Events Management and Marketing
MKT 2202
Lesson 3
Role of marketing within event planning
1
Lesson outline
▪Core aspects of marketing
▪Event marketing
▪Customer value creation in events
▪Customer touch points and event blueprint
▪Marketing during the event planning
▪Inbound and account-based marketing for events
▪Events and marketing 5.0
2
What is Marketing?
▪Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs (Kotler
and Keller, 2016)
▪Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (CIM, UK)
▪The process by which companies create value for customers and build strong
customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return
(Kotler and Armstrong, 2016)
3
Core aspects of marketing
Marketing requires
Marketing is about
Marketing enables product, price, place
satisfying customer
an exchange and promotion
needs and wants
decisions
Marketing can be
performed by both Marketing affects Marketing helps
individuals and various stakeholders create value
organizations
4
Event marketing
▪Marketing is that function of event management that can keep in touch with the event’s
participants and visitors, read their needs and motivations, develop products that meet their
needs, and build a communication programme which expresses the event’s purpose and
objectives
▪Event marketing is about reaching the target audience who would be interested in attending the
event, ensuring they know when it is, what it is, how much it is, how long it lasts, and getting
them to tell others they may be connected to and who would be interested.
5
What is customer value?
▪Value is not what goes into goods and services, it is what customers get out
of them; in other words, value emerges in the customers’ space rather than
in the producer’s space (Vandermerwe, 1996)
▪Value is not created in the supplier’s processes of designing, manufacturing,
packaging and pricing products but in the customer’s practices
▪Customer value is the outcome of a process that begins with a business
strategy anchored in a deep understanding of customer needs.
▪Marketers should satisfy all the customer touch-points in marketing
6
7
Self transcendental
Solo participant
What do they satisfy?
8
Experiential marketing for value creation in events
▪Consumer is not just a passive receiver of the product
▪Companies now need to market not just their products/services,
but also to offer the consumer an experience.
▪Experiential marketing assumes that the consumer is not solely a
rational decision maker concerned with just functional features
and benefits, but also is an emotional being who is also concerned
with pleasurable experiences
▪Characteristics of experiential marketing:
▪ Focus on customer experiences.
▪ Consumption as a holistic experience, so a broader measurement given
to products.
▪ Customers can be both rational and emotional.
▪ Methods and tools are eclectic (heterogeneous).
9
Immersive experience
10
Creating immersive experience through events
•Capture social media moments: encourage attendees to
share their photos and videos
•Creative scenic designs (e.g. cozy backyards, transition from
day to night, creative stages)
•Encourage direct participation of attendees (e.g. braindate)
•Provide life time experience for attendees (e.g. MCH Global)
11
What is a customer touchpoint?
▪Any interaction (including encounters where there is no physical
interaction) that might alter the way that your customer feels about
your product, brand, business or service
▪Touchpoints should provide the following interactions:
▪ Appropriate: both the context of the interaction and the cultural tone of the
interaction meet the needs of the customer or user
▪ Relevant: the function performed by the interaction meets the utility
requirements of the customer or user
▪ Meaningful: the interaction was perceived as important or purposeful by
the customer or user
▪ Endearing: the interaction created some form of bond with the user or
customer for example through desirability, creating delight or a playful tone
12
Event blueprint
Physical evidence Advertisement, parking, lobby, building, food, billing
Arrival, check-in, attending activity, eating, interacting,
Customer action
check-out
Visible contact Greeting, registration, directing, serving food, process
employee action check-out
Invisible contact
Back-stage operations
employee action
Registration system, IT system, food preparation, crowd
Support services
management
13
Marketing during the event planning:
1. Crowdsourcing the event
▪Event attendees can be a goldmine of great
marketing material
▪Request past attendees to post pictures or
videos of the event (with the event’s hashtag)
▪Nothing is more credible than memories of your
event coming from real guests
▪For first time events:
▪ Initiate a competition where potential guests get to
submit pictures and videos on a topic connected to the
event and tag them with the event’s hashtag
▪ Winners can get free tickets, vouchers, discounts or
some other freebies
14
Marketing during the event planning:
2. Embracing the social media
▪Attendees spend more time on social media
5 questions to answer in using
▪Social media should be adapted to the event’s social media for event planning
competitive advantage
▪Limit the event to a few key channels rather than
trying to be everywhere and spreading the event too
thin
▪Identify the audience preferred social media
▪The way to use each social channel is different
15
How to use different social channels for event planning?
