Back to in-person events!
Finally, with Covid sort of behind us, we can start planning to join or organize physical events.
According to a survey done by Bizzabo in 2019, “Almost all (85%) of leadership (Senior Managers, Executives, and Board Members) believe in-person events are essential to their company’s success.”
There is nothing more powerful than a face-to-face interaction. One important factor that you can miss on a video interaction is picking up on nonverbal cues and body language. Knowing this, in-person events can help you start building strong relationships and trust.
When talking about third-party events, start-ups and scale-ups with a limited marketing budget need to carefully evaluate which event(s) will bring the best ROI.
The first step is to create a table with all relevant events in the countries where you are present or want to increase your footprint. Start with a yearly overview with dates, location, audience type, event topics/sessions, sponsorship options, and attendance cost.
If possible, it would be good to have a mix of choices to attend only and to sponsor.
Usually, there are 1-2 options per year to sponsor events for small companies. Considering that attendees’ job titles and companies were relevant for a few options, you can compare the sponsorship packages to make a decision. Things to take into account:
Is it possible to guarantee 1:1 meetings?
What is the venue size and the number of attendees?
What are the remaining places to have the booth? – Note that there are some strategic places to have more visibility.
Is there an opportunity for a presentation slot?
What are the networking opportunities?
Next to the above, sometimes, there are other benefits offered that can give your company/product more awareness. This is just a matter of looking at the exposure and lead opportunities your company can get.
Once you know the events, you can start planning. Depending on how your organization is structured, make sure to involve the product, content, and sales and tech team (if needed) in an early stage to get the commitment and engagement of all stakeholders.
