BIG IDEAS EVENT MARKETERS SHOULD STEAL FROM DIGITAL MARKETING

Pat McClellan

Chief Strategy Officer

Opus Agency

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DIGITAL MARKETING EMERGED in the 1990s as a broad category of targeted, measurable, and interactive marketing practices that use digital tactics like websites, email campaigns, content marketing, and mobile apps.

With marketing automation platforms like Pardot, Eloqua, Marketo, and HubSpot,

digital marketing has reached a remarkable level of sophistication and capability,

helping marketers plan, coordinate, manage and measure their campaigns.

Originating in the digital realm and built on a foundation of web server logs and

search engine optimization, digital marketing is all about data and measurement.

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IN CONTRAST, event marketing has probably been around since a wine and olive tasting event at the grand opening of the pyramids! Event marketing is built on a foundation of personal experience and face-to-face interaction, which has, until recently, been much harder to measure.

As events grow in size and spectacle, the holy grail everyone seems to be seeking

is personalization; making every one of the thousands of attendees feel like you

created this experience just for them. Personalization, at scale, seems like an

insurmountable challenge, but you can achieve that goal by embracing these

digital marketing best practices in the events world. And, by the way, you’ll

find yourself with all the data you need to prove ROI with the same data-backed

credibility as your digital colleagues.

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#1 PROVE AND IMPROVE : A/B TESTING DIGITAL MARKETING

A/B Testing is a process where two or more versions of a web page are tested to see

which performs better. It acknowledges the fact that real data often leads to better

decision-making than our personal preferences.

For example, if you were creating a landing page where people could download an

eBook, you might test the page layout, or the wording of the offer, or how many fields

to require on the download form. You would randomly split traffic between option A

and option B, and see which leads to

more downloads.

Once you have the answer, route

all traffic to the better option.

“Real data often leads to better decision-making than our personal preferences.”

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#1 PROVE AND IMPROVE : A/B TESTING EVENT MARKETING

Which discount offer will generate the most early bird registrations? Which is more

time-efficient for 2500 people: sandwich buffet or boxed lunches? Do we get better

survey participation with paper or on mobile devices? Do we get more booth traffic

with t-shirts for everyone or a raffle for a big-ticket item?

Event Marketers can use A/B Testing to get data-supported answers to these and

many other questions. Designing the test for an event setting may involve comparing

option A on the first day and option B on the second; or compare different tactics on

two consecutive tour events.

Articulate the question, design your optional tactics, determine precise metrics,

collect the data, and document the findings.

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#2 DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP: PROGRESSIVE PROFILING DIGITAL MARKETING

Progressive Profiling is a process that gathers a robust set of information about a lead,

but does it bit by bit, over the course of a campaign, so the prospect doesn’t feel like

they’re being asked to give up too much information.

For a first contact with a company, if you want to download an eBook, you might be

asked for first name, last name, and email address. Easy.

When the eBook is delivered to your email address, they promote another download

for you. This time, you’re asked for your role, company size, and location, which is

appended to your profile. You provide a little more each time you return, because your

continued interest makes you more willing to share.

All of this gives digital marketers the data they need to score leads and determine

when they are ready to be turned over to a salesperson. And it provides the

salesperson with insight into the prospect’s interests, knowledge, and preferences.

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EVENT MARKETING

With events, we start by gathering a good amount of data at registration. Name, address,

email, job title, and lots of company information. Attendees are used to providing this

data, so we don’t have to be too sensitive to asking. That’s our starting point.

Now let’s use the badge scan data we are already gathering to enrich the lead profile for

this attendee. We can add a list of topics for each breakout session attended, and append

all of the training sessions they complete. And don’t forget to include a list of expo booths

they visit.

Finally, we want to add one-on-one meetings

and other significant conversations. This

goes into CRM the old-fashioned way:

sales reps have to report it.

There’s nothing revolutionary about the data gathering; what’s new is we’re channeling

a lot more of that data into CRM so we can connect specific types of engagement with

sales revenue.

#2 DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP: PROGRESSIVE PROFILING

“We’re channeling more data into CRM to connect engagement with sales revenue.”

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#3 BE RELEVANT TO BE REMEMBERED: PERSONALIZED CONTENT

DIGITAL MARKETING

Every incremental interaction with a lead should demonstrate that you remember

them and you are anticipating their needs.

In digital marketing, the use of browser cookies and individualized URLs lets brands

recognize a return visitor, and that intelligence helps them provide new and more

relevant content than the visitor saw before. That is providing value to the

customer whose data you have collected. Seems fair and appropriate.

This also gives marketers a concise way to make their pitch—personalizing the

content and never wasting time with repetition or irrelevant messages. This

accelerates prospects through the funnel and drives up deal size.

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#3 BE RELEVANT TO BE REMEMBERED: PERSONALIZED CONTENT

EVENT MARKETING

When someone registers for your event, do you recognize them? Do you know what

events they have been to and which sessions they liked? Do you know if they are a

customer or have a deal in progress?

If you can make this simple

connection between event registration

and CRM—or even just with your past

event data—you could offer that attendee

a personalized journey.

You can suggest topics and sessions, provide a list of key exhibitors to visit, entice

them with alumni benefits, and offer introductions to key players. If they have an

existing relationship with a sales rep, you can make an impression with personal

outreach. That personalization is a huge value to the attendee, driving up the

relevance of the event.

“When people register for your event, do you recognize them?”

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THE IMPACT OF A BRAND EVENT can be dramatic: events are immersive experiences

where one can learn and network and be entertained. There is tremendous value in having

someone engaged with your brand for a few hours, that much more when it’s several days.

It’s time for event marketers to step up to the data challenge, creating more personalized

experiences and revealing a clear link between those experiences and ROI.

“It’s time for event marketers to step up to the data challenge...”

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PAT McCLELLANPAT MCCLELLAN IS CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER at Opus, working closely with clients to articulate

specific and measurable returns for their event marketing investments. Pat combines 30 years

of marketing experience with his passion for customer experience, big data and technology.

Pat joined Opus Agency as Chief Strategy Officer in May 2014. He most recently served as EVP

Managing Director West Coast for Jack Morton Worldwide, a global brand experience agency.

Pat’s career has been guided by the intersection of strategic marketing skills and technology;

he has led media production and live marketing projects for some of the most prominent and

respected brands in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Pat received his MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his BS in Radio-TV-Film

from Northwestern University. He is continuing his education with courses in Data Science (just

for fun). He resides in Berkeley, CA with his wife and daughter. When he’s not working, you will

likely find him cooking, swimming or playing the piano.

OPUS AGENCY PROVIDES event marketing, management and production solutions to Fortune

1000 companies. Since 1993, we have been a trusted adviser to a diverse group of customers

creating unique, high quality events. We design, plan and execute brand experiences that

accelerate results and enable customer success.

Our passion for customer success drives every aspect of our business—our amazing people, the

values they share, and our best-practice methodology. We call it TeamCS™—the Opus Customer

Success Platform. We would love to show you how it works.

Pat McClellan

415-793-1337

pmcclellan@opusteam.com

THANK YOU