Mastering Event Marketing: Strategies for Overcoming Common Challenges
Event marketing is a dynamic and powerful tool – but like any marketing strategy, it can come with challenges. If your event marketing and planning team is facing obstacles to effectively leverage resources, drive event attendance, build brand awareness, measure ROI, adapt to innovation, or create meaningful event experiences, this article is for you.
We explore some of the common hurdles that many event marketers face and effective strategies to overcome them. These tangible tips include actionable steps you can take right away to master the art of event marketing. We also provide real-world examples of how to effectively implement these strategies to show you how it’s done.
Event Marketing Solutions
The following are some of the top challenges we’ve heard from event marketers and strategies to overcome them if you are facing them too. We also outline stand-out examples of businesses in the industry that have successfully executed each strategy.
Challenge: Budget Constraints
One of the most common challenges in event marketing is working within budget constraints. Hosting and marketing events can be costly, and staying within financial limits is crucial for a successful campaign.
Strategy: Prioritize and Allocate Resources Wisely
To overcome budget constraints, prioritize your event objectives and allocate resources accordingly. Focus on key aspects such as venue, promotion, and engagement strategies that align with your overall goals. Consider partnerships and sponsorships to offset costs and enhance the overall event experience. Leveraging an agile talent strategy that uses freelance event professionals when and where you need them can also help you gain high output with low input and overhead.
Examples: How industry leaders executed this strategy
Case Study: How Soundings customized an agile talent solution to meet unique customer needs for an expert Registration Specialist within a limited budget.
Challenge: Increasing Attendance to New Activations
Low attendance can be disheartening, to say the least, after putting significant effort and resources into planning an event. It can be especially difficult to drive attendance to new activations at conferences and industry events and achieve ROI.
Strategy: Targeted Promotion and Event Outreach
Implement a targeted promotional strategy to reach your specific audience. Leverage social media, email campaigns, and partnerships to generate buzz and create anticipation. Identify key influencers or thought leaders in your industry who can help amplify your event and attract a larger audience. Look for opportunities to collaborate with other organizations at conferences and industry events as a co-branded activation to extend reach.
Examples: How industry leaders executed this strategy
Soundings x PCMA Event Leadership Institute activation at PCMA Convening Leaders 2024:
Soundings partnered with the PCMA Event Leadership Institute to provide 1:1 customized career coaching and mentoring sessions for attendees at CL24. This marketing strategy drove attendance to a first-of-its-kind activation, increased brand awareness for both businesses, and provided valuable services to the global business events industry community. See more of our experience at the conference here.
Challenge: Measuring ROI
Effectively measuring the return on investment (ROI) for an event can be challenging, making it difficult to assess the success of your efforts and inform marketing for future events.
Strategy: Set Clear Objectives and Track Metrics
Before you start marketing for your event, define clear, measurable objectives such as lead generation, brand awareness, or product launches. Utilize tracking tools, surveys, and feedback mechanisms to gather data during and after the event. Then analyze metrics such as attendee engagement, social media reach, and conversion rates to evaluate the success of your event and use the information as benchmarks to adjust strategies for future endeavors.
Examples: How industry leaders executed this strategy
Cvent Senior Director of Meetings & Events Rachel Andrews's session at MPI WEC23: “The Planning Power Play: Using Event Types to Drive ROI”:
Rachel Andrews shared insights from her nearly 20 years of experience in the event industry on assigning event types and organizing event programs based on event types to measure impact and success. Learn more about Rachel’s insights on measuring ROI here.
Challenge: Adapting to Changing Trends
The landscape of event marketing is ever-evolving, with new trends and technologies constantly emerging. The inability to adapt could mean failing to engage attendees and being outperformed by competitors.
Strategy: Stay Agile and Embrace Innovation
Stay ahead of the curve by keeping informed about industry trends and new technologies and continuously adapting your event marketing strategies as needed. Follow industry leaders and attend relevant conferences to stay updated on the latest information that can affect your business and how you run events. Being flexible and open to innovation will make your events cutting-edge, appeal to your target audience, and help you create more meaningful event experiences for attendees.
Examples: How industry leaders executed this strategy
PCMA Chief Innovation Officer Bruce MacMillan introduced project SPARK: A free generative AI tool to help event planners in the business events industry create memorable events more efficiently.
IBM Annual THINK Event: A global conference considered among the best hybrid cloud and AI industry events where IBM shares its latest technologies and insights with attendees.
Case Study: How Soundings helped an Information Services Company navigate the need for new expertise and skillsets to operate hybrid, live, and virtual events.
Challenges will come and go in event marketing, but event teams can successfully navigate them by embracing informed strategic solutions. Mastering event marketing requires strategic planning, resource allocation, and adaptability. With a well-executed event marketing strategy, businesses can forge meaningful connections, enhance brand visibility, and achieve their marketing objectives.
Want to elevate event marketing at your organization? We can help!
Let’s chat about the struggles you’re facing, your needs, and how Soundings can support you with our agile staffing solutions! Contact our team here.