Three Pitfalls of Event Marketing and How to Avoid Them

Planning an event for customers and prospects can seem like a relatively simple task. After all, how hard can it really be?

The fact is, executing the perfect event can be a daunting task that many marketers are ill-prepared to handle until they have a few under their belt. One of the most important things to consider when it comes to event planning is what could go wrong. After all, if you are prepared for the most common worst-case scenarios you won’t be blindsided by them. Instead, you can put your efforts into making sure ahead of time that these things don’t occur, remembering the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

What follows is a list of common pitfalls related to event planning and how to avoid falling victim to them.

1. Depending on manual processes. If you are spending a large portion of your time uploading spreadsheets filled with information on attendees and breakout sessions, for example, that is time away from what you should be focusing on-delivering leads to your sales team, following up with attendees and more. The key to avoiding all of this wasted time is to automate anything and everything you can. Further, consider outsourcing when possible. Event registration is one example of something that is much better handed over to a company that specializes in this type of service.
2. Failing to streamline check-in. First impressions are lasting impressions. If people attending your event are subjected to long lines during check-in, their overall impression isn’t going to be favorable. Consider allowing people to check-in with their smartphones, for instance. Anything that prevents long wait times is a positive because when people are forced to wait they will most likely spend their time fuming about the company that is causing them to wait.
3. Overlooking sales and marketing opportunities. Companies often spend a huge portion of their marketing dollars on events. In spite of this fact, they often look back on these events wondering why they didn’t take full advantage of it. Hosting a successful event means more than making sure everyone has a great experience (although that is extremely important). It means making sure you follow-up with prospects within 24 hours by phone or email. It means capturing data at every opportunity throughout the event so that you can send personalized marketing message and product recommendations to individual attendees.

Marketing events offer a great ROI. They key is to avoid making costly mistakes that render your event a sales and marketing failure.