The role of events
Most of the sales and marketing events will leave a large enough dent in the budget. In addition to costs, hours and efforts needed to place successful events together. So, how does someone achieve a return on this big investment? Let’s start by talking a little about the event and how to use it to encourage income.
What is the event?
For this article, what we call the event is a kind of sales or marketing pitch served to a group of prospective customers. These events are held at certain times and locations, both personally, streaming, or both. Various formats for marketing events include: seminars, webinars, video conferencing, oral lectures or trade shows.
Event costs
This kind of event can be an expensive way for prospects for potential customers; If this is the main goal, marketing events can produce less profitable results. The cost per participant from this event can run between hundreds and thousands of dollars. So, if the prospect is the main goal to accommodate the event, you might want to take advantage of the event costs with other forms of marketing communication, such as direct mail, email, and telephone marketing. Or, you can take advantage of another event by becoming a speaker at a business event, trade show, or industrial conference. You must be responsible for producing your handouts and presentations, but may be able to produce lead in this way at a fraction of the cost.
Move the prospect that is known together
If you are brave enough to request prospects you don’t know for a half-day event or a full day, you might also be the type that asks for the first date if they want to go with you for the weekend – usually this kind of activity is more appropriate after you become more familiar with each other. This is why events make great vehicles to move prospects known in the sales cycle. With ‘known’ I mean they are those who have tried to respond to mail-out letters, white paper, or ways to guide. In short, they have revealed some initial interest. However, where this good prospect is in the purchase cycle can notify us a lot about the most suitable type of event.
CentralStage – for those who are in medium events, low commitments such as executive breakfast, study lunch, or webinar accordingly. Maintain time running under one hour for better retention during the event, and make sure to offer any participants they can use in their careers. Although prospecting in this way is expensive, this mini event can effectively speak with a series of new prospects after the primary seat has been filled with your hottest tin. Consider the use of your upcoming webinar as other offers in your marketing campaign efforts. Also, remember to provide press releases or lists in the local newspaper calendar.
HOT prospects – those who have shown that they are interested are usually closer to making purchasing decisions. Design events for those who provide a level of detail that they must please continue with the final decision. Product demonstrations, or more good technical seminars for this follow-up stage. Now after you are interested, it’s time to show the comparison of costs and resources, features and new benefits offered by your solution. They want to know how it feels to be one of your customers, before. Testimonials from clients and case studies are very good for this stage.
The point is – events are an expensive and risky way to develop sales prospects, especially for business with a limited marketing budget. However, instead of seeing these events only as marketing costs to achieve prospects, consider it as a way to move prospects together well. Create a middle-centered buyer’s presentation, even though it’s informative. Maintain broad technical information for those who have shown their interests and only need to really see it in action to make a decision. In doing this, you can save a few
