What's New in Marketing - Issue 70, July 2008
Marketing and branding the social season
Anna Fenten, Marketing Director of event caterer and hospitality providers Sodexo Prestige, gives her views on the importance of good corporate hospitality.
Corporate hospitality can mean different things to different people. Therefore the first stage in branding and marketing the extensive hospitality packages is to identify and respond to these differing attitudes.
For the overwhelming majority, corporate hospitality is an essential element of the marketing communications mix, used strategically to build relationships, raise a brand's profile and build brand associations. With this in mind corporate hospitality has to be branded and marketed as a sales tool; a tool which can secure relations with existing clients and demonstrate high levels of commitment to prospects. Corporate hospitality at glamorous high society events is perfect for retaining and acquiring business.
Most people associate Britain's social season with fine food and drink that complements the dazzle. A certain diversity of menu design is expected at corporate hospitality events.
Britain's social season incorporates some of the most popular and renowned events which to a certain extent sustain themselves. The creativity and innovations in food and drink are a large part of sustaining the hype.
But by far the most important aspect of sustaining the hype is to create something new each year. Companies need to constantly review their corporate hospitality offering to ensure it remains relevant.
Businesses must remember that although the day should be enjoyable and entertaining, it is all about business.
Here are ten top tips to make your corporate hospitality a success:
1. Know your audience: make sure the day you have planned is appropriate to those you are entertaining. Will they want to spend the day walking the course at the Open, at the races, or perusing the horticulture at the Chelsea Flower Show?
2. Book early for the best rates and availability; these events get booked up far in advance
3. Don't cut corners: always book through an official hospitality agent to ensure quality, authenticity and service. If in doubt contact the venue directly for guidance.
4. Plan ahead: always investigate travel and parking in advance. A stressful journey is not the ideal start to a day.
5.Accommodation: if you are planning on staying in the area, research accommodation and book early; these events bring a large amount of people into the area and hotels get full and expensive
6. Itinerary and logistics: good organisation ensures perfect execution on the day.
7. Point of contact: establish a central point of contact for all enquiries to ensure smooth running and a consistent dialogue with your event coordinator
8. Dress code: ensure all guests are aware of the event's dress code. No one wants to feel or look out of place and some events have specific entry requirements
9. Be prepared for the weather: check the forecast; an umbrella or factor 30 could be the make or break of an enjoyable day out.
10. Responsible drinking: enjoy the hospitality but pace yourself, these are long days and you don't want to let the group down.
Conferences place in an economic downturn
In an economic downturn - are conferences still good value for money? Peter Rand, Director of Industry Relations at Zibrant gives his view.
If live events are ever to truly fulfil their potential, techniques have to be adopted to guarantee that they offer good value for money. Furthermore, this value must be in the eyes of everyone; stakeholders, organisers, delegates and even speakers and trainers. Value is not only about money, but also about ensuring a good return on the time invested to attend events, including the stressful travelling time involved.
Increasingly, questions are being asked such as:
Is there a better way of achieving our objectives?
Is the conference really necessary?
Is it really necessary for everyone who does so, to attend?
An economic downturn creates an opportunity for these questions to be asked with greater urgency as organisations are looking across their spend to save money.
The starting point to every conference is to identify the objectives. Broadly, they fit in to three categories - information, education or motivation. Most frequently there is a mix of all three. Whatever the objectives, communication is the key and it is essential that the most appropriate medium is identified to communicate the message.
Information can seldom be only communicated through a live event, and events with a high focus on information dissemination may well be the first to suffer when the conference budgets are examined.
Similarly, education is increasingly being undertaken online. Access to mentors online can provide some answers to clarifying subject matter and can allow people to dig deeper in order to gain a greater understanding.
To some degree, the opportunity to motivate participants is a benefit for all events, even those where the focus is on disseminating information or educating an audience.
It can be argued that in an economic downturn, when there is an air of unease and some of the best employees can be seeking the "greener grass" elsewhere, it is even more necessary to bring people together on a regular basis to offer support and fresh ideas. This helps to communicate a competitive edge, to provide reassurance and to reconfirm the value of individuals.
When redundancies and cut backs are happening all around you, it is important for staff to recognise that employers are acting responsibly in the events that they are holding. Responsible conferencing can be reflected in the duration of the event, the invitees and the perceived spend.
Conferences offer good value for money for delegates and organisations when they achieve their objectives. What are these objectives and how can they be measured?
