Driving Sales On a Budget Part 3

By Christopher Aldred

**Editor’s Note:

Part 1 of this series

explored the foundation of every successful continuous contact marketing strategy: email marketing.

Part 2 looked at social media marketing

. Part 3 focuses on event marketing.**

In a world where communicating via text, email and social media has become not only widely accepted but even the norm for how many businesspeople converse with one another, its easy to overlook or ignore the importance of face-to-face interactions. In fact, Ive noticed a definite trend, even within marketing circles, of doing fewer and fewer marketing events, or even cutting them completely out of a marketing plan. If thats the trend, Im proud to say my CAR marketing methodology (Continuous contact, Alignment with sales, and Results-focus) is successfully bucking it.

Events aren’t a very sexy” topic, so you wont easily find mountains of statistics out there one way or another on the subject. However, in September 2010, a white paper by B2B Magazine, The Future of Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face,” found three reasons live events continue to be an essential part of the marketing mix: in-person events are better suited for capturing attendees’ attention, inspiring positive emotions and building networks and relationships.

If these reasons arent compelling enough, consider the following real-life example. One of our most senior sales representatives had spent several months chasing down a long-time customer regarding an upgrade. After many emails and conference calls, the customer still hadnt moved forward. Nothing was wrong” with the relationship, yet the opportunity seemed to keep stalling out. However, the customers primary contact, who is a frequent reader of my company’s monthly email communications, registered for one of the company’s quarterly “Lunch & Learn” sessions. After asking many questions and having conversations with several like-minded businesspeople after the event, he knocked on the door to our reps office and said, Lets get the paperwork together for that upgrade.” Three days later, that deal closed to the tune of $82,000.

Thankfully, creating and holding successful in-person events is actually fairly easy to pull off and can be inexpensive to boot. There are all sorts of events your business can hold. Some examples include golf outings, wine and cheese tastings, mini presentations” in a sports team luxury box prior to a game, etc.

Though these and many other types of events can be successful, I recommend that channel partners with limited budgets focus their time and energy on educational events with the caveat that they also include food. Whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner, the key to the events success is enabling your attendees to socialize with your team and each other in a relaxed setting. This scenario can go a long way in building camaraderie, rapport and loyalty. I recommend scheduling events on a quarterly basis; more often usually proves unmanageable while less often negates the value of continuous” contact.

1. Choose a Topic. Just as with email marketing, the goal is for your customers, prospects and partners to view you as a relevant subject matter expert, without the presentation coming off as too salesy.” Choose a topic that is trending, relevant and that your subject matter experts easily can present about. The topic can be especially powerful if your knowledge, expertise and branding can put a unique spin on the subject matter.  For example, next month my company is hosting a Lunch & Learn meeting that compares and contrasts on-premises, hosted and virtualized business phone systems. This is a unique approach in the industry, as most providers are either talking about one or two of these delivery models, but not all three.

2. Select a Speaker. Topic in hand, you need to identify who within your organization not only knows the information youre presenting, but is also the most natural and effective speaker. When in doubt, go with a better speaker over a more knowledgeable subject matter expert who isnt skilled in delivering public presentations. Its easier to train a good speaker on the subject matter (and potentially have a backup expert in the room to answer questions) than it is to train an expert how to present effectively. I do not advocate enlisting your technology providers as speakers. Though it lends some credibility to have a third party” present to your customers and prospects, technology providers often are only interested in positioning their brand and messaging, and are unwilling and/or unable to effectively communicate your companys unique value proposition. In addition, showcasing your internal talent can be a powerful way to gain credibility with your customers and prospects.

3. Size Your Audience. Your next step is to determine the number of attendees youre targeting. It makes sense to target an attendee total that is in direct alignment with your sales goals. Conventional wisdom dictates one in three interactions will turn into a qualified sales conversation. So, if you need to have 10 qualified conversations in a month to get one that results in a proposal, you’ll need 30 people. However, you can expect about 25 percent of registered attendees to cancel or not show up. So, you’ll want to target about 40 people in this case.

4. Find a Venue. With the size of your audience in mind, you can pick a venue. If you have an attractive office with space that can accommodate the desired number of attendees, I recommend hosting the event internally. This gives you an opportunity to not only showcase your physical space, but your employees and company culture as well. If the customer experience is part of the marketing message you deliver, what better way is there for people to experience it than seeing your business in action? In this case, the monetary cost of the event is limited to the food you order and any giveaways you choose to provide.

However, if you cant host the event internally, there are many professional, respectable venue options available, often for a minimal investment.  Before investigating traditionally more expensive options like hotels and convention centers, check with the local chambers of commerce and associations in which you are member. Often, these organizations offer free or very inexpensive, professional meeting rooms you can utilize as part of your membership. It may also pay to investigate whether your technology partners have space you can utilize. Often, as long as youre including your technology providers solutions as part of the discussion, you can gain access to their meeting space for free or a minimal investment.

5. Promote Your Event. Finally, execute your invitation and registration strategy. I suggest using Eventbrite, a free service, to create your registration page. Its fast, easy and doesnt cost you a dime as long as youre not charging for your event. Next, create an email invitation that youll distribute to your target audience. The email should contain a brief, concise description of the event, why people should care about it, the schedule for the day, and the topics that youll cover. It should also contain a brief bio of the speaker, highlighting why theyre a subject matter expert and their experience in presenting (if applicable.) Within the email, of course, should be several links to the registration page. I recommend sending the email out once a week, beginning one month out from the event. 

Of course, your invitation strategy shouldnt solely rely on email especially at first. Make sure everyone who touches your customers and prospects knows about the event and has the registration link and invitation email. The power of a personal invitation is undeniable, and the more people you can have inviting customers and prospects via phone calls, in person visits, etc., the better. In addition, you should use your social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) to promote your event. Simply post a brief blurb about why people should care about the subject matter and include the registration link. Youll probably be surprised at how many registrations you can get if this is done with at least the same frequency as your email invitations!

I hope youve found this three-part series on the importance of integrating email marketing, social media and in-person events to form a successful, results-focused continuous contact strategy useful. In my next article, Ill explore the second component of the CAR marketing methodology: Alignment with sales.

Christopher Aldred is marketing programs manager for Expert Technology Associates, a full-service business communications provider serving more than 1,800 customers throughout the United States and abroad. ETA designs, implements and manages voice and data communications solutions, includes premises-based and hosted IP business telephone systems, audio and Web conferencing, unified communications applications, tools that enable mobility and collaboration, call center management systems, managed business continuity and network security services and more.