Events, we need to play better here to win
TO: Outbound Team
CC: Management, CEO
FROM: Azleen Abdul Rahim, CMO
SUBJECT: Events, we need to play better here to win.
Guys,
Azleen here. Listen up. I think we may have missed one of the most crucial elements in marketing that has the potential to attract growth faster than anything else out there. My apologies. It's my bad. The good news is, we are not too late for this play. Now, since we have already stabilised most of the tactical stuff in executing our marketing strategy, it is time to zoom in on this outbound marketing push.
Events.
Unlike other outbound marketing pillars, events allow us to cast a big net to fish for customers in a bigger volume. As a matter of fact, it is the fastest way to acquire high-intent leads in bulk because it puts us in the same room as the decision-makers and individuals who are influencing the decisions that we’ve been chasing after, via LinkedIn. To win the market, we need to be physically present where our customers congregate.
FYI, there are 5 kinds of events out there.
The ones we participate in. Here, we usually have a booth. The objective is always to secure deals immediately, appointments to take the conversation further or at least the contact details to set for an appointment.
The ones we organise and host. Here, we will control the narrative. We will dictate the topics to talk about, the strategic speakers and the acquisition of the attendees' contact details.
The ones we have them privately via a closed-door session. Here, we identify specific organisations, trade associations, and industry authorities to run private, 1-hour industry trend updates. Usually, these are done in the offices of the customers, which enables us to get to know them better.
The ones we sponsor. Here, we pay for a logo and brand on a backdrop of materials, and at the same time, we have full access to the database contact list of both exhibitors and visitors.
The ones we walk in. Here, we identify the right companies as potential customers, exchange business cards and spark some initial conversations. Once back in the office or next to the laptop, do some research about the company and structure the future approach accordingly.
Again, the non-negotiable objective for every event, regardless of the format, is to identify that the majority of the attendees must belong to our target customer group. The last thing we want is to have an event full of random crowds. We need to craft events that attract the C-suite, founders and entrepreneurs to join.
If we can execute this right, events will become our most consistent source of two things. One, it is a fixed deposit of qualified leads. Two, we can rapidly grow a community database. You may ask, why collect, populate, and grow a bigger list of database matters? Well, the reason is this. The future is always about the ability to communicate with our customers and community members directly without the interference of algorithms. That's because if we keep on relying on algorithm-based platforms such as social media, search engines and AI Assistants, it's going to be pretty expensive long-term.
Now, here's what I want the Outbound Team to do for the next 30 days. Kindly produce an event calendar till the financial year end for us to understand the pattern. From here, we will then together identify and plan the right sort of events we can participate in, organise and/or sponsor, which all of these must sustainably contribute to our marketing funnel.
I will call for a short meeting next week, probably on Friday at 10.30 am, to talk more about this. Wait for my calendar invitation.
Azleen
P.S. Thanks for reading. If you want a functional marketing team that produces results, we can help you build it. Let's talk.
