Event management is a promotional plan that business managers use to link their firms to events such as sports competitions and trade shows. Through event management, a business has the power to dictate upon self created events or sponsored ones for that matter.
Since an event is all about gathering the target group in a place where the business message is to be passed, it is considered as one of the most effective promotional strategies used by different companies (Saget 46).
The ever rising costs associated with the traditional ways of product promotions have compelled most companies to shift to the use of events as a marketing tool. The organizations, through the events, are able to interact face-to-face with their target groups.
Therefore, event marketing is not only cost effective, but also the best way of increasing company’s sales (Shone and Parry 103). This paper will outline the factors that have made most businesses turn to events as a marketing tool.
How Events are Used as a Marketing Tool
Event management entails a thorough study of the details of a particular brand before identifying the target audience. Once the intricacies of the products have been identified and well listed, the managers then identify the people who are likely to purchase the company’s products.
The next step is to formulate an event that suits the target audience (Preston and Hoyle 46). For instance, if the target group is composed of youths, then the most suitable events would be road shows since members of this target group are likely to attend such events in large numbers.
The event management team should ensure that the technical aspects related to event marketing are well coordinated before executing the proposed plan (Preston and Hoyle 47).
The most effective event management strategy is event greening or sustainable event management. Event greening enables the organizing team to plan and execute an event that can address economic, environmental, and social issues at the same time (Preston and Hoyle 47).
Sustainable event management ensures that an event is hosted responsibly by seeing to it that the plan formulated includes definite sustainable development practices and business principles. Therefore, sustainable event management starts from the inception of the marketing plan and ensures that the major key players such as organizers, clients, venues, and suppliers are included in the plan (Raj and Musgrave 128).
The most common events that companies use for event marketing include executive meetings, trade exhibitions, trade shows, road shows, dealer meetings, corporate-customer meetings, charity shows and sports competition among others.
Many firms have been able to effectively use these events to market their products to their targeted potential customers and prospects (Shankar, and Carpenter 407). However, if the events are not used effectively by the companies, they can’t be of any help to these companies as far as marketing strategies are concerned (Preston and Hoyle 46).
Classification of the Events Used for Product Marketing
There are several ways through which a firm can identify its potential clients and also retain the existing customers. Events have proven to be the most effective way of identifying the target market and retaining it.
Events can be actually classified as internal or external; the internal events are conducted within a company with an aim of educating, motivating and retaining the employee customers. The external events, on the other hand, are conducted outside the company by agencies on behalf of their clients (Shone and Parry 103).
The internal events are organized and managed entirely within a company’s premises. Such events are conducted by an individual firm or a group of firms to motivate employees, potential clients or even the company’s customers.
Some of the events that are classified as internal include training seminars, motivation programs, training programs for promoting capacity building, salespersons’ conferences and meetings, internal sports competitions, annual general meetings for company’s clients, and holiday events (Saget 48).
The external events are organized and managed an event management agency on behalf of a different corporate client. Unlike the internal events that entirely take place indoor within a company’s premises or hired places, the external event may be conducted in the company’s premises or in any venue outside the firm (Saget 51).
There are a lot of expenses involved in the organization of the external events as compared to the internal ones. Some of the activities that are considered external events in marketing strategy include trade exhibitions, fashion shows, vehicle financing road shows, and premier shows (Raj and Musgrave 131).
Benefits of Using Events as a Marketing Tool
Event marketing is more applicable small scale businesses. The small businesses normally have a fairly small marketing budget. Event marketing is the only marketing strategy that can generate a high return on capital for the small companies (Shankar, and Carpenter 407).
Through these events, companies are able to generate instant interests from the potential clients, thereby positioning them as the lead firms in their specific line of production. The events help the firms that rely on them as a marketing strategy to create awareness of their new products and remind the customers of existing ones (Raj and Musgrave 133).
The event marketing strategy has the effect of selling a company’s image and its products to the general audience. This type of marketing strategy helps companies to come in direct contact with their customers and the potential ones (Shone and Parry 107). That way, the companies are in a better position to obtain first hand information from the clients regarding their products.
The information collected from such events is of great importance to a company. The information helps the companies make the necessary adjustments on their products, which in turn improve their sales volumes (Raj and Musgrave 137).
The event marketing may also result in the spread of the information regarding the company’s image and products to people who never attended the shows. This is referred to as the networking benefits, which is done by word-of-mouth (Shankar and Carpenter 410).
When the clients who attended an event of organized by a particular company feel satisfied and excited, they are likely to pass the information regarding the products to their relatives and friends who did not have the chance to witness the show (Shone and Parry 112).
In conclusion, it is evident that several companies have turned into using the event marketing strategy to create awareness of and promote their businesses. Event marketing does not require any special skills to execute.
It is the most effective marketing strategy when it comes to targeting specific clients and specific potential buyers. The event marketing strategy uses the common activities such trade shows, sports competitions, trade exhibitions, annual general meetings, and road shows to achieve its objectives.
Works Cited
Preston, Chris, and Leonard Hoyle. Event Marketing: How to Successful Promote Events, Festivals, Conventions, and Expositions. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print.
Raj, Razaj, and James Musgrave. Event Management and Sustainability. Wallingford: CABI, 2009. Print.
Saget, Allison. The Event Marketing Handbook: Beyond Logistics and Planning. Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade Pub, 2006. Print.
Shankar, Venkatesh, and Gregory Carpenter. Handbook of Marketing Strategy. Cheltenham: Elgar, 2012. Print.
Shone, Antone, and Bryn Parry. Successful Event Management: A Practical Handbook. London: Thomson Learning, 2006. Print.