4 Reasons Why You Need to Add Event Marketing To Your Marketing Mix

Did you know that nearly 70% of B2B marketers listed “in-person events” as their top B2B marketing tactic?

According to The Content Marketing Institute’s 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends, event marketing was more popular than blogging, case studies, white papers and social media. Something is more popular than blogging and social media? Yes, digital world, it’s true.

Not only that, but this is also the fifth consecutive year “in-person events” has been ranked at the top of the list. That’s five years of #1 tactic glory. Clearly the event-marketing trend is a part of the marketing strategy mix that isn’t going to buck the list anytime soon.

Businesses need to differentiate themselves more than ever.

Although this may seem surprising, it shouldn’t be. Real-life experiences shape our thoughts and memories much more profoundly than anything we read or see in the media. In a world where we are beginning to crave experiences more than “stuff”, event marketing makes perfect sense.

Engagement and conversation online is extremely important, but adding in engagement with consumers face-to-face adds another layer of loyalty and allows you to get your message and your brand in front of an audience who is likely eager to hear it.

Here are just 4 reasons out of many why event marketing should become a part of your overall marketing strategy if it isn’t already.

1. Events are a low cost way to introduce a new product or service. Showcasing your business in front of a live, captive audience will allow you to get buy-in to your product or service much quicker, and usually at a lower cost, than other traditional media.
2. Events allow you to cut through the clutter. When consumers today are looking for a specific product or service, they usually have so many different options. Events facilitate face-to-face discussions with a potential customer, helping you to establish a more personal and intimate relationship that is nearly impossible to create in the digital space.
3. Events help generate brand recognition. 8 out of 10 people who take part in an experiential marketing event pass on their experience to someone else. Make sure your brand is a part of that memory. Those are hard odds to pass up.
4. Events help you generate feedback immediately about your product or service. Instead of consumers purchasing your product or service and then having to wait to get their feedback, events allow consumers to try out products in real time before they buy it and take a hands on approach with the purchase process. They can give you valuable feedback in real time, which will allow you to address potential questions or issues right away, creating happy, informed customers.

When it comes to a complete marketing strategy, don’t forget that having an in-person experience is one of the most important ingredients to success.

As genius marketer Gary Vaynerchuck says, “Relationships are leverage. If you give value to someone else first, you have leverage.”  Event marketing is one of the best ways to start that personal relationship with your consumer, give value to them, and then leverage it.