Some people see events as fluff, a nice-to-have, but to do that is to miss out on a huge strategic advantage. Bringing people together accelerates brand affinity, it enables greater buy-in. Facilitating more and more people to speak of you highly and recommend you to others is the nirvana of marketing, it’s what growth and creating positive change is all about. So let’s find out how you can use events in your marketing strategy!
Any effective marketing strategy starts with knowing what you offer the world and who your audience is – who do you need to speak to and about what? From here you have a range of methods, tools and tactics to use, but fundamentally it’s all about connecting your message with people.
One problem with traditional marketing is that it can feel very one directional, very broadcast. You publish, promote, post, tag and send out more often than not, hoping what you put out will catch attention and convert.
Marketing – Why events are different
Events can be significantly different, adding a whole additional dimension to your marketing strategy. Events enable two way conversation, an opportunity for you to listen to your audiences and understand their needs better, which in turn can improve your product development. Creating things people want, whether that’s physical products or research they can use, services they can buy or initiatives they can champion, these insights are rocket fuel.
people need to gather, not just exist on a database
And when you go to an event and you feel welcomed, included, listened to, inspired, seen and valued – guess what? You tell the world, you commit to being a fan, you have an affinity. Isn’t that what we all want? An audience who wants what we have to offer and will advocate on our behalf?
Questions to ask yourself
- How does my organisation’s vision and strategy guide what marketing we need to do?
- What are the specific objectives and goals my marketing activity needs to help achieve?
- Which specific audiences do we need to connect to?
- What measures can we put in place to measure impact and value?
Consider your audiences as specific communities, what is their particular interest? What can you offer at an event that they would value? (Read another post about How to make value central to your event success 😎)
Be super clear on the purpose behind any current events you do – are you doing them because you’ve always done them, or because others expect you to? What would you need to effectively challenge this approach and invest in more purposeful events instead?
Strategic steps to take
Start with answering the questions above, in detail, and you should begin to see the links – Objectives > Goals > Tactics > Tools
Where connecting with people, growing brand affinity, gaining insights and developing advocates are the types of tactics that will achieve your goals, you should be considering events.
Then it’s about working with an agency like Autumn Live to design and develop the types and formats of events that will ensure you hit those goals.
Remember, people need to gather, not just exist on a database. Our experience of over 20 years of running events, understanding community and campaign work, means we know how to build and deliver gatherings, both online and in person, that truly are highly engaging, curated with care to achieve the strategic objectives set, and enable communities to grow, rather than just be broadcast at.
Want to talk? Let’s make it happen!
