Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Measurement Tip 8

Understanding The Critical Success Factors for Event ROI

1) The right participants, 2) the right messages and 3) the right action are the three essential elements of any successful marketing event. Getting these right will deliver a positive return on your event investment and provide you with results you can measure.

I often spend time with clients discussing "Three Critical Success Factors" essential for trade show return on investment. The three elements of a trade show and event marketing program must be accomplished in order to achieve strong results.

1. You must attract enough of the right people to your exhibit or event (i.e. those individuals who can actually benefit your business)- It is essential to identify, by company and title, if not name, everyone at an upcoming event who can improve your results. Next, contact and arrange per-scheduled, face- to- face meetings with these targeted individuals to discuss mutually beneficial approaches to dealing with market opportunities. Attract and "detail" targeted individuals who visit your stand. If you are able to accomplish the equivalent of an important sales call with targeted individuals in your booth, you will reduce your cost of sale. Broaden your idea of a "target" to include suppliers and alliances. Interactions with these targets reduce the cost of materials or logistics and contribute directly to the survival of the business.
The key measure is the number of engagements and meetings with high-value contacts at your event.

2. You must deliver compelling messages that motivate them to act- You must deliver compelling messages that motivate your participants to act. Your messages should be persuasive. Participants must “feel” that taking the next step with your company is the right thing to do. The key measures are the research into perceptions and recall of key messages and the number of participants who commit to a follow-up.

3. You must obtain actions from the participants that tie directly to profit improvement for your company (either an increase in revenue or reduction in cost) - You must have a specific outcome (step in the sales funnel) in mind for these targets and they must embrace it. Remember it is usually what happens after the event that delivers payback. So, your post-event plan is just as important as the event plan. Keeping all of these targets continuously engaged in a communal relationship with your company is essential.
The key measure is the number of visitors who participate in the designated next step.

The short, easy way to remember the critical success factors for an effective event goes like this:

The right people

The right messages

The right actions

If you miss any one of the three, you are not likely to justify your investment in the event. As you can tell, they must be executed somewhat in order. That is why pre-event and post-event activities are at least as important as event execution.

These ROI related success factors were developed from years of working with clients to create a solid bridge between sales and marketing. They are the core of an event measurement and return on investment philosophy. Of course, many other things must also go well for a successful result.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Measurement Tip 7

Use the Payback Ratio to Report and Compare the Value of Your Events

A great tool for conveying the value of your marketing events is the payback ratio. This is the ratio of the total value of estimated revenue, cost savings and promotion value gained through event activity, divided by the event cost. It is expressed as $ Total Value/$ Event Cost, for example $.42/1. The payback ratio serves not only as an indicator of event efficiency, but also as a useful way to compare past, current and future events.

The payback ratio is based upon estimates of the four main categories of value derived from marketing events:

1. Revenue (or gross profit margin) from the Sales Opportunities Afforded by the Event – This element of event value is cited most often, yet difficult to document. Often, many people are involved in many steps required to close a sale. And, the sales cycle may span years. It is possible to estimate probable revenue impact using internal assumptions, such as a “close ratio” associated with well-qualified event leads and an “average value of sale” for sales from those leads. The best approach is to discuss these assumptions with your sales team and get their agreement. It is also best to have the sales team define the “next step” expected of people who become leads through interactions at an event. Use “closed loop” systems such as sales automation, warranties, registrations and other types of tracking aids where available.

2. Retention and Growth of Current Revenue Base - Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is critical for virtually all organizations. Existing customers and their revenue are the usually the most profitable. I have companies criticized for devoting event marketing resources to interaction with existing customers, yet I would suggest this is one of the most valuable elements of a profitable event. Keeping customers up to date, reassuring them that their needs will be met, and thanking them for their business has a direct and measurable impact on retention and profitability.

