There is a good chance that most meeting and event planners begin their event marketing with some level of data. If they’re lucky, that database may also include some background information on past events attended and whether attendees returned year over year. What it may not include is information on what attendees value.
The best ways to gather this level of understanding are to:
- Connect and stay in touch with your attendees. It is easy to become engrossed in the details of the event content and logistics, but taking the time to build trusting relationships and then encouraging an open dialogue will work wonders toward learning what is important to them.
- Incorporate pre-, during-, and post-show surveys in to every event, and compare how effective you were at managing your attendees’ expectations vs. their perceived ROI after the event.
- Give careful consideration to the questions you are asking, and answer choices to be sure that there is no room for guessing results based on interpretation or perception.
- Use the opportunity to survey those who did not attend or did not show to find out why.
Upon review of the data collected, meeting and event planners should learn:
- The trade show exhibitors that were most appealing to different segments of the database.
- The speakers or session topics that generated the greatest interest.
- Whether there is there a registration price sensitivity and/or what the pricing threshold is for different segments of the database.
- The elements of the meeting or event that most interested or appealed to different segments of the database.
This information can and should be used to target future attendees on the next event marketing campaign. You will now know which exhibitors and products to target, how to best incentivize attendees to return, and how to attract similar prospects in the future.
Different messages appeal to different segments
Now that you have “cleaned” your prospect database and have identified key segments, it’s time to develop a marketing campaign that includes messaging and graphics that is relevant to those segments.
While you have grabbed their attention, you can survey your attendees to gather valuable data, specify demographics, filter new data against established criteria, accommodate campaign modifications, and track results.
Gathering data and using it to your advantage
Developing a personalized marketing message to segments of the list is only the beginning of the marketing process. Surveying is essential to qualifying attendees before the event, and building your program around those results is essential to success. Using the survey to determine session topics of interest and/or the products and services of the exhibiting companies are vital measures of the meeting or event’s value and success for an attendee. In return, the number and quality of qualified attendees is an important success measure for exhibitors and sponsors.
For more information, please see AMI’s new whitepaper, The Changing Face of Attendee Marketing.
