Marketing Automation for Events: 3 Keys to Pre-Event Preparation

A lot of preparation goes into sponsoring a marketing event. In the weeks prior, every working minute should be dedicated to preparing your booth, perfecting your messaging, and communicating internally to make sure everyone on your team is 100-percent ready for the big day…right?

Wrong.

If you want people to visit your booth, you need to let attendees know you’re going to be there — ahead of time. Giving your prospects and clients a heads up is an important part of event preparation — heck, finding out that they’ll be able to speak with a representative of your company face-to-face could be the entire reason they choose to attend the event. In addition to notifying them of your presence at the event, you’ll want to let them know:

• where they can find you (including your booth number, if you have one)
• how their attendance could benefit them (include a strong value proposition)
• any other pertinent details, such as exciting giveaways or prizes for attendees.

Let’s take a look at three ways marketing automation can get your message where it needs to go.

Email Prospects & Clients in the Area

One efficient way to notify clients and prospects of your event is through targeted email messages sent during the months and weeks leading up to the event. Marketing automation can allow you to segment your lists to reach attendees (and potential attendees) in a number of ways.

For instance, trade shows normally take place in big cities. Send out an email to a list of prospects who live near the site of the trade show so that they know your company will be in the area. Position the email as a friendly reminder that you’re stopping by, and include a note that you’d love to see them at the conference. If you have the bandwidth, offer to meet up one-on-one with any prospects who can’t make it to the trade show, but who are still interested in speaking with you.

Email Prospects Using Complementary Products

Are some of your prospects already users of other products that integrate with your own? Send these prospects an email to tell them how your product can complement their current setup, and let them know that you’ll be present at the trade show if they want to come see your product in action. For example, if you have a product that integrates with specific CRM systems, you could use your marketing automation system to send a targeted email blast to prospects who are already using those particular CRMs.

Schedule Social Postings

As always, social media is an effective method for reaching your audience in a way that’s cost-free and requires minimal effort. In the months prior to the event, take a few minutes to schedule out messages using your marketing automation platform’s social posting feature. Target the event hashtag (hey, you never know who might be checking out the hashtag in advance), and look for other events or discussions that pertain to your event topic, using these hashtags to expand your reach to new audiences that might be interested.

What are some other ways to use marketing automation to communicate with event attendees before the big day (or week)? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section!

Looking for more best practices information? Pardot’s free guide, 9 Ways to Leverage Marketing Automation at Events, will walk you through the event marketing process, the benefits of using automation at events, and a few tips and tricks for getting the most out of your tool (and your event investment!).