Saul Leese talks to Paul Dominguez,
founder of tamedMedia and Mark Parsons, MD at
Events Intelligence, about how data can be used to
strengthen tradeshows post-Covid-19
The digitalisation of events has created
new flows of data which can be used
to deepen engagement and drive future
growth if used beyond the traditional
marketing funnel.
As we emerge from lockdown and
evaluate the new landscape, many
things have changed including the way
we think. While many of us aspire to
head back to the office, the reality is that
months of home working has impacted
the way we approach teamwork. Being
forced to work remotely using technology
as an enabler has shown us that it is not
necessary to all be in the same place
all the time. When we return to our
offices, it is very likely that our recent
experiences will make it easier to work
remotely and to achieve more flexibility
at work.
But why stop at changing just the
way we think about where and how we
work? As an industry, the marketing of
exhibitions has not evolved that much
over the last decade, but the technology
stack has. Simply put, the average
organiser does two things. It spends nine
months creating and executing plans to
convince potential exhibitors that their
show is ‘the one’ to exhibit at; and then
it uses the last 2-3 months to frantically
market to ‘turn out the vote’ and deliver
an audience for exhibitors.
However, the crisis has driven change.
To remain relevant, many in our industry
have embraced digital-only initiatives.
Data from Events Intelligence shows
that 32 percent of a panel of 230 UK
tradeshows have announced new digital
initiatives over the last three months.
These new content initiatives and digital
events generate massive amounts of new
interaction data. For a savvy organiser
this creates an opportunity to strengthen
tradeshows for this or next year, and for
many years to come.
These digital initiatives are likely
to be less of a short-term fix than
many of us expect. A recent survey by
SmartXpo showed that over 75 percent
of respondents thought that their
tradeshows would be subject to severe
limitations until Q2 2021. For better or
for worse we are all going to have to ‘go
digital’ to remain relevant. If all you have
to sell is square meters and a promise
that people will turn up, the next 12
months may be very challenging.
From a marketer’s perspective, the
traditional rhythm of a tradeshow has
changed: no longer is marketing tasked
only with making the value case for
exhibitors and with “turning out the
vote” for the audience. Event marketing
has become a far more complex dance
of multiple touch points, profiling, and
nurturing. To deliver on this promise, we
identify three themes to get right.
Weaponize Digital
Digital is an interactive and measurable
medium. Users who engage with specific
pieces of content or choose to click on a
link in an e-mail declare their interest.
Digital events provide even richer
insights into users because users interact
with content for longer. This insight can
be passive (evaluating what was looked
at, which companies and products appear
to be of interest, etc) but can also be
active (how users answer a poll, what
questions they asked, what paper they
downloaded, etc).
Content can be “weaponised” to help
gather data which can then be used
to cluster users into areas of specific
interest. Content can be shaped to
help discover different interests. When
designing polls for events, think about
whether there is ‘one more’ question
which helps you understand the audience
better. Polls and surveys can be used
to gather purchase intent data helping
organisers to understand the level of
demand for specific products.
Glue data together
To extract real value from it, data
needs to be “glued” together so it can
be queried. Data from audience and
exhibitor CRM systems, website data,
newsletter platforms, content marketing,
digital events and registration systems
commonly sit in different platforms.
While large organisers spend hundreds
12 — August