MARKETING EVOLUTION
Event Marketing 101
By Marion Wakahe
I
n a world of noise and short attention
spans, brands now find themselves
obligated to be innovative in how they
interact with their audiences. Of greater
importance is leaving a positive, lasting
impression for continued consideration.
Events offer the opportunity for in-person
interactions or real time engagement, an
effective channel for achieving business
goals.
Events,
unlike
other
marketing
communications, allow brands to engage
with target audiences on a much deeper
level, evoking a wider sense range and
stirring emotions. With the opportunity
to manipulate sights, sounds and scents,
event marketers have the chance to leave
indelible marks on audience members.
This presents the additional advantage of
word-of-mouth sharing, effective because
people are more likely to believe those
they know and trust.
Event marketing is defined as the
promotion of brands - products, services or
companies, through in-person interactions
enabling contact between a company and
its publics. The potency that events offer
to an organization and its products cannot
be gainsaid. streaming, traditional events such as
conferences, trade shows, seminars,
ceremonies and galas, meet-ups and brand
activations are now able to be showcased
online. This is in addition to fully web-
based events such as virtual events and
webinars.
Much as most people avoid commercials,
they’re very open to new experiences.
Additionally, the team representing the
brand must be well-presented and of good
comportment in order to draw people in
and personalize the brand. This meets a
primal need to connect and socialize. For
this reason, events need to be well planned
and executed. Not hosting an event is
better than hosting a poorly planned and
executed event. The building and cementing of
relationships is crucial in the event
management space. Whereas product
or service offerings can be matched by
competitors, the relationships brands have
with their target audiences can be highly
differentiated here. With most attendees
willing to exchange their personal data
with organizations (referred to as the
admission price), organizations are able
to organically grow their database. This
database can inform product offerings
in future and equally be tapped into to
get a better understanding of the market
and its needs. The greater the number of
contacts an organization has, the greater
its competitive edge.
Technological advances have resulted
in an increase in the types of events
that companies can host. Through live
On the day of the event, remain upbeat.
Take deep breaths, do some yoga, meditate,
whatever works to help maintain compo-
sure. There’s always something more that
could have been done or something that
could have been done differently. Leave
what’s beyond your control to the hands
of your higher power. It’s important to
smile because the vibes you give out will
be quickly picked by your target audience.
70 MAL28/19 ISSUE
In a business to consumer (B2C) context,
the benefits that attendees to events realize
include: a better understanding of product
use, product samples, fun and networking.
In the case of a business to business
(B2B) context, attendees gain the benefits
of trending industry information and
practices, networking and meeting with
thought leaders. The first question that
marketers should ask before undertaking
an event is ‘Why should people attend this
event?’ It needs to be clear exactly what the
attendees stand to gain. Unfortunately, in
many cases because marketers get wrapped
up in their brands, this critical question is
14 th May 2019
15 th May 2019