6 Steps to Successful Event Marketing

Event marketing is extremely labor intensive. But if done right way, it can fill your sales funnel with highly qualified leads and prospects.

The key to event marketing, much like any marketing, is preparation. In fact, successful event marketing is directly due to the upfront work.

The following are some suggested steps to successful event marketing. You’ll see that most of the work comes before the actual event:

1) Pick the Right Event: take some time to really understand the event, the audience and the promoters. Due diligence is critical because you want to showcase your product and service to the right people. More importantly, you want to be sure the event is promoted well. Trust me. There is nothing worse than setting up your booth at an event only to watch the grass grow. A simple way to perform your due diligence is to call the vendors that attended previously and ask them about their experiences.

2) Establish a Specific Objective: set your S.M.A.R.T. (strategic, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound) goal for what you want to accomplish. Think of your objective as two-fold: 1) what do you want your audience to say about your business and 2) what do you want to capture from your audience. Setting up this specific objective will directly determine how you approach the event, what you bring and how you expect to interact with attendees.

3) Negotiate the Terms: part of picking the right event comes down to getting the right terms. Most event promoters will accept any vendor willing to pay the fee. But you shouldn’t see yourself as any vendor. Besides, if you pick the wrong event and get no traffic, then your time and money are worthless. Work with the promoter to help you achieve your specific objective. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this: get a good booth location, base your event fee on the amount of traffic to your booth or get your business promoted in the event program or other avenues. Terms can make or break an event.

4) Keep it Simple: too often business owners want to post several signs, have several give aways and have time to meet with prospects. You need a hook to bring people in, but keep it simple. Think about your specific objective and work towards accomplishing that one objective. Everything else is extraneous.

5) Give, Give, Give: to really create buzz, give away your store. Literally. Sure, selling is important. But when you have the chance to target hundreds of prospects, give them a reason to remember you. The best way to do this is to give away what your business values most, namely your product or your service. This can be done without breaking the bank. Think of ways to give value for free which would then entice attendees to buy more. A presentation, for example, is a great way to do this. Give away invitations to a special presentation in which you reveal industry secrets. Once you have them in a presentation, then you can show them you’re an expert which will lead to more sales.

6) Follow Up: succesful event marketing is contingent upon follow up. Procrastinate on follow up and you'll waste time and money. Once you put the event date on your calendar, put the event follow up shortly after. Put it in your calendar now and you will do it. Don’t save it for later.

There is a lot involved in successful event marketing. So break it down to the basics, follow the above steps and move your business to the next level.