Using Lead Analysis to Measure Event Impact
Event marketing success often hinges on the ability to effectively gather, qualify, and track leads. Whether hosting a conference or activating a sponsorship, maximizing lead generation can be an important measure of overall success. Before diving in, let’s review a few stages of leads:
Contacts: Gathering of someone’s contact info. At the contact stage we have yet to establish if the individual is actually a lead.
Leads: Individuals who have purchase authority or influence. Some refer to this as a marketing qualified lead (MQL) because the marketing function has qualified these contacts to target for future sales & marketing.
Lead prioritization: A designation placed on a qualified lead based on their intended timeframe to purchase. Someone in the market to make an immediate purchase would be considered a hot lead - needing immediate follow-up, whereas someone with no plans to purchase would be considered a cold lead.
In this blog, we'll summarize three strategies and give examples of tactics that can help you master lead generation and measurement in event marketing.
Gathering Leads:
Pre-event Promotion: Leverage social media platforms, email marketing, and targeted advertising to create buzz and attract the right type of potential attendees based on your sales/marketing goals. When possible, utilize event registration platforms to capture attendee information and qualify leads before the event even begins.
On-site Tactics: Implement interactive activities such as contests, giveaways, or demos to engage attendees and encourage them to provide their contact information. Data capture systems or mobile apps can be used to seamlessly collect attendee contact info during the event. Keep in mind that quantity of leads should be combined with qualification to better determine potential impact to the bottom line. So let’s discuss how to qualify your leads...
Qualifying Leads:
Define Your Target: Clearly outline the characteristics of your ideal customers to ensure that the leads you collect align with your target audience. For B2B marketers, you may consider factors such as industry, company size, budget, and pain points to qualify leads effectively. For B2C marketers, you may be more focused on demographics, psychographics, and other factors. The purchase authority/influence of the individual should always be a qualification factor.
Scoring and Segmentation: Implement lead scoring mechanisms based on key profile information, engagement levels (such as what activities they interact with or do they meet dwell time targets), and buying signals (including perception, intent, and timeline to purchase) to prioritize follow-up. Segment leads into categories to tailor follow-up strategies accordingly.
Tracking Leads:
Real-time Analytics: Analyze data as it becomes available to identify trends, assess the effectiveness of your strategies, and make data-driven decisions before, during an event, and beyond. Leverage CRM software to track and manage leads throughout the sales cycle.
Follow-up and Nurturing: Develop a systematic follow-up process to engage leads post-event through personalized emails, calls, or social media interactions. Provide valuable content, resources, or exclusive offers to nurture leads and move them through the sales funnel. Attribution almost always involves multiple touchpoints so the EMMC does not suggest tying a specific sale only to an event. However, marketers can implement a potential revenue projection to more credibly track impact. The EMMC plans to cover potential revenue projections more in the future, so continue to follow us for further guidance.
Mastering lead generation in event marketing requires a strategic approach encompassing both pre-event planning and post-event follow-up. By employing targeted strategies for gathering, qualifying, and tracking leads, and assessing their value to the business, marketers can maximize the impact of events and deliver clear results. Remember, successful lead generation is not just about the quantity of contacts gathered but also about the quality of the leads and the relationships you build with them - both during and post-event. So, invest in understanding the audience, refining tactics, and continuously optimizing your approach to achieve sustainable success.