Blog: What are B2B events actually for?

Richard Wall
Printed on: 18 March 2025

“Administration would love us to run a dwell occasion each quarter this 12 months.”

“Okay, why? What do they need to obtain?”

“…”

Sound acquainted?

Occasions typically appear to signify the glamorous aspect of selling. Out on the earth, getting face-to-face with an viewers that’s more and more digital, breaking out the branded t-shirts and the cool merch. However they value much more cash than an e mail, and plenty of entrepreneurs say they don’t ship measurable worth. So, what’s going mistaken?

Not setting a transparent goal! Occasions can serve a number of completely different functions, however by no means all of them without delay. So, take your choose from what you need to accomplish:

Producing Leads

Let’s begin with the large daddy. You’ll be able to completely generate new leads via occasions.

Lead era occasions are likely to work finest when you might have one thing massive and new to speak about. We’ve run occasions to launch Spotler AI, or our Maturity Model. Incremental enhancements to our platforms are higher suited to an e mail announcement.

The way to measure success with Lead Era occasions

Crucial metric is what kind of folks got here. They may should be budget-holders with a urgent subject that you might clear up. Numbers are a secondary metric; keep in mind that at any given second, solely 5% of your total viewers may have each a urgent want and the mandate to cope with it instantly

Producing Demand

Lead era’s much less flashy cousin.

In Breakthrough Promoting, Eugene Schwarz describes buyer consciousness as coming in 5 distinct levels:

• Unaware
• Drawback Conscious
• Answer Conscious
• Product Conscious
• Most Conscious

If Lead Era principally targets the final 3 levels, Demand Era covers the primary 2. It’s a extra instructional method; you’ll be displaying your viewers that they’ve an issue however aren’t conscious of it (Unaware) or that there’s a answer to what appears an unsolvable drawback (Drawback Conscious).

Occasions that take a Demand Era method keep away from one of many greatest issues; occasion friends don’t like being “bought to”. The Advertising and marketing Meetup (did we point out we sponsor the Guildford event?!) has grown into a world phenomenon on this very precept.

The way to measure success with Demand Era occasions

Numbers, numbers, numbers.

Whereas Lead Era must purpose at organisations with a right away shopping for want, Demand Era can go after your total market. You’re going for consciousness right here, positioning your self to be top-of-mind after they enter a shopping for temper.

Thought Management

From a distance, Thought Management can look much like Demand Era. In actuality, it’s one step additional again.

Demand Era nonetheless targets the individuals who will use your product; in our case advertising and marketing managers. Thought Management builds up your organization’s status, in order that when a advertising and marketing supervisor goes to the CEO and says, “I need to use Spotler CRM”, the CEO replies “Oh sure, I’m aware of them. Go for it.” moderately than “Who’re Spotler?”

The way to measure success with Thought Management occasions

That is the place it will get difficult.

Thought Management has the longest tail of any advertising and marketing exercise; at my final position earlier than Spotler, I labored for a telecoms reseller who hosted an annual convention the place each leads and prospects may meet distributors and business specialists, in addition to community and meet the crew I labored with.

One common attendee was the Head of IT for a medium-sized lodge chain. He would attend yearly, listening attentively to the keynote audio system however by no means participating with anybody from gross sales.

Then, on his 5^th straight look, he collected his badge, marched as much as our CEO and mentioned “I’ve heard sufficient from you guys at these conferences, I would like you to take cost of our new telecoms improve.”

That’s an excessive instance, however it reveals the worth of placing within the long-term work. It’s additionally an instance that wouldn’t present up in any advertising and marketing metric I can consider; repeat attendance is an effective sign, however the lack of conversations would most likely lead you to ignore that individual lead.

Buyer Re-Engagement

It’s laborious to pinpoint precisely when digital actions absolutely overtook offline advertising and marketing. In any case, the extra of the shopping for journey that occurs on-line, the extra particular face-to-face interactions will really feel.

There’s additionally the thought of “conspicuous consumption”; by spending the cash essential to host an occasion, your viewers is primed to suppose you might have one thing well worth the effort.

The way to measure success with Buyer Re-Engagement occasions

The most effective type of success right here can be a noticeable drop in your churn price; you’ve pulled prospects whose eyes had been beginning to wander again from the brink.

You may also choose success by the quantity and tone of buyer interactions. A buyer who wasn’t sad, however possibly wasn’t making use of all the things you need to provide begins doing extra superior issues, or including further performance if you’re a wide-ranging software platform like us.

Conclusion

The commonest reason for believing that occasions are a waste of time is being unclear which of those aims an occasion was supposed to fulfill. When you get clear on that proper firstly, you’ll put your self in a significantly better place to succeed.

Prepared so as to add occasions to your advertising and marketing combine? Seize your self a demo of Spotler Events and begin planning your aims!

Spotler Occasions: occasion registration software program

Spotler Events is the instrument that handles the complexity of bookings, registration and follow-up multi function place, so you’ll be able to give attention to the content material and the folks. Take a look with a demo today.