Place for the event’s main profile, share detailed updates,
add a “Find tickets” link, interact with the audience
Good for quick and real-time updates both before and
during the event, best place to use the hashtag
Event target audience should be professionals, audience is
interested in specific topics
Good for sharing images of teaser campaigns, photos of past
attendees, share behind-the-scenes shots (e.g. preparations)
16
Marketing during the event planning:
3. Develop a compelling event description
▪Provide the topic, time, place and who should attend
▪The description should include specific benefits for each type of attendee.
▪Make it brief and scan-able.
▪Use third-party endorsements when possible, such as a quote from a previous
event.
▪Develop the event image (event logo, a picture of a room full of people, genuine
smiling faces of attendees)
▪Create event-related videos
▪Include social proof of previous events and credentials for the previous speakers
17
Marketing during the event planning:
3. Develop a compelling event description contd.
▪Event description needs to develop a
value proposition for the event
▪What is an event value proposition?
▪ Value proposition is a promise of value to
be delivered, communicated and
acknowledged through the event
▪ Why the people should attend the event?
18
Event value proposition: An example
Connect Inspire Succeed
• Expand or get inside the • Get inspired by local high • Learn from peers and
professional network performers in all seniors
• Access to the local professions • Make right career moves
corporate decision makers • Access to global high based on
for jobs performing professionals recommendations
• Socialize with like-minded • Build mentoring • Identify potential future
people to build long relationships opportunities
lasting friendships
19
Inbound and account-based marketing for events
With artificial intelligence event marketers can
use big data to analyze attendees behavior and
create personalized content and offers
Companies have a deep understanding of
customer's preferences and behaviors to provide
highly personalized and relevant user experience
Enhance the content marketing to attract
effective prospects, develop relationships, and
enhance customer retention
20
Account-based marketing (ABM) for events
▪ABM centers around the idea of targeting a specific
list of key accounts (attendees) whose needs
perfectly fit event offering and thus add most value
to the company.
▪The campaigns for each of these account are then
personalized to ensure maximum engagement.
▪ABM is specifically designed to directly address the
attendee’s needs, which in turn results in valuable
long-term partnerships.
▪ABM encourages the event marketer to be more
efficient as opposed to lead generation strategies
▪ABM facilitates strong lifetime customer value (LCV)
for the event
21
Marketing school of thought
Marketing 1.0: Product centric
Marketing 2.0: Customer centric
Marketing 3.0: Human centric
Marketing 4.0: Traditional to Digital
Marketing 5.0: Technology for Humanity
22
Events and Marketing 5.0
• Use of technology to create,
communicate, deliver and enhance
value throughout customer journey
• Mainstream technologies: AI, NLP,
robotics, AR, VR, IoT and block
chain
• Leverage a balance between
technology and human
23
Events and Marketing 5.0 contd.
Data driven marketing Agile marketing Predictive marketing
• Analyze big data from • Use of cross functional • Predict the outcomes
multiple sources teams in visualizing, prior to the event (e.g.
(internal and external) developing and attendee behavior and
• Build a data ecosystem implementing the profile)
within the organization event • Useful for segmenting
• Optimize event • Undertake continuous the audience
decisions (e.g. event adaptations based on • Personalization of
theme for next time) feedback and situations event experience
• Testing new ideas in • Enhance audience
events engagement level
24
Events and Marketing 5.0 contd.
Contextual marketing Augmented marketing
• Identify and profile the attendees • Use technology (mainly immersive
• Deliver a personalized content to the technologies) to enhance
attendee (e.g. networking productivity and engagement
opportunities) • Encourage attendees to visualize
• Deliver real-time information their own behavior
• Adjust the marketing message based • Enhance interactive experience for
on real-time data the attendee
• Obtain real-time feedback • Improve the event’s brand recall and
loyalty
25
Summary
▪Core aspects of marketing
▪Event marketing
▪Customer value creation in events
▪Customer touch points and event blueprint
▪Marketing during the event planning
▪Inbound and account-based marketing for events
▪Values-based marketing model for events
26
