05

• Marketing


  A management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customers' requirements efficiently and profitably
• Ideal approach to organizing business in today's tourism and hospitality industry

  • Driven by research, which creates an understanding of the consumer, the business, and the marketplace
  • Establishment of a customer orientation that permeates through every role or committee of the organization of an event is essential to its success
  • Ensures the physical product is suited to market needs
  • Ensures the people servicing a venue have a proper understanding of the specific needs of the conference organizer and his delegates and that they are equipped with the personal and technical skills to meet such needs in ways that will encourage the customer to return
• Target audience


  The ideal event audience
• Target marketing


  The right marketing tools to reach the target audience
• Identifying target markets


  1. Determine who the ideal event audience will be as part of an analysis done in the initial program planning stages

  2. Understand the consumer behavior of the target market to identify the best way to reach them

  3. Examine what motivates people to attend some events and avoid others
• Audience profiling


  The process of defining exactly who the target market is, by monitoring consumer buying behavior across multiple platforms
• Areas to consider when researching stakeholders' consumer behavior

  • Demographics (age, marital status, gender, income, education level, cultural/racial makeup, profession, industry, professional status)
  • Psychographics (values, interests, lifestyle, delights, persuasions, attitudes, perceptions)
  • Desired outcomes
• Locating and reaching the target market


  1. Develop a target audience's contact list (association membership lists, previous event attendees)

  2. Use lead generation techniques (collecting business cards, website sign-ups, survey cards, guest lists)

  3. Analyze the reach of marketing tools to determine the most effective for the target audience
• Reach


  The estimated number of potential customers who will see a specific type of promotional or advertising campaign
• Analyzing the target market


  1. Conduct surveys of sample target market audience members and competitive research

  2. Observe and ask questions of potential event attendees to learn what is important to them

  3. Study what motivates attendance at similar types of events
• Five Ps of event marketing

  Product, Place, Promotion, Price, Positioning
• Product


  • What kind of event is being planned, what is being marketed or sold, what is the end benefit to attendees
• Place


  • Where the event will take place, location, accessibility for stakeholders
• Promotion


  • Best methods of communication to reach the intended audience (advertising, public relations, direct mail, word-of-mouth, social media)
• Price


  • Financial demographics of the target audience, ideal ticket or registration pricing
• Positioning


  • Determining the niche the event is trying to fill, what makes the event different from the market, which markets will be receptive
• People


  • The team who will implement the marketing plan and produce the event
• Process


  • Development of the marketing plan and examination of communication effectiveness
• Four Cs of event marketing

  Consumer, Cost, Communication, Convenience
• Consumer


  • Focus on how the event fulfills the audience's needs and why they should want to attend
• Cost


  • Consider both the income needed to produce the event and the attendee's perception of the event's value, including other expenses like transportation, accommodation, meals, etc.
• Communication


  • The method and way of communicating to the intended audience (choice of words, grammar, spelling, design, layout)
• Convenience


  • How easy it is to register for the event and how suitable it is for the audience to attend (timing, location, ease of signing up and payment)
• Direct marketing


  Marketing done by direct communication with consumers/attendees
• Direct marketing for events

  • Mail
  • Email
  • Telephone
  • Advertising
• Mail


  • Sending materials directly to individuals through the postal service, effective for smaller events and VIPs
• Email


  • Cost-effective way to reach a wide audience, need to consider recipients' concerns about spam and viruses
• Telephone


  • One of the best ways to connect with people on a one-to-one basis, using phone scripts as a sales pitch
• Advertising


  • Paid forms of commercial advertisements in print, broadcast, and online media
• Phone tree


  Having several volunteers divide up a phone list to make direct phone calls to lists of contact names
• Third-party telemarketing companies


  Companies used by event organizations to help make phone calls
• Internal sales reps (ISRs)


  People used by event organizations to help make phone calls
• Phone script


  Helps callers use compelling language that will resonate with the potential guests, functions as a sales pitch to help those making phone calls to remember all of the critical details
• Advertisement


  A public notice, usually referring to paid forms of commercial advertisements
• Common forms of commercial advertising

  • Print media ads (newspapers, magazines)
  • Broadcast media ads (TV, radio commercials)
  • Online media (ads on websites, search engines, social networking sites, web videos)
• Other forms of commercial advertising

  • Billboards
  • Mobile telephone screens
  • Bus stop benches
  • Aerial banners
  • Balloons
  • Human billboards
  • Bus and subway train signs
• Trade-out advertising


  Advertising in exchange for a service that the event organizers can provide
• Trade-out advertising examples


  • Exhibit space traded to a publishing company in exchange for an advertisement
  • Event sponsorship by a radio or TV station in exchange for free advertisement
• Posters, brochures, flyers


  Lower-cost forms of advertisement distributed and posted in public places
• Indirect marketing


  Also known as word-of-mouth marketing, promotion using non-traditional and innovative means