Events are a huge channel for marketers – but do we know exactly what we’re getting out of them?
Events can be even more powerful by adding in interactive content. We recently held a webinar with Certain, a leader in event data management software, all about how to get better results at events and show more concrete ROI.
We covered 8 tips to get better results:
1. Understand Your Event Attendees
Before the event even begins, it’s key to understand who will be there – who are they and what do they care about? Is this an event for decision-makers or end-users? Are the attendees knowledgeable about your product or service or should you plan to do a lot of educating?
Gathering as much information as you can about who will be there will help you plan what to bring, who on your team should run the booth, and what your messaging could be to each individual.
2. Use Interactive Content to Personalize & Engage Before the Event
A great way to get to know your event attendees better is through interactive content. You can use an interactive engagement like a survey, assessment, or quiz to gather more information about who’s planning to attend and what they’re looking to get out of the event.
You’ll stand out in the sea of pre-event emails by offering something unique, engaging, and valuable for potential attendees – and remind them to connect with you at the event!
3. Track Activities & Interests at the Event
What are your buyers doing at the event itself? Which sessions do they attend and why? Gathering this information at the event helps you provide the most targeted follow-up content, guiding them through their buying journey.
Content should be able to help:
- Qualify a prospect’s engagement and interest
- Improve lead capture
- Create opportunities for sales
4. Use Real-Time Engagement to Drive the Next Logical Step
During the event, you can interact with attendees at your booth and use technologies like Certain and SnapApp to deliver real-time follow up and recommendations. Even set appointments at the event itself for your sales team to dig deeper into how your product could be a fit for a given attendee.
5. Engage Booth Visitors with Interactive Experiences
Events are all about starting conversations and building face-to-face connections – what if your content could do the same? Rather than collecting business cards, suddenly you’ll collect profile data, persona information, unique pains & needs, and more. Think outside the box and engage your booth visitors in a way they’ll remember, and will fill your database with valuable information.
6. Collect In-Event Data to Improve Lead Scoring
Never stop watching and listening for those insightful moments. How could you collect those insights in a way that makes them actionable? Those insights can inform lead scoring, so your sales team knows exactly who to follow up with first and prioritize accordingly.
7. Use What You Learn to Nurture Post-Event
After the event is over, maintaining those connections and nurturing the leads you captured is paramount. That means personalized follow up. You’ll want to have a Day One, Week One, 30 Day and 6 Month plan for re-engaging these leads. Use the information you gathered at the event to determine exactly what kind of follow up will appeal at different stages of the buyer’s journey, then segment, segment, segment!
Make sure all the information you gathered at the event has flowed into your marketing automation platform and CRM so the sales team is armed for the perfect follow-up.
8. Tie Everything Back to Your Marketing Automation & Analytics Systems
How do we demonstrate ROI on event leads? Tie everything back to our systems.
A “credible ROI” is one that is going to stand up to your CMO, CFO, and CEO. To be credible, it really has to come from your marketing automation or marketing analytics system and provide a trackable measure of performance for the marketing event. This ensures the methodology is repeatable, and analysis is consistent with how you evaluate your other marketing programs.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 8 Ways to Get Better Event ROI With Interactive Content
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