Just as most companies have a recognized cost of sale, there may be a recognized cost of CRM. A significant percentage of that cost/ value may be accomplished through event activity. For example, a company might spend 5 or 10% of account revenue on customer service/ retention activity. For example, your company might estimate the value of an executive customer dinner held during an industry event,at 1% of your overall CRM effort for those customers for the year. The value estimate would be $.001/ dollar of existing revenue among customers seen at the event. This may not sound like much until you consider that these revenue numbers can be in the hundreds of millions dollars for a large company. For smaller companies, the impact of such an event is likely to be a much higher percentage of the overall CRM effort. Sometimes these event based “customer events” are the major CRM activity for the year, so a range of 20% or more may be reasonable.

Accomplishment of CRM goals is valuable for companies large and small and contributes to event value. Discuss how your company might determine a value of CRM activity accomplished at marketing events. Don’t forget to take credit for the cost savings made possible by using the event as a time and place opportunity.

3. Cost Savings/ Avoidance- Substantial cost savings and expense avoidance may be achieved through trade show activity. Events present “one on many” and "many on many” opportunities. This element of value is the most tangible and traceable source of ROI on an event. Large numbers of people in your "market universe" may be gathered in one place, thinking about the same concentrated range of topics. Prospects, customers, suppliers, allies, analysts, press, executives, sales, product management and marketing are all at a single event, usually at their own expense. The number and types of potential interactions are huge. Your event plan should have specific tactics to maximize the time, place and focus opportunity made possible by the event.

Be sure your activities at your next event are aimed not only at the income side of the profit equation, but the cost side as well. To make these benefits happen requires dialogue with those managers who can take advantage of the opportunity your event provides. They may also help you estimate the value of doing multiple things at an event instead of doing them one at a time in the future at additional expense.

Reporting these results in your event measurement report will add credibility and financial justification for your investment beyond the primary goal of increasing sales.

4. Promotion Value – This is often the least reported source of ROI, but promotion value at a marketing event provides real, identifiable value. Promotion value may be calculated using “ad equivalency” values, which are derived from what an equivalent advertising cost to accomplish a similar promotional impact would be.

It is less popular today to use “Ad Equivalency” values, although I believe it is undeniable that exposure through an event has at least the same value as that derived from paid advertising. However, it is still useful to report promotion value in terms of total impressions made at marketing events and to make comparisons with the exposure of your company versus that of your competitors. “Gross Impressions” are those that fall on the eyes and ears of anyone. “Targeted Impressions” are those that fall on the eyes and ears of those who fit your target profile. The total impressions are the sum of all gross and targeted impressions made as a result of show budgeted activity. These actives often include promotion activities in direct marketing, media, show exposure and exhibit exposure.

Discuss how you might value the exposure generated for your company with those responsible for corporate communications, advertising and PR.

Once you have identified and estimated values for some or all of the four elements of value, add them up and divide them by your event cost. The result is a useful index of event profitability or return on investment.

Using the payback ratio as an index is a great way to convey the value of your marketing events. The payback ratio provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of events and often times helps to more easily facilitate a discussion with executives. Remember to use the payback ratio as a simple measure of success for your event marketing program.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Measurement Tip 6

"Sales Opportunities" Are an Effective Measure of Marketing Success - and May Help You Ease the Gap Between Sales and Marketing

I have often said that the sales team is the primary customer of the marketing team. The marketing function is primarily focused on creating sales opportunities and improving the probability of sale for the company. This is for good reason. In most companies the pressure for sales results is constant. The entire financial strategy for a company begins and ends with the sales forecast and sales results. That is why so many companies put such a heavy emphasis on leads, using the number of leads as the primary measure for trade show success.

For those reasons, most companies would like to correlate actual sales results with event marketing activity. This is possible for some, but impractical for many. Some companies take orders on the show floor. That situation is easier, the measure of success is the total value of the orders written. For many others, sales occur long after the event is over, and often through one of more layers of channels, making it difficult if not impossible to track. Add to that, a multi-year sales cycle. In the defense industry the sales cycle may be a decade or longer from initial engagement to sale. Also, converting a lead to a sale often requires significant participation by the sales team, presenting the question of how much of the eventual sales value is attributable to having made the initial contact and engagement with a prospect at a trade show?

