Event Marketing

Event Marketing

In today's complex and competitive marketing environment, reaching the consumer effectively is a "challenge" that most companies face. Marketers therefore have to constantly look for ways to reach consumers and create a strong, lasting impression. One way of doing that, focusing on engaging consumers in practical experiences that make brands meaningful in their lives is Event Marketing. The live experience provided by an event can be used to enhance the interaction between consumers and the brand.

Typical event marketing

What is Event Marketing? Definition

Event marketing is a set of activities specifically designed to promote the interests of a certain company through an organized event, leveraging specific characteristics through which the company achieves its goals of reaching the right audiences, promoting their products or services, and enhancing their brands. Specifically, event marketing connects events with the company or its products, building a special psychological connection between the brand and the public. Events can have a strong impact on the target group, and they allow "face-to-face" communication with the brand. People remember much better what they have experienced and felt themselves. Also, in this case, it is done not entirely intrusively and in a pleasant way for the consumer. We might say that event marketing is one of the most effective ways to legally "get into a person's head" to promote goods and services. It can also be considered as a major form of customer experience management.

The Goals of Event Marketing. Purpose

The aims or goeals of event marketing generally do not differ from the goals of traditional marketing; its purpose is to promote the interests of the company and manipulate the behavior and opinions of the target audience and form a positive attitude towards the organization among the public, to attract interest and provide opportunities for detailed information on the organization or its product.

What are the Benefits Of Event Marketing?

There are many advantages to event marketing:

Influence the target audience, educate prospects, increase customer engagement, creating an experience for the consumer.
Raise the company's image and build awareness.
Offers a unique chance to interact with the customers on a more personal and practical level.
Helps to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Combining event marketing with other marketing campaigns will create a more meaningful and longer-lasting relationship with the customers.
Provides value to attendees beyond information about a product or service. Receiving a discount, free sample, or just having fun at the event will make customers feel like they are receiving a benefit and not just attending a live-action commercial.
The personal interaction gives the opportunity to learn from the conversations and other experiences, to adjust marketing plans, to further develop and improve the event format, and to justify marketing budgets.

The 7 "I"s of Event Marketing

A nice tool to understand, typify and apply event marketing is the 7 I's:

INVOLVEMENT: an emotional involvement with the brand, the event, the experience;
INTERACTION: with brand ambassadors, with other attendees, with exhibits, with the brand;
IMMERSION: of multiple senses, to some extent isolated from other messages;
INTENSITY: memorable, high impact;
INDIVIDUALITY: unique, one-to-one opportunities, customization. Each experience is different;
INNOVATION: possibility to be creative in content, location, timing, audience, etc.;
INTEGRITY: is seen as genuine and authentic and providing real benefits and value to the consumer.

⇨ How do you use event marketing in your marketing strategy? What are your experiences. Please share...

Resources:
- Moise Daniela , Georgescu Bogdanb, Zgură Danielc (2012) ,"The use of event marketing management strategies", Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences , № 46, pp. 5409 – 5413.
- Piesiewicz, J. (2010), "Event marketing takes center stage", Communication World, № 27, pp.40-41.