by LIZ CHRISTO for Dear Stage 2
DEAR STAGE 2: We’re starting to build out our budget for 2024 and events are under a lot of scrutiny. Historically, they have been very productive for our industry and get a lot of decision makers in the same room — however, it’s a big line item and my new company hasn’t seen success. Any tips to get the most of an event budget? Or thoughts on how to quantify the impact of this spend/channel? ~EVENTS ENTHUSIAST
DEAR EVENTS ENTHUSIAST: For the right event — and the right audience — we are all about a booth or sponsorship. More and more we’re seeing the “pay to play” approach from events to get a speaking slot (though we wish this trend would move in the other direction…). But for an early-stage startup with limited budget and resources, you need to get creative and look for new ways to engage.
To help tackle this question, I called on Stage 2 LP, Ellie Mirman, who has a wealth of knowledge having led marketing teams at HubSpot, Toast, Crayon and Mulberry.
Let’s assume you’ve done the work to map out potential events where you could engage your target audience. You’ve prioritized the list, and you have a good sense of where you want to be in the next year.
If you’re just getting started with event marketing, Ellie recommends picking one event and using the first year as an experiment to get a baseline of impact. If you are extra cautious around making this investment, you can also send someone to scope it out / network, and plan to evaluate whether it’s worth to sponsor the next year.
If you’ve seen some success before, you might pick 1-2 events to sponsor or set up a booth at. But for the majority of the events on your list, you’re looking for ways to make a splash with fewer people traveling, less time onsite, and limited spend. We recommend grouping these events into 2 categories — brand v. demand:
- Brand is a long-term play. You want your logo to be visible, you want to create a buzz, and you want to get attendees talking about you.
- Demand is shorter term. You’re looking to meet prospects, book demos and advance active conversations.
Whether you’re perusing brand or demand generating initiatives, here are a few tips to ensure they’re a success:
Prioritize prep, follow-up, and measuring impact
If we can leave you with only one piece of advice, it’s this: Focus on both pre-event preparation and post-event follow-up.
- Prep: Activate your BDR/Sales/CS teams to schedule meetings with prospects and customers onsite and make sure you prep the person who is actually attending — build a dossier with all of the relevant info v. letting him/her walk in blind. Promote your participation in advance through various channels (email, social media, your website). Send your invites to side events early, get confirmed attendees on a calendar invite. Consider a community angle using Slack/WhatsApp as you engage a smaller group of customers or even prospects onsite. This prep takes time but it’s worth it!
- Follow Up: After the event, don’t let these connections go cold. Build a personalized follow up plan that allows you to re-engage promptly with attendees, and continue the conversation. Relationships don’t happen overnight.
- Quantifying the Impact: Ellie shares some great advice on setting and measuring goals “It’s so important to figure out the goals of the event, set relevant metrics, and align on expectations ahead of time. I think the tendency is for companies to evaluate events solely on lead gen (new deals sourced and won) but that’s often not the whole or even primary impact. You likely also need to factor in the cost of NOT being there — e.g. competitors winning a deal that you don’t even get a chance to pitch because you don’t have a presence at the major industry event. If sales is your primary objective, think beyond that simple lead gen metric to metrics, such as win rate or sales velocity, which are often pretty impacted by events in many industries. And of course, remember to get alignment ahead of the event on expectations so that you don’t run into moving goal posts after the fact.”
Capture the audience with a side event
Hosting an exclusive event during the conference can be an effective way to connect with prospects and build relationships in a relaxed setting. You might consider flying in early and hosting a half day workshop, or setting up a happy hour and/or dinner during the event. Regardless of the medium, here are some tips:
- Be Selective: Quality interactions will yield better results than a big open invite list (that’s what the conference is for!). Invite a curated list of high-value prospects and existing clients and let your customers do the selling on your behalf. What better way to learn about your product than to hear from your customers!?
- Content Integration: Bringing people together is step 1, but you might also consider layering thought leadership or some structured content — a short customer showcase, guest speaker or even seeded topics for dinner conversation.
Get a little more creative
If the agenda is already filling up with extracurricular events and you are fighting for attention, you might need to get a bit more creative to stand out. A few ideas we’ve seen work well:
- Workout Classes: Host a morning yoga, guided run or spin class. When the event is full of eating/drinking and evening activities, this is a great way to offer a unique memorable experience, capture a group of people who might not join those late night festivities, and start the day on a positive note.
- Workspace: Set up a ‘co-working’ space within walking distance of the event venue — this can be comfortable seating and charging stations or even a series of rooms you can book to take calls. This provides a productive oasis for attendees and an opportunity to interact with your team.
- Food!: We’ve all been to those events where lunch begins and you have to wait in line for 20+ min to try to get something before running to your next meeting/presentation. Create alternatives like a branded coffee cart or smoothie station at the entrance of the venue, or grab-and-go snacks at your booth.
Memorable swag
When done right, swag can leave a lasting impression. Opt for quality over quantity and choose items that are relevant and useful to your target audience.
Ellie has seen strong draw with book signings: “Make your booth a destination by giving away books and having the author sign those books. Of course they should be relevant to your offering/industry, and even better if written by the founder/CEO!”
Another way to approach swag is to create some scarcity. Rather than giving something small (and basically disposable) away to everyone, try…
- A big-ticket raffle or mid-size items on a schedule: Pick 5 times during the day/event where you will do a giveaway
- A giveaway for the first 100 people who do X: Visit your booth, share your message on social, etc…
- A game: Scavenger hunt, event BINGO, etc…
Remember that events are rarely just about immediate ROI but also about building long-term relationships and brand awareness. By tiering your events, building a long-term participation strategy, and hosting engaging activities, we know you can amp up the impact!
Until next week!