Of course there is a lot more to be gained at trade events beyond generating leads, however for this discussion we will keep the focus on the link between marketing and sales. At worst this link is perceived as a disconnect. At best, marketing is seen to have a direct influence on the level of sales. For example, a call center might be known as a marketing function, but if they write orders they are a sales function. Therefore, it is worth considering if a trade show effort should be evaluated on the ability to generate bona fide sales opportunities for nurturing and closing by the sales team.

The most basic question that must be answered by the sales team is, "What do we want a qualified visitor to do as a result of engaging with us at an upcoming show?". The answer must be a specific step that is feasible and will involve a targeted individual more deeply in the normal sales cycle and to a point where the certainty of a sale can be estimated. So, it follows that the simplest measure of success might be how many real sales opportunities were generated by activity at this event.

To go a step further, we can place an estimated value upon the sales opportunities generated by gathering some additional input from the sales team. To estimate the value of the sales opportunities (aka leads counts) you will need to know two things:

1) What is the estimated percentage of your committed leads (i.e. people who interact with your staff and make a commitment to a specific follow-up action such as a sales visit) that eventually result in a sale? This may be known internally as the "close ratio" or something similar. Ask sales for this number, and remember it will only apply to real leads that represent a targeted individual who actually takes the next step you specified.

2) What is the average value of a sale that results from a committed lead/visitor from this show? Again, the provider of this information is the sales team. They will also explain how they prefer to view this value. Valuation perspectives might include initial contract value, annual value or a continuous service, lifetime value, etc. Service businesses may use the value of revenue over a period such as a year or more.

In planning for next year’s event cycle, take time to make an appointment with the sales team and jointly define the measures of success for your event marketing program.Effective targeting and attraction are prerequisites to an effective sales activity. These are within the domain of marketing. Engagement is the activity that begins to span the marketing and sales functions. Engagement should result in moving well-targeted individuals directly into an important step in the sales cycle for a company. Prospects reached through marketing activity must commit to a step (action) that the sales people agree is an important step in their process. If this agreement is reached, the proverbial gap between marketing and sales will be erased.

To summarize, here are few suggestions: 1) keep to emphasis on selling. 2) focus your marketing activity on two things a)defining and finding targets and b)engaging and interacting with them in a fashion that results in participation in a specific action that your sales team has defined as the next step. Then, count your success by the number of sales opportunities generated and assess the value of your investment using the estimated value of those opportunities.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Measurement Tip 5

Customer and Prospect Feedback May Be Most Important to Your Marketing Events

Although ROI and efficiency measurements are important, customer feedback on the value and effectiveness of your events may be the most valuable information you can get.

Events are communication and engagement tools with the goal of gaining specific, desirable behavior from participants. This behavior only occurs if participants are persuaded and motivated to act. To know how well your event marketing program accomplishes these goals and how you might change future events to be more effective requires insight through the eyes of your customer.

As a reminder, there are three critical success factors for a marketing event:

1) You must attract enough of the right people to participate in your program, i.e. those who can act in a beneficial manner
2) You must give participants information and an experience that is persuasive and conclusive
3) You must gain their commitment to act in a manner that benefits your company and accomplishes your goals.

Therefore, the following categories of information are essential for understanding how well your program performs on these critical accomplishments:

• Who are they (demographics of your visitor base as compared to the event base)?
• Why did the participants come?
• What did they learn as a result of visiting your exhibit or event (…if anything, and
what was most valuable to their future plans)?
• What do participants plan to do as a result of their visit (specifically will they take the
steps you have specified necessary to achieve results)?

There are several ways to collect this information. There are advantages and disadvantages for each method. In some cases, a mix of research techniques provides the best results.

On-site survey techniques, such as random visitor intercept surveys, allow for participant profiling, immediate feedback on the visitor's experience and prediction of post event behavior, such as purchase intent. On-site research provides actionable information regarding how well your exhibit is organized, how to arrange and manage customer flow and the effectiveness of your message hierarchy. Visitor tracking within your exhibit or event is also possible through a number of technologies.

Post- event survey techniques can provide validation of customer behavior. Did the visitor receive a follow-up or progress through the next steps of your program? What specifically did they do? What did they buy and from whom? Was their exhibit or event visit a factor in their buying decision, etc? Post-event surveys are also good for testing your event's impact on brand awareness and retention of specific product marketing messages.