The typical smiley questionnaire during an event, focusing so often on the enjoyment of the conference or the individual sessions, often focuses too heavily on the logistical arrangements, the location, the venue, its food, service and facilities. More often than not, that is nothing more than a ‘feel good' factor for the organisers. There should be more questions to identify new skills that have been learned. What are you going to do differently as a result of attending the conference?
Companies must also identify what the impact is on the business and work towards identifying the impact on the bottom line. Conferences can offer excellent value for money and the output of the event ensures whether or not this is achieved. During an economic downturn when the bean counters start to ask questions such as, what is the bottom line contribution from holding this event, or, is their a more cost effective way to communicate these messages to our audience, then those who have answered them in better times will be in a stronger position.
In order to achieve value for money in the eyes of the organisation, it is important that the values of the company are not compromised, that the brand image is not destroyed by running an event in a manner that might save pennies on the conference budget but increase staff turnover with all of the accompanying costs to the organisation.
In order to maximise the return, the focus should be on setting clear budgets, negotiating savings and maximising the added value from suppliers. The biggest costs with conferences are often the facilities. A bedroom is a bedroom whether you are paying £500 or it is free. Similarly with meeting rooms, exhibition facilities and catering areas, the facility does not change dependant upon the price. However, there may be strategic benefits in being seen to be cutting back. Ensure the messages to delegates are clear. Avoid the "behind the scenes" criticism of apparent cuts, where perceptions are created that can be inaccurate.
Evaluation of events is proving to be a hard nut to crack. ROI models do exist - the Philips model, presented by the European Event ROI Institute being the most internationally recognised. They run regular one-day courses across Europe. However, it appears sometimes as if companies don't wish to face the truth that their events might not be producing an effective return. There is sometimes a fear of digging too deeply and obtaining answers from delegates that might be best left unheard.
A recent survey of industry leaders from ICCA indicates that 60% felt the economic downturn has had no impact whatsoever on their events. Only time will tell whether this is another case of industry leaders "putting their heads in the sand". Meanwhile organisations would do well to start measuring the value for money of their events and using suppliers that will increase their ROI.
Events market continues to flourish
Richard John, events consultant and known for his Event Marketing courses, takes a positive view of the MICE sector in these challenging times.
Forget the dreaded "R" word; the UK's events market continues to flourish. The MICE sector (it stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) is growing and research from the plethora of trade associations show little sign of any downtown.
Of course, some sectors are looking more buoyant than others; with the property price slide comes a downturn in audiences at shows like Property Investor, although it tends to be the amateur investor rather than the professional who is missing from the aisles, a situation which rarely worries the major players. And even though sales of motor vehicles are in rapid decline, the organisers of the forthcoming London Motor Show are expecting record audiences.
However, it's worth taking a look at that event to see what is at the heart of successful "live marketing". Despite the title, the Motor Show is actually an experience which encompasses live theatre, the chance to drive the cars, a new feature showcasing luxury boats, and a collection of evening pop concerts. Such an approach may dismay the motoring purist, but it packs in the families needed to deliver the all-important demographics. Visitors to any kind of event need to be involved. "The experiential marketing philosophy should be understood as a commitment to building brands by creating authentic experiences that engage all stakeholders in long-term, two-way relationships," explains Matt Jones, creative strategist at event giant Jack Morton.
The Motor Show will take place at London's Excel, which has just been sold to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in a deal worth £350 million. ADNEC chief executive Simon Hogan explained, "Our strategy is to become the world's leading provider of venues to the exhibitions industry." Had the deal not gone through, Horgan freely admits that Birmingham's NEC, the UK's largest exhibition venue, would have been in their sights. Clearly the major financial players see great future growth in live events.
The events industry holds its own events - Confex in London, IMEX in Frankfurt and EIBTM in Barcelona are the major players - and all are claiming substantive growth, suggesting meetings and events industry professionals are hungrier than ever for new ideas and global networking opportunities. Meanwhile, the sector is gaining an added maturity with the arrival of young people with events degrees. Five years ago on two UK universities offered an events degree; now more than 50 offer some form of events training qualification.
But why is this form of marketing so effective in the post Web 2.0 era so popular? Well, many companies seem to have appreciated that prospects suffer from "message fatigue", and have found it necessary to engage with people on an emotional level. And, as the homogenization of products and services continues apace, it's the aura around them that provides the differentiation. Think Nike Town, or the Apple stores as a prime example of how to enhance brand values. And if your organisation doesn't own that kind of real estate, the temporary and neutral environment of a major show is a perfect replacement.
