Can you prove that your event marketing plan is paying dividends?

Chances are, you already believe it does. According to Bizzabo's 2019 Event Marketing Benchmarks and Trends Report, most marketers see event marketing as their most effective channel. But can you prove it to your boss?

The study states that event marketing spend grew 17% between 2017 and 2018. Clearly, company executives are willing to pay for this type of marketing. But that favor will only extend as far as marketers can show ROI. Just as with traditional promotions, you need to capture quantifiable marketing metrics that show the results of your experiential events.

Experiences have long shaped our perceptions, causing us to view the world through different filters. If we perceive something positively, the past experiences we associate with that thing were likely good ones. It’s for this reason that we’re now seeing more brands use experiential marketing to up the customer experience ante. An Event Marketing Institute study estimates that 76% of marketers use experiential to support other marketing initiatives.

Like any strategy, experiential will vary from brand to brand. But the overall goal is the same: expose people to a series of fun and unforgettable activities to create a positive association with that brand. These good vibes can serve as a foundation for loyalty, which can improve customer retention, word-of-mouth buzz, and overall sales.

Out of all the marketing tactics available, events have the highest potential to generate sales leads, create a positive return on investment, and engage consumers. It’s no surprise that 87% of C-suite professionals believe in the power of event marketing and plan to invest in more events moving forward. But unless brands extend their reach beyond the convention center walls, those investments will continue to fall short of their full potential.

Social media is the key to extending that reach, which is why it has become an increasingly important part of event marketing. But the rates of adoption are still relatively low. Only 52% of events have consistent engagement on social media throughout the day.

Event management strategies align every aspect of your event toward its intended objectives. To begin crafting your own event management strategy, you must first define your campaign's primary goals.

Once you do that, you must also tie those targets in with your brand goals. This will allow your company to review insights and set key performance indicators that will show whether those goals have been met. You cannot move forward with the look and feel of the event — or even focus on the consumer experience — until these elements are in place.

Event marketers need to reach new attendees now more than ever. According to an Eventbrite Pulse report, 64% of event professionals called it their biggest challenge.

One way to clear that engagement hurdle is through social media. Your ideal event attendees could be more open to connecting via their preferred social channels, though this approach does give way to a pair of questions: How do you know you’re reaching the right audience at the right time? And while social media is a useful tool, how does that translate into loyal and engaged customers?