On a grander scale, you can reach out to your entire leads universe quarterly or annually to validate the effectiveness of follow-up by your company and to create a projection of actual purchasing results including an estimated amount of sales. You can perform statistical analysis on your program data to see which factors most influenced customers who bought or identify those who were satisfied or dissatisfied with their experience with your company.

ROI and efficiency measures are important, however making the right changes in future events is much easier when you have good customer feedback. Decide which survey techniques will work best to validate and improve your results in the business development and communication objectives for associated with your program.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Increasing Quality of Leads and Eventual Results at Trade Shows and Events

The following was my response to the question, "What's everyone doing about the POOR lead follow-up problem. Industry statistics indicate that LESS than 20% of leads ever get followed-up. Are YOU in that ball park?" in the Trade Show Help forum on LinkedIn:

This is an important topic! One way to increase quality of leads and eventual results (including the follow-up ratio) is to get participants to commit to a specific "next step" (best defined by sales). Too often, there is no "next step" defined and correspondingly there is no commitment by anyone for a specific follow- up.

An effective next step can be either human contact or automated interaction that moves the participant closer to a sale. For example, consider a qualified visitor at a construction show who completes a "test drive" in a heavy equipment simulator. That experience must ultimately result in a visit to a dealer, as they are the only ones who can actually sell equipment. The immediate "next step" however may be to get the prospect to sign up for the associated "concierge program" for test drive participants. This package (web based) steers the prospect to the dealer with motivating benefits in hand such as a discount, preferred financing and/or free optional equipment, etc. Getting the prospect to enter the program is the next step at the event. Tracking "goal conversions" identified with each step the prospect takes once enrolled provides the results tracking.

Whatever the next step for your business or product is should be a step in your sales cycle. Visitors who are signed up for the next step are much more certain to receive follow-up.

This is one example among many. What I have found is the concept of commitment (agreement) is central to the certainty of follow-up.

What are you thoughts on ways to improve lead quality and ensure effective follow-up? Email me edjones@constellaitoncc.com me if you would like to discuss.


Ed Jones

Friday, September 2, 2011

Measurement Tip #4

Trade Shows can be about more than leads and sales. Cost savings tactics such as negotiating with new suppliers, reducing travel, recruitment and generating press all lower the cost of doing business for your company. Reducing cost makes a dollar for dollar impact on profitability. Measure and report the savings as an element of event ROI.

Most events offer many ways to save your company money. Events present “one-on-many” opportunities that are especially effective in reducing sales call costs and travel expense to hold meetings in the future. The reason is hundreds, if not thousands of people who can influence the amount or cost of doing business for your company have paid their own way to be at the event and are available to meet with you. These people include existing customers, potential buyers, suppliers, partners, channels, influencers and many others.

One of our clients hosted over 1,000 meetings that included their own executives and sales teams with customers, channel partners, strategic alliances, technical experts, standards body members, investors and industry press and analysts at their largest trade show. Each meeting they held resulted in the elimination of future time and travel expense to hold that same meeting at the company’s expense in the future. This client was able to report a savings estimate of more than $1,000,000, representing enough return to justify the entire show budget without any estimate of eventual sales impact.

Reducing the number of required field sales contacts and associated cost presents another opportunity for savings. A well-executed event plan accomplishes the same objectives with targeted prospects that would occur in the first few field sales calls. A well-executed program may eliminate up to two or more sales calls in the field required to close a sale. Typically, these calls cost a company from $400 to $1,000 or more dollars each.

There are more ways to impact the cost of doing business that can be listed here. For example, many clients use marketing events as recruitment opportunities thereby reducing the cost of finding suitable candidates and bringing candidates to HQ for an interview. This is also true for supplier and channel recruitment.

The activities at your next event should be aimed not only at the income side of the profit equation, but the cost side as well. Of course to make these benefits happen requires that you initiate a dialogue with those internal managers who can take advantage of the opportunity your event provides. They can also help you estimate the value associated with doing multiple things at an event instead of doing them one at a time.