Some organisations are so keen on the live arena they create their own events. Drinks manufacturer Innocent created their own Fruitstock music festival and followed it with a giant summer picnic. While this is not a cheap undertaking, it ensures that the brand name cannot be subsumed in the event's own reputation; contrast that with the £100 million plus fees necessary to be a tier one Olympic sponsor. Can you name the UK financial provider associated with the 2012 Olympics?
And if putting on a major event like that sounds daunting, you'll have seen the small-scale field marketing events that agencies run in prime locations such as railway stations. Such activities can pay fabulous dividends in terms of starting a relationship with consumers, and can complement above the line marketing activities to provide a cohesive, integrated approach.
However with the growth in the sector is an ever-more strident demand for effective ROI. The events industry has always been slow to prove its worth, and the last few years have seen major service providers rebelling against the demand by corporate procurement departments to get involved and see evidence of value. To address these concerns, the CIPS and various event trade bodies are now working effectively together in providing the necessary tools, and smart organisations are investing in the necessary training which allows staff to provide the research. However, the temptation for many companies to work to short lead times, and task a junior member of staff with organisation - "it's only a meeting" - is still a too prevalent attitude.
"There are far too many organisations whose approach to conferences are known as DILLYs - that's Do It Like Last Year", according to Richard Tierney of Reachout who has run events on four conferences. "There's a demand for something new, but then too many companies retreat into the safety of the familiar. Sometimes it's necessary to surprise and even shock delegates, and you can rarely do that with 6 hours of PowerPoint." It's a view shared by Rob Hogarth of Events Secrets. "A good live event allows you to see the white's of the eyes of the audience, and only then do you know whether you've gained real commitment?"
For many organisations, the appeal of conferences and events as a marketing tool is ably summed up by Michael Webb, an organiser of several exhibitions who now runs conferences for event organisers; "all other marketing activities are about getting your organisation and staff in front of prospects, and then they stop. Events start at that point, and go further than any other form of communication activity."
It doesn't get any better than that.
Getting the most for your money in an economic downturn
Scott Hider, Managing Director at Nationwide Media Group, believes that in the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that businesses are networking in person with prospects and customers. Here Scott explains why in an economic downturn, conferences and exhibitions can provide a wealth of opportunities to network in person and get the most out of marketing spend.
Be seen by the audience
Exhibiting at trade shows is an excellent way to create business opportunities and network with prospective clients face to face. Research shows that 80 per cent of trade exhibition visitors are personally involved in the buying of products or services following an event. This highlights the fact that if a company is visible in the market place, then doors will potentially open for future business adventures. With the current downturn in the economy, organisations may be reluctant to spend on marketing activity; however cutting back on this may have a detrimental effect on business. Exhibitions can take significant investment by a company, but by investing in the short term, businesses can reap the benefits in the long term, turning leads into customers.
For businesses to get the most out of their investment, it's important for them to pick the right conference carefully. By researching the conference thoroughly, companies will establish if the event will match their marketing objectives and reach their target audience. The conference programme needs to have a strong enough seminar and speaker programme to draw visitors to the event. It's pointless for an organisation to spend money on exhibiting if they will not reach key decision makers.
Conferences, trade shows and exhibitions can provide an excellent opportunity for boosting a business' profile. As well as attracting potential customers and suppliers, companies can also draw media attention. Showcasing new products will interest key journalists attending the event and is a good opportunity to build relationships with editors and staff from target publications. Targeting the media at an event will ultimately help further increase visibility of the company and its offering.
Build relationships through networking
With the increasing popularity of social networking sites and online business communities, many organisations are using the web for business networking. However, when it comes to building relationships, there is no substitute for meeting people in person and networking face to face. Conferences, exhibitions and trade shows are the perfect platform for meeting key people in the industry sector. Trade events offer prime opportunities in the business world and are a good platform for people to exchange information, develop contacts, broaden professional experiences, obtain referrals and generate sales leads.
Preparation
Preparation is vital for success and will maximise opportunities, giving businesses better value for money. The more thought and planning put in beforehand will boost success on the day. Business exhibitions, trade shows and conferences are an important part of the marketing mix and should be integrated and combined with other techniques to make an effective part of the marketing strategy. Marketing beforehand and pre-show can have a huge impact upon the success of the event. Communicating to the media and prospective customers will allow them to see what will be offered at the show and enable them to mark a business as a must see. 76 per cent of visitors arrive at an exhibition with a fixed agenda showing pre-event promotion has a significant impact. As well as traditional marketing activities, direct mail, e-newsletters and PR will all raise an organisation's profile prior to the event.
