Event Marketing

Let's look at some of the key advantages of the proprietary corporate event.
• When creating a proprietary corporate event, the marketer has nearly complete control of the customer's experience with the company. You can shape the event to suit the needs of your audience — and meet your corporate sales and marketing objectives.
• Corporate events are an excellent venue for relationship building with key customers, from end-users, to technical personnel, to purchasing officials, to senior executives. The relationship can be deepened on both sides: you get more focused selling time, and the customers provide you with more insights into their needs and business problems.
• Corporate events are designed to allow higher level conversations than can be expected in the hustle and bustle of a trade show.
• Customers and prospects can focus on your message, without distractions from competitors.
Corporate events tend to be applied to current customer marketing, versus prospecting, for the simple reason of efficiency. For one thing, it's easier to persuade a person with whom you already have a business relationship to come to your corporate event. For another, the future value of a current customer or inquirer is much higher than that of the average unwashed prospect, which justifies the expense of creating and running a dedicated event.
To get the most value from a corporate event, keep these principles in mind:
• Consult with your target audience. In order to attract and influence them, you must first find out what works. Let their preferences and needs guide your planning.
• Seek opportunities to defray your costs. You can ask your business partners to take sponsorships, or ask your clients to pay their own travel and hotel expenses. Some conferences even charge attendees a fee, which both qualifies their serious interest and supports the budget.
• Corporate event management is complicated, and requires expertise and resources from multiple parties, inside and