Yet, marketers shouldn’t downplay the importance of attending industry functions. Indeed, many marketers maintain that face-to-face time with client and other aspects of industry conferences have become even more meaningful at a time when most client interactions are conducted digitally.
Marketing at conferences, furthermore, is still popular. For example, 61% of marketers allocate at least 10% of their budgets to industry events, according to the CMO Council. For 18% of businesses, spending on conferences exceeds 30% of budgets.
Many marketing teams value the trust that can be forged with clients from face-to-face meeting at the events. Marketers also realize that conferences are an opportunity to demonstrate support for the development of industry standards, or best practices, and government policies that are favorable for their clients and business sectors.
Such advocacy can boost companies’ images among customers. Conference attendees also benefit by learning about industry trends and catching up on competitive intelligence when networking.
While simply showing up is an important component of success, marketers can boost the benefits of being involved with conferences by preparing for the events in advance. Volunteering to help plan conference agendas and to find speakers, for example, can be an important component of networking and making industry contacts.
In some cases, firms may want to offer to have their executives make presentations at events, which can be a powerful marketing strategy. Either way, contacts established while planning industry events can often help marketers meet additional prospects while also enhancing their firm's image. The networking can also help conference attendees learn about new products that vendors are launching and the quality of the services that firms are providing.
A big benefit of industry conferences is having a chance to entertain clients and prospects. With that in mind, marketers should try to schedule dinners or other social functions with clients and prospects. Such meetings will help to build trust, allow firms to express gratitude to their clients, and provide customers the opportunity to give feedback on the services they are receiving.
Marketers should take time to prepare for clients meetings. It will often be advantageous to check customer relationship management technology before meetings to gather up-to-date information on clients. Having knowledge of a client’s product usage and prior interactions with a firm can help make meetings more productive.
In some cases, marketers may even find potential opportunities for cross selling products when reviewing client records. Meetings, of course, don’t have to be limited to one-on-one discussions. Larger firms should consider sponsoring parties for clients as another method for expressing gratitude.
Most industry events are attended heavily by the press. As such, they can be an attractive opportunities for building relationships with industry reporters. When making plans to attend conferences, therefore, marketers should ask reporters if they would like to schedule meetings with executives at events. Firms should also assess if they should invite members of the press to social functions that are held during the conferences.
The aftermath of conferences is also important. Marketers should ensure that they have sufficient time after attending industry events to update their client records with information obtained during meetings and to follow up on requests that customers or prospects may have made during conferences. Of course, sending out paper notes thanking clients for meetings is also an important aspect of relationship building and can add a personal touch.