© 2024 Change3 Enterprises LLC - All rights reserved | Privacy policy | Email Opt-Out
August 11, 2014 | digitalexe |
In today’s lean economy, executives and managers constantly look to uncover and eliminate costs whenever possible. As every marketing dollar must be accounted for, the decision to send executives to participate in events or conferences – as attendees, speakers, or exhibitors – is often difficult, as many view events as costly and risky, with low or intangible value.
The use of collaboration tools has shown financial planners that participating in live, in-person events could prove wasteful without clearly defined ROI. Why spend on airline tickets and hotel rooms when one could simply participate in a webinar from the comfort of one’s office desk (or home office)? Accounting for time spent out of the office traveling, participation in in-person conferences seems a no-brainer: it’s too expensive and hard to justify ROI.
Yet in today’s dizzying content marketing flurry of blogs, webinars, tweets, screencasts, and other digital media, the in-person event is making a comeback. Last year’s Dreamforce 2013, produced by enterprise software provider Salesforce.com, boasted 130,000 registered attendees, and marketing automation provider Marketo’s annual Marketing Nation Summit, held in April, saw the attendee number cross the 6,000 mark (and even hosted Hillary Clinton as Keynote Speaker).
Clearly, people are going to conferences these days – even for those produced by companies that hope that people spend less time meeting people in person and more time in front of the laptop or tablet.
29 days & counting for final discounted #SocialShakeUp tix! http://t.co/NHEnHkAhsN pic.twitter.com/He3wNJnCPN
— Social Media Today (@socialmedia2day) August 3, 2014
An upcoming social media conference
Companies are finding innovative ways to draw ROI from in-person event attendance. While there is certainly a hard-dollar cost, there are several strategies to maximize the investment, whether a company is sending an executive to speak, exhibiting via a booth in a showcase or tradeshow hall, or simply attending. Let’s have a look.
Track leads
Attendees and those manning a booth are usually expected to bring back pocketfuls of business cards to be uploaded into the CRM database -- which is no surprise. However, for a more complete insight into the cost-per-lead (CPL), the total cost for the company to attend the conference should be added to the lead’s profile, and as the lead moves through the marketing funnel and into a sale, the CPL should be adjusted to reflect this.
Create and re-package materials for demand generation and full-cycle marketing programs
With permission, speakers should be able to publish their presentation, or perhaps slimmed-down versions, on LinkedIn, SlideShare, the company blog, and other sites. Links to this content could be promoted via Twitter, Facebook or a company newsletter. Even attendees can tweet, share, blog, or record a video while attending an event.
In efforts to spread or share the cost of the event participation to other departments, some event costs could be added to the marketing budget for content creation, as ‘byproducts’ of the event are clearly being used for follow-on purposes. This creates a fairer picture of the true cost – and value – of event attendance, so that no single department is left holding the bag.
Place a dollar value on knowledge transfer
After returning from an event, executives are filled with new insights and exclusive industry information. Ask these executives to create summaries or briefs, which could be shared across the department – or even the entire enterprise. As such, and if demonstrated to be highly valuable and mission-critical, some of the costs of the event could be shared with the Training or Knowledge Management departments.
Lower costs by planning, synching up with partners
In today’s matrixed business environments, event participation opportunities can often materialize from several sources, including clients, partners, and vendors. Ask your network if they are attending or participating in any upcoming industry conferences which you feel would be valuable, and seek cost reductions, such as discounted tickets, shared booth space, and the like. While airline tickets and hotel rooms are not free, other costs could be reduced.
What often happens during the conference presentation process / #humor #events RT @phdcomics @giasison pic.twitter.com/H4E4I6LAvL
— Sean Gardner (@2morrowknight) August 3, 2014
A humorous look at planning a conference presentation
When you can’t attend in person, attend virtually
If attendance is impossible, meet others participating in the conference virtually. Follow the conference or session hashtags on Twitter, and view sessions on conference streaming sites like Livestream or UStream, where you can participate in the conversation. Nothing can replace the engagement of an in-person meeting, but you could still have a chance to observe, learn, and network.
Final Thoughts
Companies are re-thinking their event participation strategies – and the value they place on them. As organizations find that they need to be nimble and creative, and engage as many people as possible, they are discovering new value in sending executives to attend, speak, or present at conferences. With careful planning, forging partnerships, and sharing costs across several departments, event participation becomes a very attractive option that could invigorate sales and marketing efforts.
Want Help? Contact our team today to ask a question via the form to the right.
ChangeU: independent study….
© 2024 Change3 Enterprises LLC - All rights reserved | Privacy policy | Email Opt-Out
