Events, Tradeshows, Party’s Oh My!

Ah, the never ending debate in the value of events, tradeshows and customer parties.  Sales swears they are critical, management questions the value and marketing gets stuck resourcing and paying the bill.

Let me start out by saying:

• -          I believe they are important.
• -          However, the actual sales which result from participation can be questionable, but keeping your sales staff in front of customers is typically a good thing.
• -          The cost of an average sales call is around $500.  It makes sense to get as many customers together under the same event as possible – by increasing the number of customers you reduce the cost of a sales call.
• -          Sales MUST do their part and create meaningful sales conversations.  Just slapping someone’s back and getting them a drink doesn’t count.
• -          Marketing must create an environment which allows for Sales to have meaningful conversations.
• -          Measurement of success is everyone’s responsibility.  It’s not enough to just say everyone had a great time and customers were happy.
• -          For the most part, prospective customers should always be part of the event attendees.

A couple of thoughts on tracking

• -          Capture a customer’s name when they enter the event – the best way to do so is to do this electronically, an iPad is great.  Capture name, address, company, email, phone, etc.  I recommend having all of this populated in a database prior to the event so you’re just checking them off as they walk in.
• -          Upload that list of attendees as a marketing campaign, create a campaign code, smart list, etc.
• -          Ok, here’s where it gets a bit tricky – you’re going to create an A/B test scenario

o   Begin tracking the campaign code/smart list, etc. for sales. 

o   Take an nth sample of those who did NOT attend the list and use that as your control group.  I prefer a 10% sample (so the naysayers can’t complain that the sample was too small) but you can typically use less.

o   Track A vs. B and determine results associated with:

§  Net new product sold

§  Retention rate – both products and customers

§  New customers brought in

§  Average sales dollar amount

§  Increases in margin that sales produces as it relates to price increases

§  Do a simple ROI based on the cost of the events, etc. vs. sales

§  Tracking could take a year!  Yes a year. 

-         Now there are always different ways to approach this – adding in number of sales calls made, customer satisfaction scores, where they are in the buying cycle, whether a nurturing campaign is engaged, etc.  And let’s recognize that a single event doesn’t make a sale… but if you do an A/B test you can get close to representation.

-          

      But, for a down and dirty method I like to use the above.

Now, have the honest conversation with Sales and Management – whether the results are good, bad or indifferent.

Good Luck,

Scott

International Advertising Festival Cannes Lions - Entry Tips

As we turn into Winter the CannesLions entries will be due shortly. Here’s a few tips from my judging experience.

1.  Read — yep it sounds simple, but read the entry rules and what is required in the entry form. If you don’t provide the information required, more than likely the judges will immediately discount the application.
2.  Language — when I judged about 50% of the judges spoke fluent English. The rest knew English but at varying levels. So keep the messages, short, simple and easy to understand. No fancy/dancy words.
3.  Culture — given the International makeup of Cannes, don’t do anything to offend another culture. Also, pay particular attention to whether any comedy is culture specific. If so, it might be hard for judges to understand the intent.
4.  Teachers Pet — the number of pounds you application has no relevance as to whether it wins. So don’t throw a ton of crap in your entry. If anything it will make it harder for the judges to sort the real entry from the hype.
5.  Numbers — INCLUDE numbers! Results matter… especially if you can attribute sales to the initiative.
6.  Goal — tell the judges what the goal(s) were with the initiative. Keep it short, don’t put the kitchen sink in on the goals. Don’t use the old SNL Shimmer Skit language “it’s a floor wax and a dessert topping.”
7.  Bullet Points — don’t write a lot of paragraphs…. make it quick to get through the application.
8.  Creative — use color versions not black and white reproductions. Yep, saw a few of these.
9.  Video — make sure you have it in the proper format as asked for in the application.
10.  International Campaigns — if you have a campaign which has run across multiple countries make sure to show it off. And if you’re a global company, dig deep across your regions to find the best and the smartest entries. Frankly, many of the best entries I saw were from Asia.
11.  Backups — send a backup electronic copy of the presentation in the event one gets damaged.
12.  Check Off — I can’t stress it enough. You must have all the information or questions answered. Don’t try and put in fluff material which doesn’t answer the question.

Good luck!

Scott

It’s Awards Time

The Golden Globes, Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild… you name it and it will be awarded in the coming months.  And Marketing is now different.

The one I like to key in on, is the Cannes Lions.  Held every summer its kind of the “Academy Awards” of Marketing.  It’s the big one.  If you’re lucky to win one, you’ve covet it forever.

So now is the time to start sifting through all of your marketing activities to find those gems in all the categories.  But remember folks, you’re competing against Marketers and Agencies from across the globe.  

Take a few moments to get educated on Cannes.  I’ll provide some tips on how to bolster your entry in the coming weeks.

Scott