The Hand-Wringers hate events. So once a year we fling a bunch of events into a big budget and hope nobody asks why a specific event is or isn’t on the list for the next year. And when we are questioned, we come up with such great responses as “well, we always go”, “it’s a great place to meet with customers”, “it’s the main event in [insert vertical here] industry”.
Picking events is hard. You have sales and executives sending links and brochures to things that are interesting or near a golf course or both, and you have the event marketers themselves stalking you by phone and email to book a spot.
There’s no formula that I’ve found for picking events, and I’ve been to my share of train wrecks over the years, but here are some questions I would suggest you ask before you sign up:
Things to ask Product Management:
- Is this event timed near a planned product launch?
- Can we time our product launch around it?
- Can anyone from product management go to meet with the media and conduct demos?
Things to ask Sales:
- What has been our experience, historically, at this event?
- How many leads did you get last year?
- How many ended up in the funnel?
- How many closed?
- What is the value to the company of this event? (e.g. revenue, # of new customers etc.)
- Are any of our customers available to present a case study with us?
- Is this a good place to host a dinner, reception or hospitality suite for customers or prospects?
- Do you know a good spa in that city? (they always know a good spa but mostly I throw this in to see if they are paying attention.
Things to ask PR:
- Do the media typically attend?
- Is there a proper press room?
- Can you set up meetings for our executives and product people?
- What about analysts and other influencers like bloggers? Can you use this event to engage them?
Things to ask the Event Sales person:
- If it’s an association event, are any of our people on the executive?
- What about our competitors’ people?
- What about our customers’ people?
- Have any of our major customers booked space?
- Which of our competitors have confirmed they are attending?
- What kind of marketing is being done to drive attendance at the event?
- Is there an opportunity to speak? Is it tied to sponsorship?
Things to ask yourselves:
- Should we sponsor something high-visibility like the badge holder or the bags? (this is worth considering if you are new in the space)
- We are established players; what would happen if we didn’t attend this year? (if the answer is nothing, you should stay home)
- If we could attend only one event this year, would this be the one?
- Would it be worthwhile to do an over-the-top massive booth?
- Do we need a booth at all? Can we get away with a hospitality suite nearby? (show organizers HATE this one)
- Will we be expected to show up with a great offer? How long does it take to pull an offer together?
- Is there an opportunity to “own” this show by being the top sponsor?
What have I missed here?
BizMarketer is written by Elizabeth Williams
I help companies have better conversations
Drop me a line at ewilliams@candlerchase.com
Or follow me @bizmkter
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