Reporting these results in your event measurement report will add credibility and financial justification for your investment beyond the primary goal of increasing sales.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Measurement Tip #3

To determine marketing success, you should identify and report these exhibit metrics: 1) who visited, 2) why they came, 3) what they learned and 4) what your visitors plan to do as a result of their visit.

Although many think of an exhibition as a place to put a number of products and services on display to a large number of people, the real value comes from making contact with individuals who are qualified to do business with your company. These people may be prospects, customers, suppliers or other participants in the profit equation of your business. Therefore, in order to identify and justify the value of an event marketing activity, it is essential to know and report who visited your venue and what outcomes are expected as a result of their experience. Marketing exists to create sales opportunities and to increase the probability of sale. In order to create sales opportunities, your program must target specific individuals and persuade them to act in a manner that benefits your company.

To understand the effectiveness of your marketing program it is important to know why participants came to visit and what they learned during their stay. This informs you regarding the effectiveness of your targeting and attraction campaigns and identifies the elements of the event experience that were most successful and likely to influence a visitor’s decision to act on your behalf.

The answers to the four questions listed above can be determined in a variety of ways. A common practice is to conduct live, post-visit intercept surveys. They help you understand how well you connected with your target audience. Intercept surveys provide accurate demographic profiling of visitors to your exhibit or event. This includes targeting criteria such as industry affiliation, company type, company size, individual responsibility, job title, buying readiness, and purchase intent. Post-visit intercept surveys also identify what the participants learned (if anything) and most importantly what they intend to do as a result of their visit. This data can even provide a forecast of expected sales driven from the participant’s view.

More sophisticated measures are possible using post-event survey techniques that pull from the entire event audience which includes those who visited your exhibit or event as a subset. You can identify changes in purchase intent, brand preference, brand fit and Net Promoter* scores for example. These metrics help you understand a lot more about the effectiveness of your marketing activity in creating positive change in perceptions among your target markets that result in an increased probability of sale.

Another method is to utilize technologies such as localized scanning techniques that provide real-time visitor identification and tracking of their movement. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for example, can provide real-time activity reports on session attendance, time on the show floor, and in-booth activity by product interest and for post-event analysis.

Understanding what your visitors plan to do as a result of their visit is one of the most crucial elements. A qualified lead should be committed to take a pre-determined action that sales has defined as a step in the company’s sales cycle. A tight definition of a qualified lead will provide a strong metric regarding generation of sales opportunity.

There are many metrics that are important to exhibit and event managers. As far as ROI is concerned, determining who came, the persuasiveness of their experience and their intent to act provide the clearest measures of effectiveness.

*Net Promoter Score is a registered trademark of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld

Friday, July 15, 2011

Assessing and Managing The Agency Relationship Between A Supplier and Client

I am frequently asked by exhibit and event companies how they can strengthen and retain their customer relationships and reduce turnover. Even though agency relationship evaluation is not yet common in the events industry, measuring the effectiveness and strength of this relationship can lead to better results, lower costs and long term, mutually beneficial partnerships.

The relationship between a client and their event marketing agency has a lot to do with the level of results obtained as well as the ease, effectiveness and cost of obtaining them. Thus, evaluating agency relationships is common practice in the advertising and PR worlds. Applying a similar methodology to event marketing agencies provides a good basis for evaluation of the working relationship.

There are two types of variables that serve as agency evaluation metrics:

1. Performance Variables

These variables include such considerations as overall effectiveness, production, financial management, creative, etc. The client is asked to evaluate their agency on those aspects of support using a suggested rating scale. The client is also asked to provide an explanation of each variable as the basis for discussion and improvement.

2. Values Variables

Common values are essential to a good relationship. Value variables include elements such as the agency’s discipline (how strong are they in meeting deadlines, being present at meetings, etc.) and their resourcefulness (do they think strategically for example?). Another example might be shared responsibility. The client is also asked to rate the value variables on a similar scale and provide an explanation of each variable as the basis for discussion and improvement.

