In this article you will read how to use offline events as a power channel for your target group and which mistakes you have to avoid.
Have you been to meetings, get-togethers or the like where you have been able to get a subliminal impression of the organizing company and its products? We often felt that way, which is why we asked ourselves whether it was possible to use the offline events channel in a targeted and planned way.
Would you like to know what marketing through offline events is, why you might need this channel and how it works? Then you’ve come to the right place.
When we talk about offline events here, we mean smaller meetings, but also hackathons, conferences of any size and other types of events that require a personal appearance on site.
Offline events can basically be approached from two sides. As an organizer and promoter on the one hand, and as a visitor or participant on the other. The reasons why one should be active as an organizer are the following: You often have access to the power users and early adopters in your target group.
As a participant, offline events make sense for your marketing because you get a good overview of market segments and get to know new potential customers as well as business partners in conversations.
According to a survey by Event Marketer, around three-quarters of event participants say that events give them a more positive image of a product or the organizing company.
They also found out that around four out of five consumers purchased a product mainly because of an offline event.
As an organizer
Your commercial is annoying
It is perfectly legit to make a time slot for a short intro about your company or introduce the sponsors to one another. Here you have to be super careful not to sound like a self-important long-winded one, and, instead to clearly and naturally build in what you have to say into your event storyline.
You put on your Show without regard to the audience
Every one of us has probably experienced something similar to what the potential participants experience sometimes when we attended some events. With speakers/organizers flushing out their program as if they do not care about the target group and get paid for fixed price regardless of their input. This is not what you are going to do. As a smart organizer you want to carefully select and compile the right ideas, solutions and content.
As a participant
You confuse asking questions with pitching
Some overly ambitious participants at events and conferences seem to be trying to make an impression and stand out by packing a pitch in a series of questions and shooting an avalanche of those. While well-intentioned, it can be extremely annoying for other event participants who want to listen carefully to quality interesting information.
You choose wrong events
It sometimes happens that, be it a planned or a spontaneous visit to an event, when you realize that the speaker is actually addressing completely wrong group, that you simply do not belong to the agenda. In this case it sounds like a great idea first to get in touch with the organizer of an event you consider attending or the event platform and clarify for yourself for whom the event is getting organized.
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In the entire Marketing Funnel, the activities you perform at offline events are usually located between the top of the funnel and the middle range.
The focus here is on measures that (potential) customers first become aware of you and your solutions and want to learn more about you.
Compared to sales, marketing through offline events typically does not have a strong immediate impulse to encourage purchase.
The reverberation is strongly increasing due to the influence on other channels over time, as soon as your event activities become understandable in a larger context.
When you compile your portfolio of channels and promotions, marketing through offline events will typically have the function of acting as a seed in the brain of your target audience.
This channel works best in combination with the short and medium term channels.
Use events for content production
Both small and large-scale events, when approached in advance with a clear plan for organization and agenda, can be effectively used to produce interesting footage, text and sound content , for instance in form of interviews. While preparing to attend your next meet up don’t hesitate to organize a little interview with one of the event organizers.
Use events for your launches
It doesn’t matter whether you are an organizer or a participant to an event. When you are going to launch a new important product or a service you are proud of, go ahead using an event so that your customers associate your product with something joyful and useful.
Keep an eye on no-show rate
Especially when organizing an event it is important to pay attention to the number of people who registered to attend your event but then for some reasons opted out, — this is an important indicator. If you do not take into account this figure you risk to wind up in a large scale party in a large event venue with 5 guests scattered here and there.
Think about the right setup
When organizing an event take care of all the needs and necessities of the people who are your guests and potential customers. One of such procurements should be WIFI-connection. If you are going to attend an event as a guest, make sure to have your business cards and fully charged smartphone always with you at any event.
No Show Rate
No-show rates indicate the number of visitors who, despite registering, buying a ticket or booking a hotel room, do not end up in your venue. The problem here is, these absentees do not bother to notify you of skipping your event, — they just don’t turn up. So, the no-show rate gives the idea of the share of such people in the entire number of planned attendees..
Number of returning participants
You and your team will probably throw some more events; it may be on a monthly basis, or biannually. Your important KPI (key performance indicator) here is to establish the number of devotees who come to your event again and again.
You realize that marketing via offline events is a really exciting channel. The most important thing here is to filter out the right event formats for yourself in view of the almost infinite number of events.
Marketing at offline events is in the Top of the Funnel category. Especially for a short- and medium-term effect with the customer a complementary portfolio around the actions in this channel is important.
And now: As a first step, find out which events are exciting for your target group and which they are already attending or will soon be attending.
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