Learn how using technology in event marketing can further engage your audience and help boost your results.
When your company decides to hold an event, it comes to mind to do something unique, unforgettable for the client. Organizing an event involves creating a relationship, establishing connections, getting to know your audience, providing positive experiences. A good event marketing strategy contributes to all these issues.
And if we are talking about interactivity and connections, technology could not be left out. Every year, companies surprise us with different uses of technological solutions to improve event marketing, impact the public, and, consequently, generate more results.
In this text we will show you some aspects of event marketing that can benefit greatly from the use of technology.
But first, an important question: do you know how to use event marketing at all? In the following we will tell you a little bit about why you should care about this.
Event marketing: why invest
A marketing strategy for events consists in promoting the brand, its products and services in fairs, congresses, conventions, symposiums? In short, any large or small event in which the company participates or organizes.
Depending on the company’s objective, several results can be achieved: from making new sales to strengthening the brand. This is because marketing is a very comprehensive area. It encompasses a multitude of offline and digital actions, which can be easily adapted to the context of any company, regardless of segment or size.
It is worth pointing out, however, that holding or participating in an event is much more than using the space as a point of sale. The actions also aim to bring companies closer to their customers, partners, and the market, sharing knowledge and building new relationships.
Thus, an event space allows companies to not only showcase their portfolio, launches, and expertise, but also connect with the public and the market, and establish a competitive position. It helps build interest around a brand, making it relevant and impactful. It also generates opportunities to convert attendees into customers.
But what’s the point of organizing an event to seek all these results without thinking about dissemination strategies, brand exposure, and relationship building? That’s where the investment in marketing makes all the difference. The actions can attract the public, highlight your booth at a fair, and promote meaningful interactions with the participants, generate leads, and much more.
Starting from a solid strategy, with well-defined objectives and goals, the return on investment tends to be consistent, especially if there is an alignment with sales actions.
So far we have talked a lot about event marketing in general. And where does the use of technology come in? See below!
Technology in event marketing
There is no denying that technology has become a great ally that has gained people’s attention and taken over our reality. We no longer know what our routine would be like without it. Therefore, using technological solutions in events is more than a differential.
Certain actions with the use of technology have already become routine in event marketing, such as dissemination in social networks and via e-mail marketing. But the possibilities are much greater.
We will show you 5 examples of how technology contributes to different practices and results of an event marketing strategy.
1- Application for event marketing
According to a survey conducted by GlobalWebIndex, a company that provides data on the digital world, Brazilians spend more than 3 hours and 40 minutes a day online on their cell phones. A large part of this time is dedicated to applications. The research company App Annie pointed out that Brazilians use about 10 apps a day, totaling an average of 3 hours a day dedicated to them.
If there is such a big trend of app use, why not incorporate it to your event? With the creation of an exclusive app, your audience can receive notifications about the event, interact with other participants, get news and information in real time.
You can also think of engagement actions through the app. Invite participants to share photos, use integrations with social networks to publish posts and check-in, create gamification actions, among others. Allow a greater connection between client and company in a simple and intuitive way.
2- Technology to create experiences
Technology can even be a complement to experiential marketing. The use of interactive totems, applications on screens, electronic games, simulations in virtual reality and other resources attract the consumer and make him feel even more part of that moment.
Want an example? Imagine you are a makeup company that will exhibit at a major beauty fair. You can simply exhibit your products and have promoters attend the visitors of your booth. Or you can enhance this experience and make it more remarkable.
Your company could make some products available for visitors to demonstrate. And more! You can create a totem where visitors can take pictures using the products and share them in real time on their social networks, with a hashtag of the event and the brand logo. See how a solution can expand your brand’s exposure and still provide a fun and interactive moment with the participants.
However, it is important to emphasize that it is essential to have a well-informed team that can solve possible problems and questions from the participants.
3- Explore the power of hashtags
We have already talked here about how the presence in social networks has become almost an obligation in event marketing. With social networks, we can explore a very powerful resource for promoting an event: the hashtags (#).
In the main social networks, hashtags are used to categorize content. When you click or search for the hashtag #viagensincriveis, you will see a series of posts from users showing beautiful landscapes that they photographed on their trips.
You can also create hashtags specific to the event. It can be either the name of the event itself or a creative slogan. The idea is to encourage visitors to publish posts using the hashtag to spread the word. Another benefit is that you have one more metric to measure the success of your event on social networks. Just click on the hashtag in one of the posts and find out how many people shared that hashtag in each social network.
A creative way to encourage hashtag use is to install a big screen at the event that can display the top posts that have used the hashtag. This creates another opportunity for interaction with the participants and encourages them to post interesting photos and texts about the event to be displayed live on the site.
4- Capturing leads in real time
When we talk about capturing leads, we usually mention the creation of landing pages with contact forms. In event marketing, this strategy can also be used, but in real time.
The app itself is one way to capture leads. Even if it is free, you can allow users to access it only through a form. Another option is to organize some action such as giveaways or product demonstration tests and tie them to the capturing of leads. To receive the gift or test the product, visitors need to fill out a form with their contact information on a tablet or notebook available at the event.
As this type of action usually works very well in events, it is unlikely that visitors will refuse to fill out a form to test a product or receive free gifts. Remember to align this strategy together with your company’s Sales team. After all, there is no point in capturing so many leads if nothing will be done with them after the event.
5- The actions continue after the event
After the event, your relationship with the participants does not end. In addition to subsequent disclosures on social networks, you can conduct an online post-event survey to understand what they liked best and what needs to be improved for the next ones.
Show your audience that you are attentive to their opinions and that your company is open to positive transformations. With this survey in hand, evaluate if you have achieved your goals and consider the learnings for the next event.
Did you capture leads? Take advantage of these contacts to maintain interaction with the participants. Send a thank you e-mail for the presence and use the opportunity to insert your business news. You can also insert these contacts in an automation flow so that they receive other e-mails from your company, if they already have an inbound marketing strategy.
Offline event marketing
As mentioned in the text, the use of technology in event marketing is a very important trend that has conquered the public. But we don’t live by bits and bytes alone, do we?
We can’t forget that human relations, real interactions, also count a lot. Therefore, integrating digital and offline actions can bring significant results. When we talk about offline actions, it can be anything from visual materials for your event to the organization of workshops or autograph sessions.
A 360° agency, such as Vision Comunicação, can help your company execute an event marketing strategy that brings together the best of both digital and offline.
Want to know more about event marketing? Keep an eye on our blog for more posts on the subject.
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