In an economic downturn, it is hugely important to be in front of customers to generate new business leads. Conferences and exhibitions can provide great value for money and a return on investment, however businesses need to put in the preparation prior to the event in order to get the most out of it. By networking face to face, companies are giving themselves the advantage for creating business opportunities, positioning themselves for their target audience and securing future relationships for the growth of the business.
Maximise exposure and minimise costs
Here are Scott's top tips on how to maximise exposure and value, while minimising costs:
* Set objectives with specific targets. Establishing specific, measurable goals prior to every exhibition is probably the single most important thing any business can do. Work out a plan and stick to it
* Getting free weblinks on the show website is a free very effective marketing tool and a great web traffic generator. Hot prospects that visit a website pre-show will see exactly what will be on offer
* Creating press packs for the press room is an excellent free publicity opportunity. Make sure all material is current, well presented and as informative as possible.
* Contact customers and prospects prior to the show. Sending reminders via to attendees before the event increases exposure.
* Try to attract media attention by showcasing new products and inviting key editors and journalists to the stand prior to the event
Face-to-face and Web networking
Successful businesses are built on relationships claims Tim Gibbon, of Elemental Communications. Business owners need to know what is happening in and outside their environment and build long-term relationships. Keeping abreast of what is transpiring in a sector and industry is critical and can't be achieved by guesswork, research and/or reading trade media alone.
Networking is important to any business and regardless of online social networks, "pressing the flesh" will always be beneficial to organisations if they want to become more intimate with their peers and potential partners.
However, it is more about meeting the right people, rather than the amount of people. You could go business card collecting, or dish yours out like sweets, but this is likely to be a poor use of time and resources and antagonise the very people you are endeavouring to build a relationship with.
Networking events run by associations, institutions and trade bodies are the obvious choices, but they are not necessarily the most vibrant or useful. It all really depends upon your objectives - who would you like to meet and why?
If you are looking to connect with individuals and look for new business opportunities; is it really going to be productive to attend your annual association party? Would it be more effective to attend an association's party in the sector you are interested in learning more about?
Social networks, email groups and forums relevant to the event offer the opportunity to start building relationships pre-event that can then cement face-to-face.
By making initial enquiries, business owners can assess whether spending more time in meeting groups or individuals is going to make a relationship viable and useful, which is what we all desire. A ‘plan of attack' is not necessarily effective to reap the best from networking, but do have some goals and objectives to aspire to; possibly set yourself a target of sorts to work to.
When at your event, be mindful that you need to make a little effort for them to work for you. Make eye contact with people and introduce yourself - smiling is important here as is other body language. Crossed or folded arms give the impression that you're not open and ready to communicate; the complete opposite to why you are there. It may sound corny, but being yourself and introducing yourself the old fashioned way is the best approach.
Businesses are driven by people and personalities, so don't be focused upon talking about the event and the 'reason' for being there, be flexible to talk about anything. An important point also, is to remember that no matter their job stature and reputation, people are just people. Be respectful, and don't let job titles (yours or others) have an impact on the way you converse. If going on your own to an even to network is a daunting prospect, go with a friend or colleague, but try and network and not spend the entire duration talking to each other.
Similarly, don't spread yourself too thinly; you will not be able to talk to everyone, so be prepared to attend several networking opportunities, taking what you have learnt from one, to the next.
When you have met people, keep the relationships open. There are so many ways to communicate, especially online and this is where integrating social media relations is useful. Once you have created a relationship with your peers, ensure you nurture it whilst being respectful of people's time.
Overall be prepared to share you knowledge, but don't be a mug. Learn to identify those individuals that look as if they are types that only believe in one way relationships, they are people to avoid. The Internet is great, a really good ice-breaker, connector and enabler, but you can't beat meeting people face-to-face.
In a way networking events can be unnatural, throwing people together in a room and expecting them to get along. They are not always the easiest things to arrange and experience. Remember that you are there to meet people and so are they. Don't be shy, open up a little and don't stay with the people you came with 'all' night - mingle. You'll surprise yourself and find that others really want to do the same.
