Strategically hosting an event is a great way to increase visibility and generate leads for businesses in nearly every industry. According to Certain’s Event Marketing Benchmark Report, over half of B2B marketers spend 25% or more of their overall marketing budgets on in-person events!

Just take a look at where Lux214 Media Group started and you won’t be surprised to learn that we wholeheartedly believe that event marketing is one of the most powerful ways to fill the top end of the sales pipeline and build your brand. Yes, we know that event marketing—regardless of whether you’re planning to exhibit at a national conference, host a webinar, or plan an intimate dinner—requires a fairly significant amount of strategic planning and coordination between sales and marketing teams. And we know the ROI can sometimes be tricky to measure.

We get the fact that mainstream digital marketing tactics such as social media, websites, email marketing, search engine optimization, and digital ads, are clearly the backbone of any marketing program. However, we also believe that real-life experiences always reign supreme over anything we read or see in the media.

“Regardless of the size of your company or the complexity of your marketing strategy, including an event marketing strategy will boost overall performance across the board.”

Why? Because in our “hyper-digital” and mostly “virtual” work environment, we tend to spend the majority of our time sending and receiving information via a newsfeed, text message, an email, or conference call. The world is beginning to crave human contact more than “stuff,” and event marketing makes perfect sense.

A planned event gives the sales team a great reason to reach out to members of the media as well as existing and potential clients. They also allow you to get unfiltered and feedback directly from your target audience. Not only that, but face-to-face interaction eliminates the “clutter” associated with seeing it in print or digital media and at the same time provides your potential clients with a more personal experience with your brand. In this case, reality is superior to virtual reality.

Events also have an intangible impact on brand recognition. Nearly everyone who participates in a successful event shares their experience with someone else.

Still not convinced event marketing deserves a spot on in your current strategy?

A wise man once said, “Humans don’t buy from companies; humans buy from humans, so solving for humans is every smart company’s primary goal.” That man was Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of HubSpot…and we have to believe he is correct.

Lori Barber

lorib@lux214.com

214-906-6633

Photo Credit: Dee Thomas