Once the variables have been established, it is essential to implement the agency evaluation as part of the overall event marketing measurement program. Relationship measurement should be supplemental to measurement of accomplishments and results. If results are less than satisfactory, the immediate focus should be on identifying and correcting factors that will produce better results from the next event. Sometimes immediate performance issues degrade into ad-hoc evaluation of the relationship, neither solving the immediate problem nor objectively diagnosing the relationship issues. If relationship measurement is structured and scheduled as a regular activity, for example quarterly, this tendency is reduced.

On a more advanced level, evaluations are completed by the agency as well, providing analysis of both sides of the relationship. Relationship variables with the largest rating gaps reveal the likely causes behind problems or friction among the team members. Changes are made that alleviate problems and progress is tracked by reporting improvement from period to period.

Although agency evaluation may be new to our world, it should be given strong consideration as an aid to increased customer satisfaction, lower turnover and greater job satisfaction for everyone. We are working on bringing this capability to the events industry. Please comment and let us know your thoughts or suggest elements of performance and values that apply to event marketing agency relationships.

For more information or to discuss this concept as a means to improve your Event Marketing program, please contact us at +1 (770) 391-0015 or heatherdeloach@constellationcc.com.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Measurement Tip # 2

Gather and share information that will satisfy your internal customer - Sales.

(This is the second in a series of articles for the MC2 eConnections Newsletter)

The sales team is the internal customer of the marketing function. Marketing is employed to generate sales opportunities and to increase the probability of sales. These same objectives apply to a marketing event. So, what information can you supply that will be valuable for the sales team?

Beginning with the planning phase, define for the sales team who is “addressable” at the upcoming event. The correct strategy, messaging, products and content can be determined by knowing the target audience available at a marketing event. This information is valuable in choosing which products to feature and even which sales team members will participate. You might also identify who among your existing customers are likely to attend. This information is often available from the event organizer and from your own measurement records from the last event cycle.

Second, give the sales team a forecast of how many participants are expected at your booth or event along with their demographics. Suggest that the sales team use this information to determine which demonstrations and other experiences to include. Forecast the number of expected engagements and estimate the number of committed leads that should result. From there the sales team can help you estimate the “sales opportunity” value for the event.

You should not only give information to the sales team, but you should also seek it. Ask the sales team to define the steps that an interested, targeted visitor should be asked to take. This will become your definition of a qualified lead, i.e. someone who is committed to take those steps with your company.

Finally, report the actual attendance at your event in the same way you defined the forecast. Who visited? Define your visitors by the following:

• Industry
• Company type,
• Relationship to your company (such as customer, prospect, supplier, partner, etc.)
• Company size
• Titles
• Level of decision authority individual contact information

This information comes from your scans or leads documentation and may also be supplemented by an exit survey of visitors who have completed their experience.

Of course, the golden ticket for the sales team is complete documentation of well qualified leads. Work with sales to determine how much information is really required to support an effective follow-up. Requiring too much information will clog the process and dissuade prospects from participating in documenting the lead. Too little information makes it less likely that sales will want to follow-up.

You want to confirm the specifics of the follow-up step with the visitor before you pass this information on to sales. Clarify the following:

• “Who”- As in the visitors name and organization
-Remember to get accurate contact information

• “What”-As in the nature of the follow-up expected
• “When”- What is the mutually agreeable time frame for the follow-up

Your lead system should have a place for all of these data points. By keeping this data in a common database, you can analyze and report how well your events have provided the sales team with access to qualified targets over the year.

Your personal influence will increase considerably if you are seen as a manager who can deliver a well-targeted audience at your events. A good measurement program shows you how to improve upon your accomplishments in every category. I hope you tune in each month as we expand on the knowledge and skills to justify and improve your events and elevate your status in the organization.

Please contact me if you have questions or ideas you would like to share at edjones@constellationcc.com, or call 770-391-0015.

Ed

Monday, June 20, 2011

Helping Exhibit Managers Find High Value Improvement Opportunities

The Constellation team was invited to develop a workshop on improvement in trade show and exhibit marketing programs for a meeting of the GA TSEA chapter. Our approach was to use our “self-assessment” tool with chapter members and present the results and recommendations at the meeting.

