Event Marketing: How to Successfully Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions

table. As we have said earlier, asking personal questions and so-

liciting opinions of the “movers and shakers” in an industry or as-

sociation instills a sense of proprietary interest among them. When

those leaders feel that interest in the mission, the task of the mar-

keter in approaching their followers will be greatly facilitated.

Refining Your Event Marketing

Evaluation Methods

The trends in effective marketing evaluation point directly at effi-

cient record keeping (archiving), documentation, and evaluation

of virtually every element of the event. Overall attendance is good

to know and easy to track. Attendance at eachevent function is

betterto know and more difficult to track. The answers lead to

clear indications of attendee preferences and needs and will result

in modifications (sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic) in the

marketing message and event programming. How are performance

records documented?

DOCUMENTATION

In establishing a system of event performance archives, remember

this basic principle: Keep records of virtually everything, from the

beginning of the marketing process through the event’s final eval-

uations. Sophisticated computer programs may help you retain

and recoup the records in an organized fashion—in perpetuity—

for examination and comparison at critical junctures of the plan-

ning process. But computers can only provide the information that

is gathered for input, and only to the degree of accuracy with

which the data are measured.

The marketer should keep copies of absolutely everything con-

nected with the campaign, together with mailing or transmission

dates as well as response levels for each medium. Dates of the re-

sponses are also important. Translating the history of the event is

critical. For event planners, it is vital to know if the sponsoring or-

ganization enjoys immediate and positive responses to promotion.

Planning is much easier when the early acceptance of the invita-

tion (and the number of registrations) is known early on. But an

184 Chapter 8 Trends in Event Marketing