8 Do’s of B2B Event Marketing

Mike Connolly, July 11, 2016

B2B events are a great place to capitalize on sales and closing deals. Most importantly, events help build partnerships. Being one of the most effective tactics of outbound marketing, live events continue to grow and are here to stay.

Even with all the precautions taken from experiences of past years there are certain ground rules that businesses need to follow while conducting B2B event marketing practices.

Here are 8 do’s of B2B event marketing:

1.  Send Reminders Before Event: With senior professionals attending the event- busy calendars, tightly packed schedules and professional meetings are the norm. Not only this, the attendees comprise of vendors, partners, clients and essentially prospects. There can be many possibilities of mishaps that can occur as events revolve around prolonged meetings and lengthy discussions. Business deal discussions, market solutions and growth opportunities can be missed due to lack of reminders. Pre-schedule meetings and sending reminders before every event reduces the chances of a no show.

2. Time Management: In between packed schedules and endless meetings people usually lose track of time and often get delayed. Long meetings that get pushed over, different time zones, ad hoc interactions, demos and many such deal discussions are the crux of any B2B marketing event. Thus, it is necessary to follow a set agenda, map your meetings, save notes, and follow-up on important clients within at least 24 hours of meeting. At events marketers are pressed for time and are mostly rushing through tasks, the best alternate is to avoid slip-ups by managing your time.

3. Utilizing Call-to-action: Use the call-to-action buttons generously as this is the trick to get respondents react to campaigns.  By creating a sense of urgency you are sending out a message that your business will benefit your audience and will definitely produce results. There are high chances that your prospect can even forget about your company before an event. Even though you may be the best choice, going easy with calling to action can lead to missed opportunities. B2B event marketing thrives not only on new customers but existing ones that come back all the time.

4. Sync with Technology: How do you get more registrations? In the age of virtual reality and artificial intelligence you can contact over a thousand people in just a few weeks. By using an integrated marketing approach for your event marketing campaign. Get the numbers by combining direct mail, telemarketing, email and social media. This ensures that campaigns are delivering measurable results and driving sales.

5. Aim for Quality over Quantity: B2B event marketing isn’t just about the numbers, it’s about the quality of attendees. Segmentation is one such method that helps market your data to the right audience at the right time. By connecting with the right people you build a strong bond with your prospects. The beginning of a relationship and gaining a customer is what’s truly valuable. Engagement tactics need to be adopted to send out the right message and capture relevant information for the growth of your business.

6. Deliver what is promised: Optimize the impact of an event while it is still fresh in the minds of your audience. With time objectives shift to align new business goals, but it is also important to deliver what is promised to the customers. False promises and misleading information will diminish your reputation and hamper your growth. Make support materials from the event available to them for future use. Do not let them cross-over to different resources, let them know you are available to answer any questions they may have.

7. Provide useful data: If your data is old, inaccurate or just plain bad you are in trouble. Cleanse it. Invest time and effort to research your audience base correctly and segment your data accordingly. A clean, verified list will be well worth in the long run. Inefficiency and time spent on redundant lists is the last thing you would want. For example, the hard work put in looking for people who have changed their phone numbers or moved to another company is useless. Keep your lists up-to-date and accurate.

8. Develop and Nurture Qualified Leads: Maximize your solutions in par with the current marketing environment and evolve in accordance to your customer’s needs. Identify your prospects on the basis of actual sale potential by being specific in segmentation. Provide your customers with useful information that they require. Connect and build rapport by sharing experiences and customized service. Make a conscious shift from business to people and establish your business to greater heights.