Are You On The Market?

I read this really great article on event marketing with the digital world and I highly suggest you read it too. Essentially, it describes the relationship between the two as not being a very good one. The computer is a great communication tool, but with event marketing who is going to be carrying a laptop around? A computer/ website is useful up to a point, before and after an event but then is just about completely useless at the very moment of a special event. As the article describes, marketing is lost since…“The time period missing is the event itself -- the time when consumer interest is naturally at it’s highest. This is prime time to advertise, update, publicize, and inform.”…

Here comes the cellphone to the rescue. The mobile phone offers various interactive methods and it is almost guaranteed that whoever walks through the doors to an event has one. Because of this, event organizers can engage with the audience and extend revenue opportunities. This interaction of the person with their cellphone brings up the world of Web 3.0, which is the personal web and mobile data. Here, event organizers can create mobile programs that provide schedules, branded updates, exclusive access, seat arrangements, registration, and may be even used as a pass for entry! “Event-based mobile media access keeps it personal, practical, and direct.“ as explained by the author. This mobile application should be combined with other campaign tactics such as kiosks to gain more PR opportunities.

exinary.com

This new century approach is able to catch an event’s audience much better than traditional methods of interaction. Those methods include prior promotions, kiosks, tents with laptops, and more. As I stated in my previous post, I am traditional therefore personal interactions would matter to me at these functions, which is something that was not brought up in this article at all. Word-of-mouth is still the top marketing strategy with high credibility and costs nothing. Even so, the combination of all these elements will greatly aid the special events industry.