The Constellation Marketing Self-Assessment asks a series of very specific questions related to event marketing best practices. We took the opportunity to update our questionnaire to include questions facing the event marketing industry today, such as effective use of social and digital media. The areas addressed included: Target Marketing, Message Development, Exhibit/Event Effectiveness, Promotion Value and ROI Measurement and Continuous Improvement.

We sent a series of emails to chapter participants encouraging them to complete their self-assessment. Upon completion they received a print-out of their results, showing their individual areas of strength (best practices) and opportunities for improvement. Participants were encouraged to bring copies of their results to the chapter meeting for discussion.

Our team tabulated the results of the group to identify the areas of common strengths and improvement needs. The most consistently identified need was to address the disconnect between the sales and event marketing teams regarding event strategy, tactics and leads.

Once the group understood where they could improve, they wanted to know how to improve and they resolved to use their identified common needs for improvement to determine agendas for future chapter meetings. For example, the lack of effective communication between sales and marketing teams topic led to an idea for a panel comprised of sales managers and marketing managers. The panel would serve to find out how to create a synergy between sales and marketing to effectively achieve successful events and ultimately achieve organizational objectives.

Our study of membership needs was enlightening. We use this same tool to identify likely improvement needs with new clients. You can take this self -assessment of event marketing effectiveness yourself at no cost and without obligation. Just follow this link, complete the assessment and you will be able to print a list of your most valuable improvement opportunities. You might want to use these questions as the basis for internal discussions with your colleagues or management, or as the basis for a team meeting. Asking the right questions of the right people is one of the most effective research techniques an event manager or consultant can utilize.

Call us at +1 (770) 391-0015 to discuss ideas about how to get your team and management on the right path for effective trade show and event marketing.
Visit our website www.constellationcc.com for valuable case studies and tips on improving your event marketing program.

Heather Deloach
Project Coordinator
heatherdeloach@constellationcc.com

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Measurement Tip # 1

Be regarded as a manager of the business as well as a manager of trade shows and events.

(This is the first in a series of articles for the MC2 eConnections Newsletter)

Your career opportunities expand rapidly if you are seen as a manager who affects the profitability of the organization and not just your own budget. The best way to do this is to relate the accomplishments you measure to the basic business profit equation.

Revenue – Expense = Profit

In fact, the following two simple concepts will be the underlying basis for this entire series of tips and articles:

1) Your success as an event marketing manager
2) Relating accomplishments to business profitability

So let’s get started. . .

Revenue related accomplishments in a marketing context are usually related to sales. Generating new sales through interactions and resulting leads with potential buyers is the most obvious. Not so obvious, is protecting and growing the revenue you already have through your existing customers. Your event plans should address both.

Expense related accomplishments in an event marketing context are virtually unlimited. Expense reductions (aka cost savings) impact profitability dollar for dollar. When you have your company CEO meet with thirty customers and prospects over three days at a major event, consider the savings to your company.

Would a trip for the CEO to meet with those same customers individually cost $10,000 or more?

If you use the media center at a big show to accomplish a major announcement or product launch, how much is saved compared to doing it independently?

When you reduce the number of sales calls from five to two for qualified visitors reached through your shows, what is the impact on sales expense?

When you develop new digital graphics, video, web pages and social media for a major show, how many times will those assets be reused in the future and for how many purposes?

The examples are endless. Expense reductions are the greatest and most varied opportunities available to you as an event marketing manager. Expense related accomplishments should be a part of every show plan.

Other measures will be discussed in this series as well. Cost efficiencies, such as Cost per Visitor, exhibit efficiencies such as Number of Visitors, communications efficiencies such as Number of Impressions, and even measures on the overall show or event such as Traffic Density.

A good measurement program will show if your events are paying off for the business and if they are being managed for optimum efficiency. Measurement will also show you how to improve your accomplishments in both categories. I hope you tune in each month as we expand on the knowledge and skills to justify and improve your events and elevate your status in the organization.

If you have any questions related to event measurement please call us at 770.391.0015

Ed

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Academics of Experiential Marketing

Here are the academics of experiential marketing for those of you who are interested. I have thirty plus years in trade show and event strategy, planning, measurement and ROI (my ethos).

