Marketing

companies – but says they are fortunate that Raccoon Events founder Mike Seaman ranks both skills equally .

“ We ’ re lucky here ,” she says . “ We have a marketing team , we have a sales team . And there are nine on the marketing team so it ’ s pretty much equal . Because the marketing team report to me and not the event director , there ’ s a really good balance , and we work really well as a team . But that ’ s often not the case , unfortunately . If you don ’ t have somebody championing the marketing efforts and the strategy in the budget , it can often become neglected .

“ You might have marketers for each specific show or product or whatever . You need the overview and not having marketing people sitting in silos .

“ Marketing [ teams ] are too often reporting to the event directors - and he ’ s more worried about the commercials and doesn ’ t necessarily see the value . I ’ ve seen it a number of times where because the sales team hasn ’ t met their target , the marketing budget is slashed .

Incredulous at the flawed logic Tyler says ; “ Do you want less visitors because you haven ’ t sold enough stands ? You ’ re still telling your exhibitors that you ’ re going to achieve the 20,000 visitors that you ’ ve promised them .”

Planning a show Explaining the process for marketing Raccoon ’ s events , Tyler explains ; “ Mike [ Seaman , Raccoon CEO and founder ], myself , the event director and Matt

“ A consumer show is supposed to be fun , isn ’ t it ? So the more things that make it an enjoyable experience all help .”

Lambert our ops director will sit down and map out the budget , once we ’ ve once we ’ ve , you know , agreed that the event is a viable proposition , we ’ ll map out a budget . So at that point , the marketing budget is set and it can ’ t be changed . I can ask for more money , we obviously will save money . But from that point , we all get the team working to create the brand , the website , all of those bits , but marketing , and sales work together to put together the assets for sales pitches , the marketing team go off and create the website and the materials that we need for a social media presence . So you avoid that kind of hierarchy .

“ Each department knows what they ’ re doing . I think that ’ s really important . Getting the budget right , to start with .

“ For us , with consumer events , it ’ s not rocket science . It ’ s about volume . You want the right people in the room and you want to create a community , But you ’ re not looking at specific job titles , or , you know , you can ’ t turn around and say , ‘ We didn ’ t have many visitors . But the quality was great .”

Growing the community “ As a marketing team , we talk a lot with the exhibitors . We build partnerships with associations , charities , publications , etc . We hunt for ambassadors and make sure that the ambassadors reflect the community we want to inspire . We make sure we have diversity on all levels , from ethnic backgrounds , sexual orientation , disabilities . It ’ s not about how many social media followers , it ’ s more about when somebody comes to our website and they see somebody that they can associate themselves with .

Tyler adds that the features and speaker content at their shows has to be relevant to all their visitors – from elite athletes , to first-time coach to 5k-ers .

“ We talk a lot about putting yourselves in the shoes of our audience . So if you ’ re are a proclaimed non-runner , you hate running , you ’ re overweight , you ’ re trying couch to 5k , who would you want to see speak ? Who is there that would inspire you ? What articles or what social posts would you engage with ?”

Tyler says their ambassadors are made to feel special .

“ We offer them free tickets for themselves , their friends , their community , their clubs . We give them merchandise to wear and encourage them to post . When they come along to the show we have a ribbon cut at the front which we get all the ambassadors to be a part of , and then they help out with kind of the nice tasks that they show . Sometimes

they ’ ll help with the speakers or the meet and greet , which means they ’ ll spend an hour with Mo Farah .

“ A consumer show is supposed to be fun , isn ’ t it ? So the more things that make it an enjoyable experience all help .

Socials When it comes to social media , Tyler believes it ’ s important to do things well and see a return on investment , not just jump straight in .

“ We have a rule here that we ’ re not going to venture into something unless we can do it well and we ’ re going to see return on investment ,” says Tyler .

“ Sometimes you don ’ t always know . We ’ ve been looking at TikTok for a while now and are starting to use it on one of our events as a trial . But I ’ m very nervous about investing . I think that ’ s a challenge because people don ’ t always realise it , you know , if you ’ re not in the marketing team , and just say , ‘ Oh , I think we should have a TikTok account for this activity .

“ The amount of effort that goes into social media now , we ’ ve got 21 different accounts , it ’ s a full time job keeping on top of all of that . It ’ s not just full time , it ’ s 24 / 7 . Because our audience doesn ’ t care if they ’ ve got a question on Christmas Day .

“ I think one of the challenges is the marketing team are expected to be editors , publishers , all of these things . And yet , the YouTube channel or podcast series is very different to posting on social media .” EN

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