Marketing
Alison Church, marketing director, UK &
Global, Easyfairs
Without a doubt, this is a wake-up
call to take ‘content marketing’ more
seriously – and by this, I mean high
quality online content that supports
our communities more than just when
they are physically at our events. It’s
something we have talked about for
years, and there are some shows who
do it very well already – those shows,
and portfolios have been able to react
very quickly to the situation and turn
around some great online content very
quickly. Futurebuild is a really great
example of that, which already had great
content that it has been able to channel
into regular webinars and an online
platform of on-demand content. It is a
bigger challenge for those that have to
date only created mediocre (or even no)
content, but it’s a challenge we all need
to rise to.
I do believe this is a shift that will
stay for the long term, but marketers
need to be content and community
experts. But the focus absolutely needs
to be on quality and not quantity.
Content has flooded online, and as a
marketer I’m already overwhelmed by
the sheer volume of webinars I could
attend about all aspects of marketing
and I’m only going to make time for
that which really helps me. Just like our
onsite events, with our online content
(and that’s not just webinars, but also
newsletters, blogs, videos, reports,
articles, research, etc.) we need to
understand, and ultimately deliver what
provides real value to our communities;
and we need to be mindful to create
content that complements what we do
in our live events, as their importance
is not diminished, even in the current
situation.
There is also still a place for
traditional marketing approaches, but
we have to be careful to adapt the tone
of those approaches, and messaging to
be more human and less salesy. Even
though there is uncertainty about live
events in the immediate term, the value
in the long term is still not in question.
If we ran great events that served our
markets well before Covid-19, we will
be able to do the same afterwards and,
therefore, we shouldn’t be afraid to
continue to market the benefits of our
events to help rebuild sales pipelines
after the crisis even now.
Ali Church
Rob Nathan
Rob Nathan, group marketing director,
Media 10
So, from the middle of March to this
very moment, I can say with absolute
certainty that the demand for event
tickets is at an all-time low. The proof
being that tickets are on-sale for certain
events, but no-one wants them – now
is not the time to be pushing any kind
of “buy now” messages, it’s insensitive
and desperate.
So how do we still engage and keep
our events in people’s minds? If anyone
out there is thinking “I know, what
about a webinar?” please go and stand
in the corner. Facing the wall, please.
Yes, webinars, virtual events all sound
great, but they aren’t a replacement
for the real thing and sometimes I
feel that they are sanctioned to justify
keeping going. I’m not saying that these
measures shouldn’t be explored but let’s
try to be a bit more creative.
Now is the time to re-invent the
marketing proposition, to think about
what we could do with 365 engagement
(you know, the things we all talk about
at conferences but never actually do).
Start thinking about the components
of engagement; e-commerce, industry/
market news, affiliate sales, product
reviews, etc. Events are seen as a
pilgrimage for certain vertical markets
so why not change the proposition and
seek to engage (via web and social) with
your community all year round using
the methods mentioned?
At present we have peak engagement
in a short burst in the weeks prior to an
event, how about flattening that curve
(sorry), and re-inventing your whole
marketing proposition? Now is the
perfect time to do it because any notion
of returning to the ‘old way’ is not going
to work any time soon.
44 — June