Experiential marketing is highly effective communication, designed to elicit a response and a behavioral result from the receiver. It is therefore, by definition persuasive. Persuasive speech (including writing) is founded in three forms of rhetoric or persuasive proof: (this is the very condensed version and these to some degree follow one another.)

Aristotle's "On Rhetoric" described experiential marketing 2,400 years ago.
"Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated." The three components are as follows:

1) "Ethos" is an appeal based on credibility of the speaker. This is heavily intertwined with brand.

2) "Logos" is an appeal based on logic or reason. Our presentations, demonstrations, sales collateral, web content should all be driven by logic, i.e. leading the viewer to a logical conclusion(this is a study in and of itself).

3) "Pathos" is where the emotions come into play. Pathos is appeal based on emotional response. Much advertising is emotionally oriented. Admiring or wanting to be like the celebrity who wears the cool watch for example.

For our purposes here EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING is about helping the prospect come to and through the emotional decision to act, because they "feel right about it." That can come from interacting with the product, feeling good about the personal interactions with the staff or sales team, feeling lower risk due to confidence in your credibility and logic. "Trial" is the ultimate risk reducer and emotional compliment. Testimonial is a form of vicarious trial. Great design and proper mood also facilitate these transitions.

Our tools in the exhibit and events world are: (not intended to be a complete list)

• Visual Communication and Information Structure: How concepts are presented. Message hierarchy for example (another great course and topic)
• Color: Color is quite capable of influencing psychology. Contrast is important for establishing priorities.
• Sound: Music is a powerful mood changer.
• Graphics: A picture speaks a thousand words.
• Interactive Experiences: Graphics on steroids, that can be presented in a customer contextual perspective and engage the participant.
• Human Communication and Interaction: Very helpful in sealing the deal.

This topic is a very rich opportunity to use communication and experience to maximum advantage. It personally excites me. Weak messaging is one of the top inhibitors in trade show and event marketing. If you are interested in more detail, I am available to teach seminars on effective event communication. Contact me though the Constellation Communication Corporation website www.constellationcc.com

Ed Jones
Constellation Communication Corp.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Executive Availability – Key Asset for Marketing Events

The inventory of executive hours available for meetings and other duties should be regarded and managed as a key asset in an event marketing opportunity. To squander this resource is among the most costly mistakes in event management. The opportunity for positive business impact is great as is the the cost for having a top level executives participate, making the objective of having these executives fully booked at top priority.

Customer, supplier, partner and alliance development and press interaction are all valuable opportunities for executive participation. Sometimes having the right executive available to make final commitments and clarify remaining issues is all that is needed to seal a really big deal.

Having a top level executive meet with 20 or 30 customers, prospects and others in one place, over a short period of two or three days, can produce a surprising impact on cost, totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. These savings provide very tangible event cost justification.

Treat your inventory of executive hours as a key event asset to be optimized.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Post-Event Follow-up - by Heather Deloach

Working on a post-event follow-up project for one of our clients recently made me aware of how important post-show follow-up is to event ROI.

Too often, event managers lack a well-planned system for what to do with leads information once it is collected at shows. A strong leads management system and an aggressive post-event campaign are absolutely crucial to a successful event marketing program and positive return on investment.

Companies spend thousands of dollars on pre-show direct marketing, but post-show marketing is where actual business results are likely to be realized. A well-executed post-show marketing campaign such as an email blast sent to qualified leads or a post-event survey serves three major purposes:

• Exposure is recreated for your company and products or services
• Prospects have the opportunity to access and learn more detailed information about a particular product or service
• Prospects are given a way to initiate contact with someone from your organization

In order for a post-event follow-up to be successful, an event manager must plan strategically. The follow-up must be planned well in advance of a show or event. The goals of the follow-up must be explicitly decided beforehand. The questions your team must answer before the follow-up method is agreed upon are the following:

• What products or services do we want to focus on?
• Who are our targets for the follow-up?
• What information is of most importance to our target audience?
• What do we want the targets to do as a result of receiving our correspondence?

Once the answers to these questions are clear, it is much easier to execute a successful post-event follow-up.