It’s not about getting rid of everything else in favor of online marketing, says David Meerman Scott. In this episode of the Weekly Marketing Cast , we discuss how you can leverage the marketing potential of events.
Don’t Do Events for the Wrong Reason
Don’t just do events and tradeshows because you did it last year, or because it is expected in your industry, says David. Consider whether it makes sense to organize this type of event. How are you going to measure success? Is that directly related to your business goals?
Bridge Offline & Online Marketing
It often makes sense to speak at an event or simply attend one and meet people. In either case, “always tie it back to your online presence,” advises David. Have something to point people to if they visit your tradeshow booth or hear you speak. For example, try to engage them with your blog, new ebook, a cool video or infographic—something that you have published and that will appeal to the new connection you make.
“Whenever you can tie your offline marketing efforts to something online, you are bound to get more people engaged with you, and it’s much easier for people to share that information,” says David.
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Don Eleazar O. Balboa, Jr. 11:14 PM on September 19, 2011
Do you have a downloadable new ebook on social media marketing for events?
Dana Cutter 9:24 AM on September 20, 2011
I couldn't agree more. I attended Marta Kagan's session on combining offline and online marketing relative to event marketing and I couldn't help correlating it to an experience I had back in 2001. We had a B2B product launch that involved multiple online partners leading up JavaOne in San Francisco. We partnered with an online publisher called DevX.com to create a unique contest that allowed developers to use our product in a unique gaming environment that allowed them to trial the product in a fun interactive manner while competing for lifestyle rewards. We also sent about 30 engineers out to participate and provide demos to JavaOne attendees. Our goal was 5000 registrations plus another 1000 from JavOne with 500 active evaulations. The event was followed up a dedicated user portal with articles, content, white papers and email newseltter promotions for 6 months. We drove $3 million in sales vs. our traditional approach of a booth with dry product demos, learn more about me and a big party. I wish I had HubSpot back then to help to manage the entire program. All the manual spreadsheets and mailing lists were extremely difficult to manage. Great to see a company like HubSpot not affraid to check their personality at the door and create a unique experience.
Declan Reilly 10:09 AM on September 20, 2011
What David says is completely true, working online can only improve recognition.