In the last 15 years I’ve ran events that have brought people together to party, to network and to learn
I’ve ran events from small gatherings of 15 people through to 15,000 capacity venues
I’ve ran workshops for 6 people and I’ve spoken to 250+ people in a day
Even though I run a Social Media Marketing Company I believe that Face to Face events should be a key part of your marketing strategy and here are 10 Compelling Stats That Will Convince You To Organise Your Own Event
1. 95% of marketers agree that live events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world. (Endless Events)
I run a Social Media Marketing company. You probably don’t know a person apart from your teenage children that spends as much time connected to their phone as myself. It’s earns me money and pays off my mortgage and I’m happy for that. But I work alone and crave human company, so whenever I can spare the time I head out networking events to meet new people and help grow my business. The bonus that if you’re the organiser of an event rather than just an attendee it puts you right in the spotlight
2. Between 2017 and 2018 the number of companies organising 20 or more events per year increased by 17% (Bizzabo)
According to American Express’ Global Meetings and Events Forecast, the number of B2B events — like tradeshows, conference, or sales and marketing meetings — are on the rise.
It’s easy to see and I’ve seen events come and go in the 10 years of running Altrincham HQ. At times there have been over saturation of events and at others absolutely nothing going on business events wise in my home town. If businesses are organising more and more events the key is to stand out and do something that no one else is doing
3. 79% of marketers are able to generate sales through event marketing. (Statistica)
Every single event I’ve put on I’ve made a sale
And I think that’s because of one reason. I don’t put on an event with the intentions of making a sale. I put on events to bring people value and a positive experience and if you do that sales come as an added bonus
4. 76% of marketers say event and experiential marketing initiatives are integrated with all of their other marketing campaigns (Event Marketing Institute)
Integrated marketing is absolutely key
Understand why you are running an event. Understand what you are marketing. Understand how your whole content and marketing plan fits around the anchor
5. Most (41%) marketers believe that events are the single-most effective marketing channel over digital advertising, email marketing and content marketing. This reflects a 32% increase since 2017. (Bizzabo, 2018)
Now working in Social Media there is a slight disagreement on this
I believe that social media (although it is not one marketing channel, but many) is the single most effective marketing channel. And the 2nd is face 2 face events
If you’re winning on both fronts then your business is flying
6. 5 to 8 weeks is the average time B2B companies spend planning events (Forbes)
The biggest mistake companies make is they think they need 6 months to plan events
Most of the events I’ve ran from booking the venue, to designing the poster to selling them out have all been done in 6 week or less
Finding the right venue is the hardest part about running an event. Once that’s in place the rest is easy
7. The main priority of attendees attending corporate events in 2018 is networking at 82%. The second highest priority of attendance at events is learning something new at 71% (Event MB)
Value Value Value
Look at the core 2 reasons attendees attend an event >>> Networking and Learning
Every single business in the country can add both those elements into their events
And on the latter – we mean genuinely learning rather than 95% sales pitch and 5% learning
8. 98% of consumers feel more inclined to purchase the product or service after attending the related event (EventTrack)
If you could do something that made 98% of consumers inclined to purchase your product or service, would you do it?
Yes
Well why not look at turning your product or service into an event idea that potential customers could attend
9. 38% of attendees visit the company’s website following an event.(Event Marketer)
And that’s following an event
Many will also visit it several times before an event if you integrate your marketing so provide value and stories that have a beginning, middle and and end
10. 25% of traffic to ticketing and registration pages comes from social media. (Eventbrite)
And this last stat goes to show you how important building your social media audiences for events are
The reason our events have sold out within 24 hours this year is because of our loyal social media following who book on the moment events are announced
On 18th September we run our How To Run Successful Events That People Talk About workshop in South Manchester
The Events Success Workshop will take your event from an idea in your head to a successful event in just 8 weeks
Join our Masterclass for just £75
Full info here https://www.altrinchamhq.co.uk/how-to-run-successful-events-that-people-talk-about/
