Despite its critics, live event marketing is still a mainstay in many of today’s B2B marketing campaigns and is in fact cited as a primary source of highly-qualified leads. As event marketing naysayers continue raising this channel’s disadvantages, more than 4 out of every 10 B2B marketers are tapping into the opportunities from event-based prospecting. With today’s digital marketing options, you can easily improve your event marketing results especially through sending targeted emails for your business contact database.
Data released by Hubspot reveal some interesting trends in how marketers approach live events. One of the study’s main findings is that the average event marketing campaign relies on almost 6 other channels to optimize results. Of these, email ranks #1 with a 76% adoption rate among event marketers who also rely on word-of-mouth, website, social media, direct mail, telemarketing, and ad placements.
Surely, email campaigns have certain advantages over other channels when it comes to maximizing event marketing output. But this doesn’t mean your work is already cut out for you once you’ve thrown emails into the live event mix. You still have to be careful and thorough about your campaign in order to generate the intended results. Here are five ways you can ensure an effective email-enhanced event marketing campaign:
1. Segment your email list.
As with any other aspect of your marketing life, quality is always superior to quantity. Just because you want to draw a crowd in front of your exhibition or presentation doesn’t mean you can invite everyone in your email marketing contact list. Know your live event target audience first and segment your email list for highly interested and promising attendees.
2. Make emails more compelling.
Live event emails need to have a higher degree of strength and conversion power than your usual email messages. From the subject line down to the calls-to-action, every element in your message should suggest a strong reason for becoming interested in and actually attending your event. Test various components in your campaign to find the optimal parameters.
3. Ensure content relevance.
If you’ve already properly segmented your targeted mailing list for tradeshows and other events, then the difficult task of mapping and developing content becomes more bearable. Relevant content refers to message materials that appeal to the unique needs and expectations of segments in your marketing audience. Again, you need to get closely acquainted with your invitees in order to appeal to them appropriately.
4. Don’t forget to follow up.
The email channel’s role in event marketing doesn’t end with the closing of your exhibition or presentation. In fact, emails play a key part in following up and engaging with prospects acquired during the event. Follow-up emails have to be both timely and relevant, i.e., sent immediately after the event and focused on content that matter to the recipient.
5. Weave other channels.
As shown by the Hubspot study, marketers count on integrating multiple marketing channels to support their live event efforts. While you may not really require the average 6 channels in your situation, it still pays to rely on your social media fans, cold calling list contacts, and site visitors to look for potential event attendees.
In the context of event marketing, email campaigns are only a means to an end. At no point in your project should this relationship go the other way around. The role that your emails play is to facilitate awareness, attendance, and conversion with your live event – not the sole focus of your audience.