According to a 2012 study by the Event Marketing Institute, 58% of event marketing participants purchased the marketed product after the event, and 86% of these consumers became regular customers. With those kinds of results, what is event marketing? And should you incorporate it into your marketing strategy?

Here’s one definition of Event Marketing:

Event marketing is a promotional strategy that involves face-to-face contact between companies and their customers at special events like concerts, fairs, and sporting events.

I’d expand on that definition to include non-sales goals such as fostering goodwill with clients and building loyalty. You may have your own definition.

Types of Events

Here are just a few of the events you may employ in  your strategy:

Auction, Awards, Breakfast Briefing, Celebration, Class, Conference, Convention, Debate, Exhibition, Fair, Fashion, Show, Festival, Tasting, Forum, Hackathon, Immersive, Interview, Networking, Panel discussion, Presentation, Product Launch, Q&A Session, Quiz, Rally, Reunion, Ribbon Cutting, Roast, Roundtable, Treasure Hunt, Seminar, Book Signing, Symposium, Competition, Walking Tour, Workshop

In the debut of “Marcia’s Medleys,” featuring guest Jackie Egidio, we discuss the elements of successful event marketing accompanied excerpts from “Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook.” It is evening radio, after all!

If you prefer to jump around the broadcast recording to the marketing discussion, here’s where you can find the key points:

Time Topic
3:35 What is event marketing?
3:53 Definition of Event Marketing
15:35 Introduction to Bubbles, Brix & Buzz event
25:41 Discussion of event marketing
26:18 At the planning stage of an event, how do you decide what mood you want to create?
26:34 List of types of event marketing
27:50 Do you start with a theme when event planning?
28:46 What’s the purpose of bringing folks together at an event?
48:13 How do you know if your event has been successful?
55:37 Summary: What makes for a successful event?