• Marketing
• Customer Service
• Forming an Advertising Budget
• A Guide to Competitive Media
• Internet Marketing Strategies
• The Use of the Term "Free"
• Marketing Plan
• Promotional Tips
  • - Mailing List
  • - Event Marketing
  • - Terms of the Trade
• Sales Letter Tips

Home > Marketing > Promotional Tips > Event Marketing

SPONSORSHIPS: Event Marketing for the Business

Put your business where your market is

There comes a time in almost every marketing campaign when you will need personal contact with your customers and potential customers. They need to see that you’re human. They need that special boost of enthusiasm about your company and its products that can only be conveyed in a face-to-face experience. When that time comes, the finest advertising techniques in the world won't help you.

When that time comes, you'll need An Event.

In any marketing strategy the objective is to change consumer behavior in a way that benefits your bottom line. Event marketing is one of many tools for doing that. If planned right, event marketing can give you many of the benefits of door to door/word of mouth sales, at a fraction of the cost per exposure – and uncertainty – of these familiar standby methods. However, since it is usually a fairly expensive and little-understood venture, event marketing deserves to be explained in some depth here.

In effect, event marketing is a means for you to temporarily relocate your business to a place with high foot traffic, much of which consists of good prospects for further business.

Event marketing originally consisted of passive corporate sponsorships and was considered “charitable giving.” Throwing money at an event in exchange for your logo on a poster is no longer enough. Sponsorship is today the subject of heated bargaining sessions; it’s become big business for some events and corporations. With the increasing demands of corporate belt-tightening, event marketing has moved from random philanthropy to business expense, justifiable through traditional advertising effectiveness measurements.

Event marketing today is focused with the precision of a laser beam, and works best when carefully integrated into your overall marketing plan. Business displays are increasingly elaborate and often interactive; the best ones deeply involve the prospect in a game or demonstration or discussion, and leave a lasting image in the prospect’s mind. When done well, event marketing can burn your company name into the mind of a target audience like no other kind of promotion. When done badly, it’s as expensive and ineffective as hunting gnats with a shotgun.

A jazzy display at a popular event is not enough, in itself, to give you noticeable results. Too often businesses invest a goodly chunk of change in a booth or a sponsorship and are disappointed when their passive purchase brings them few – if any - new customers. No matter what form it takes, follow-up is essential to building lasting relationships with the leads generated at your event.

One of the simplest strategies to measure the effectiveness of your effort is to give away coupons or vouchers for something of easily perceived value to your particular market. When the coupons are redeemed, gather information for a follow-up direct mailing. Distribute the information to your sales staff as leads; perhaps do a telemarketing campaign a couple of weeks after the event.

It’s always good to get out of the office and among your customers, and getting involved in the right event can make very sound financial sense. Event marketing encompasses sports from the major leagues to the amateur levels, food festivals, art extravaganzas, fairs, music festivals and concerts, Chamber of Commerce programs, and on and on.

When given the opportunity to sponsor an event, expect factual answers to some of the following questions:

• Does the event have a budget history?
• Does the event have a current budget or business plan? A complete marketing and advertising plan? Insist on both.
• What will you get for your money? Get this in writing. A good rule of thumb is the 5:1 ratio. You should get five times your investment in benefit value. This might include hospitality, tickets, direct and indirect media exposure, on site advertising through the use of signs, access to participants and the hours of direct on site contact for one on one marketing, on site sales opportunities, exclusive rights, mailing lists, etc.
• Have line items in the event budget been identified that will allow you to provide in-kind services in lieu of cash? Remember that this method of fundraising has dollar value and should always be accounted for in real dollars.
• Does the event have a history of media coverage (news stories, purchased or trade advertising)? Will your company be featured in the media?
• Does the event have documented attendance figures from previous or similar events? This is the justification for the new customers you are being promised.
• Does the event provide marketing opportunities that, while not your traditional marketing methods, fit with your overall marketing strategy and target customer?
• Has the promoter provided you with a “a menu of opportunities” and offered flexibility?
• Will you have input to planning the event? You have more control over your opportunities when you help plan them.
• And finally, what specialized professional experience does the promoter have? Remember, events are business ventures that should be conducted in a professional, businesslike manner.