Top 10 Tips
1. Build a list of 'relevant' events to add to your calendar and plan in advance
2. Know why you are attending and what you hope to get out of them
3. Strive to meet connections that you make online turning into offline meetings
4. Set yourself realistic objectives; e.g. how many people you will talk to
5. Know the most important meets e.g. drinks and parties that are more social
6. Don't be shy, introduce yourself and strike up a conversation
7. Make eye contact with people, introduce yourself and smile
8. Keep it simple. What company you are from and what you do are nice openers
9. Ask questions mirroring the above and enquiring what others are hoping to get from the event build on your openers
10. Work the room; you may have found another networking virgin, but there maybe others. Attempt to greet others and maximise your time there
Marketing a Successful Event - Top Tips
by Andrew Freeman at CRM
1. LOCATION
Getting the right location of an event is essential - always consider choosing the venue from your delegates' perspective. If the event is free of charge, you need to make it as convenient as possible to attend, to reduce dropout rates.
The value of a paid-for event needs to be reflected in its venue. Hot-spot mapping of your intended audience will help you form an opinion on convenient locations and whether you select a single city event or a series of road shows to cover the necessary geography.
2. PERSONALISE
All delegates want to be treated as individuals and shown that your event will bring real value, so this needs to be communicated to them in a precise and personalised way. Define your audience by the type of company they work for, their job level and role, what they have purchased from you and their location, previous history with your company or other demographic information.
Applying this segmentation to your event invitation data will allow you to tailor your communications to each audience segment.
3. REGISTRATION INCENTIVES
Offering a free iPOD for the first 50 registrations or so can certainly generate a rush of early registrations. However, unless your invited audience has been carefully selected, you will no doubt find a high drop out rate.
Instead, look for incentives to attend as opposed to register. Try before you buy, upgrade and cross-sell and up-sell offers will ensure quality delegates. For paid for events, reward loyalty, so treat returning customers a VIPs and offer them a discounted price. "Recommend a friend" initiatives also work well.
4. PRE-REGISTRATION
The delegates' registration process needs to quick and efficient - if the invitation came via email; adopt a single click registration process with pre-filled registration forms. For direct mail, use a unique delegate registration code so that forms can also be pre-filled on the web site.
You can use the registration process to gain additional profile information - but do not go overboard. If you have the technology, use it to spot gaps in the delegates profile and prompt them for only these.
5. TRACK and REFINE
A healthy number of quality delegates are the lifeblood of all event organisers and you should be able to track a response by each segment and each communication channel. If your sales department is involved, track by account manager, sales region or sales area so that you can keep them updated on registrations in their own areas.
Detailed tracking ensures that you can adopt additional or different tactics early in the process. As the event draws near, informed decisions on room size, catering numbers etc can also be made.
6. COMMUNICATE
Continue communication with registered delegates to minimise drop-out rates and keep them up to date with any changes to the event agenda or logistics. Remind them when and where the event is a few days leading up to the event and give them clear directions for each form of transport. Even if they don't attend, you have a great opportunity to follow up with them and extend offers to them that you made available on the day.
7. BADGES
Most events have some form of on-site registration to capture attendees. Sending out the badges with event details in advance, serves as a useful reminder for the delegate and for free events, it can help drive down dropout rates. Consider plastic credit card style badges as they look very professional.
Numerous badge customisation and branding possibilities exist and different designs can be used to easily and quickly differentiate between types of delegate at the event to streamline and accelerate the registration process.
8. REGISTRATION
As a rule of thumb assume that 50% of your delegates will turn up without a badge and plan the main traffic routes, fast track scanning areas and bottlenecks to accommodate for this.
Try to avoid the usual display of event badges as this not only looks unprofessional but gives an immediate view to delegates how many people have dropped out! For breakout sessions, consider scanning badges again for each session for post-event follow up and analysis.
9. FOLLOW UP
Send a follow up email thanking delegates for their attendance and directing them to further calls-to-action. If the intention of the event was to generate potential leads for your sales force make sure a lead qualification process is identified and that the tracking and measurement continues to complete the event statistics required to measure its success.
Post event surveys can also be deployed electronically to gauge opinion on content and quality of the event for post event analysis reporting.
10. MEASUREMENT
Your event data can be used to feed into future planning. You should report who you invited and how, how and when they responded, who attended, who dropped out, which sessions they attended, which offers were taken up and any information gathered during the post event follow-up. This data can be analysed by your initial segmentation, by company type, by location or indeed anything that can provide insight into attendance of future events.