Nearly Two-Thirds of Marketers Plan to Increase Spending on Live Events in 2019
Is your business considering doing more engagement events as part of your marketing effort this year? If not, maybe you should!
A recent study titled EVENT MARKETING 2019, Benchmarks and Trends Report from Bizzabo, an event software company, reports that in an increasingly digital and fragmented media channel world, businesses that are surpassing company-wide goals consider events to be the single most effective marketing channel for their organization. Whatever you may think about event marketing, there should be no doubt that the right event, with the right engagement, and the right strategy, can be a powerful marketing tool to reach and convert new customers.
MARKETING STRATEGY
While a well-rounded marketing strategy should include multiple channels, successful marketers invest in in-person events to engage prospects, customers and other audiences in a meaningful way.
- 95% of the study respondents (1,000+ respondents) believed that live events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world.
- 85% have indicated that events are essential to their marketing strategy.
- 80% of over-performing businesses planned to increase their event budgets the following year.
As the event industry is grows and becomes more crowded, to stand out among the pack requires businesses to have a strong event strategy with attention to goals and objectives, provide better attendee experiences and move the needle in ways that their competitors are not.
EVENT ROI
Speaking of goals and objectives, most marketers report that their primary reason for organizing events is to:
- Support lead generation and sales acceleration (30%)
- Create brand awareness for their company or products (21%)
- Generate revenue from ticket sales or sponsorships (16%)
Event organizers may have different business goals in mind for events, but “attendee engagement and satisfaction” appears to be a waterfall metric that has implications for other event goals.
For instance, an attendee who is highly satisfied with an event may be more likely to become a future customer, return to subsequent conferences or be retained as a customer. Meanwhile, attendee satisfaction is a KPI that cuts across various event types—from user conferences to thought leadership events.
WHY EVENTS WORK
Events are immediate. They are personal. They provide the opportunity for prospects (audiences/consumers) to form meaningful connections with businesses, brands and with one another.
WDET’s event strategy runs the gamut from developing unique VIP membership only events, community information and education forums, program/personality specific audience engagement events and “one of a kind” entertainment/infotainment series all with the goal to engage specific targeted audiences with high value, memorable opportunities to engage with WDET our sponsors and partners.
WDET CAN HELP
If you are looking for an opportunity to start or supercharge your event marketing to reach and engage with a targeted audience of potential consumers, WDET can help. We produce many unique, customizable events with sponsorship opportunities for organizations to engage with WDET’s loyal audience. Contact us online or by calling (313) 577-4255 so we can start the conversation today. Ask us about our new event and multi-media series, Ann Delisi’s Essential Conversations!
Source: Bizzabo Event Marketing 2019: Benchmarks and Trends Report, https://blog.bizzabo.com/event-marketing-statistics
