According to the Event Marketer Institute and Mosaic, 91% of customers tend to improve perceptions about your brand after interacting at events. That events have been a great channel to acquire new customers, retain existing ones and network with industry leaders isn’t a new insight. The question is – but are events really meeting your business/brand goals?

Let’s take a step back. At this stage, will event marketing even help you fulfil your brand goals? For those unsure, here’s a checklist. If any of these goals resonate with your brand, you need to start exploring event marketing –

• As an emerging brand in your industry, you want to engage with decision-makers in an authentic way
• As an established brand, you want to build a reputation of being an industry ‘thought leader’
• You want to scope out the competition & what they are up to

So, you have established that Event Marketing is indeed a cornerstone of your marketing strategy. Or, this isn’t your first – proverbial – rodeo but you are unsure if you are leveraging event marketing optimally. In either case, we have curated some best practices when it comes to event marketing for B2B brands – reflected by real-world results across our projects.

1. Channel traffic from Digital to Real

Events can often be an overwhelming mix of networking sessions, discovering new products, and learning about industry trends. From the perspective of your customer, there is a lot of knowledge to retain. So, beyond your interactions with them, your brand needs to tap into social media to remain on the top of their minds.

For this global fintech brand, ITSS, we devised a digital event that aligned with their prospective customers’ experience at the event. From podcasts and product activations to in-stall contests, activities were planned to keep the audience engaged – digitally and on-ground.

Driving footfalls and audience engagement at events

Strategy to launch a new product at events

2. Be Unforgettable

Events offer a unique opportunity for brands to not just reach their customers but actively shape their experiences, too. From stall-level activations to lucky draws, remember to design experiences that align with a key message you want them to remember or a key action you want them to take.

For Infosys NIA‘s debt collection platform, IntelliCollect – we transformed a key product proposition into a hands-on experience.

With the distribution of physical thaumatropes, the attendees were able to not just recall IntelliCollect but a physical reminder of the value it offered.

3. Determine Event Goals & plan Event real estate

What are your goals for this event? To acquire new leads, to solely network, or to shadow survey your market? Ensure everything from your event communication and strategy is mapped towards these goals. While planning communication, optimize the event real estate without overwhelming your audience.

Whatever your goal, you should aspire to connect, not badger.

For instance, with Hinduja Tech, a leader in the mobility industry, we extrapolated the brand’s thought process for the event across design, language, and tone. With a mix of interactive display panels in print and digital formats like TVs & iPads, we helped Hinduja Tech create one-on-one conversations with OEM automotive industry experts across Japan & the US.

Creating interactive experiences at event stalls

Want your next (or first) venture into event marketing to be successful? Let’s discuss your goals. Reach out to our experts in the comments 👇🏽