As the calendar year comes to a close, so do the fiscal years of many companies. And that means the details—budgets, inventories, and profit and loss—need to be wrapped up. As the year closes, it’s time to put on paper what goes into your marketing promotion plan for next year.
Online advertising, a new website, brochures—you’ve got a laundry list of marketing tactics you can use when it comes to promoting your company. As technology grows in prevalence, it seems that there are more and more tactics to put your marketing spend toward.
It can be hard to know what to invest in and what’s not worth your company’s effort.
Trends come and go, but the effectiveness of powerful, motivating events stays—and marketers are beginning to realize this. In fact, according to an EMI & Mosaic report, brands are increasing their event and experiential marketing budgets by 6.1% in 2015.
An event is not just a good time, and it’s not just a lecture to educate key people on the high points of your product or service. Bringing event marketing into the picture is an effective way to build sales momentum, product and brand recognition and more.
Why else should events be a part of your marketing promotion strategy? Here are a few compelling reasons.
Everyone Is Using Event Marketing
According to the Regalix State of B2B Event Marketing Report, event marketing is growing in importance, and the time to jump aboard is now. Why?
- 92% of marketers invest in event marketing
- 84% of marketers identify reaching many prospects in a short amount of time as the key benefit of event marketing
- 46% of marketers allocate 10% to 25% of their overall budget to events
FOMO Is Real
According to
a study by Eventbrite, 69% of millennials experience
FOMO (fear of missing out) when they can't attend something that their family or friends are going to. And, nearly three in four (73%) millennials agreed that FOMO often drives the need to seek out new activities and experiences.
And, the study states, for millennials, “FOMO is not just a cultural phenomenon, it’s an epidemic.”
This “epidemic” is bringing about incredible potential for companies like yours. Perhaps more than any other form of marketing, events build a sense of “can’t-miss” opportunities that keep your people intrigued.
For marketers, events are an opportunity that can’t be ignored.
The ROI Is There
A frequent criticism of events: there’s no ROI. With leads, brand exposure and other difficult-to-explain traits, it’s easy to think that the ROI of an event just isn’t there.
According to an EMI & Mosaic report, 48% of brands realize an ROI of between 3:1 to 5:1 with their events and experiences. And that number could be even higher: only
34% of marketers use new referrals, quality of leads, deal closure, value of sales and cross-sell/upsell opportunities to measure event ROI.
In other words, it’s worth it to invest in event marketing as part of your marketing promotion strategy. The bottom-line impact of your event is there—in brand recognition, customer loyalty, sales and more.
Younger Generations Love Events
More than 3 in 4 millennials (78%) would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event over buying something desirable. That means, for the right event, younger audiences will pull out all the stops to be there.
Keeping events as an integral part of your marketing promotions helps build interest in millennials and members of Generation Z. Intriguing this audience is of increasing importance, as this valuable audience is
storming into the workforce in record numbers.
Research Proves The Impact of Events Is Enormous
The study details that people who attended a brand’s event gave more value to that brand, regardless of price. It also proves that attending an event has an impact on positive brand experience—people view a brand more favorably after participating in an event.
And, according to a study from the
Journal of Advertising Research, events that offer opportunities for personal interaction with products help build the event’s effectiveness. More than that, the report says, investing in event marketing can signal to consumers that companies are truly involved with the community.
Incorporating Events in Your Marketing Promotion Strategy
The best way to create a successful event as part of your marketing promotions is to make your event as strategic as possible.
- Seven defined strategies for making your event more strategic
- Why events are a critical piece of any successful marketer’s plan
- How events can be leveraged to impact your organization’s bottom line
Download the ebook today to know more about how strategic events enhance overall marketing effectiveness.