#NicheEventFest – Event Marketing

During my first session at #NicheEventFest Dana Teague spoke about event marketing. Dana Teague oversees Informa, Global Exhibitions’ Design Group which includes Surfaces, StonExpo, TileExpo, Dwell on Design Los Angeles and Dwell on Design New York – all leading events in their industries. She currently serves on the board of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO).

Here are some of the key takeaways from this valuable session: 

“Marketing is about communicating the value of your value or service.

Branding: Its not a logo, identity, or product. A brand is a feeling about a product, service, or organization. Is your brand recognized? What do your customers say about your event?

• Build trust with your customers – build a community. They love to be with like minded people. Align with other trustworthy organizations.
• Build a charismatic brand – Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter?
• Innovate – How do you know when an idea is innovative? When it scares the HECK out of everybody.
• Validate – Include your audience by using focus groups, surveys, one on ones, or call them directly. It’s better the rough answer to the right question than a detailed answer to a wrong question.

What is Niche Marketing? A subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing. It includes more targeted customers and less competition.

• Find your niche
• Understand your niche
• Create/find the product
• Build a marketing campaign
• Make money $$$$

“Make yourself valuable, stay focused, gain trust of the audience, be seen as an industry expert.”

Marketing Alliances / Partnerships: a smart collaboration of two or more to develop a mid-term or long-term campaign to meet respective business goals. It can brings companies that may not normally compete together – each with its own brand equity and distribution.

E-marketing / Social Marketing: There are many benefits including: fast, 24/7, global, smart/relevant, and the only cost is time. Make sure that your event marketing strategy includes web, email, and social media.

Content Marketing: 

What makes good content?

• Entertains as well as informs
• Helps people do their jobs
• Blows peoples socks off, then sells them slippers

Bad content will result in diminishing returns:

• Less traffic
• Greater number of “unsubscribes”
• Fewer page views
• Fewer opens, click-throughs, downloads
• Fewer leads
• Less money

Stay tuned for more upcoming blogs about my #NicheEventFest experience. Follow me on twitter @wtwh_jen for up to date news!