Marketing
Katie Morhen, director, 52eight3
PR
If we’re honest with ourselves, our event
communications have been in a funk for
a while now.
Marketing teams are running at a
thousand miles per hour, on limited
budgets, and are reduced to using
recycled messaging and lacklustre
‘FOMO’ based campaigns - all the
while juggling the influx of new digital
marketing channels with fairly limited
success.
With a huge proportion of event
marketers now on furlough, budgets
slashed and PR teams out with the
bathwater, these challenges are set
to continue as we attempt to deliver
audiences to an incredibly competitive
events calendar for Q3 & Q4.
What a fantastic opportunity for
something new.
A chance to ditch the legacy marketing
models that have been waning for years
and take a fresh approach to engaging
with your audiences.
It’s hard to predict what the new
“normal” will look like but what is for
sure is being the “biggest” and “best”
trade show isn’t going to speak to a
Zoomed-out generation of 2020 when
44 — May
they are released from lockdown. People
are coming to terms with the “fear of
missing out” and their priorities have
changed.
Events will facilitate the comeback of
face-to-face contact for industries (I for
one can’t wait), but how are we going to
communicate with our audiences in this
brave new world?
We know that people buy from people,
so it’s time we go back to marketing
basics and ask ourselves – who are we to
our exhibitors and visitors?
It’s time for us to realise: money and
profit are no longer the currency, buying
more isn’t cool and sustainability isn’t a
subculture.
No-one is going to attend an event
just because its “market-leading” or be
WOW-ed by faux attendance figures.
Both in their personal and business
lives, people will be looking for brands
which share their values and are doing
business the right way. According to
Mary Portas “businesses who organise
themselves around this kindness way of
behaving, will be the ones who win”.
It’s time to build an event with real
values and a mission that empathises
with the people you serve - both
personally and professionally. What
is your event legacy and how are you
impacting the Planet and treating your
People (in that order)?
Using your previous marketing and
PR strategy will be as effective as
stockpiling toilet roll for your comeback
campaign, so ditch it.
Be bold, challenge the status quo and
be kind. It’s what makes us human after
all.
Top five tips to getting the best PR in a
crowded event schedule
» Be transparent, communicate clearly
and with empathy
» Drop the legacy monkey, don’t be
afraid to do something fresh
» Un-schedule your social – With the
news changing every minute, a well-
intentioned planned message can
quickly become inappropriate!
» Don’t undervalue the role of
exhibitors in helping you build your
event audience
» Embrace kindness - it will make you
stand out from the rest
Katie Morhen, director,
52eight3 PR