By Rizuan Arus Tajul Arus, Marketing & Stakeholder Management
Eventless but eventful. 2020 was the year of virtual events with the pandemic forcing global events industry to adapt and adopt virtual modes. The trend continues in 2021 albeit with a modest return to physical events offering programmes in a safe environment.
Events are seen as business investments that can have a significant impact on growth opportunities and revenue generation. According to Allied Market Research, the events industry size was valued at USD1,135.4 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD1,552.9 billion by 2028, registering a compound annual growth rate of 11.2% from 2021 to 2028 despite the unprecedented circumstances due to COVID-191. No one can predict how events will look like post pandemic, but business events remain relevant, if not business as usual.
With normalcy slowly returning, the following reasons are why events remain important and lucrative economic prospects for businesses to invest in time to come, regardless of how they are conducted.
1. Brand Exposure
According to Chris Grams, Head of Marketing at Tidelift, a good general rule of thumb is to spend no more than 5% – 15% of your total budget on a branding project2. By investing in an event, your brand which includes your logo can be seen in multiple avenues from pre-event online promotions to physical venues and post-event coverage, helping your brand get a well-rounded airtime. Associating your brand with industry level events can also help go a long in building credibility.
2. Content
Apart from conveying your brand message, events can promote your content as a leader in your field. It is an opportunity to showcase your company’s expertise in order to find or attract new markets. Strong content will provide key audiences reasons to believe that your organisation provides for value creation driven by meaningful information that will benefit their entire experience.
Forbes reported that 45% of B2B buyers find event materials – including presentations, keynotes, and booth materials – to be the second most important source of content3. By hosting an event, you can position yourself as the ‘content expert’, by curating and controlling what you share and present to your audience as well as giving employees the chance to learn from industry experts and establish your company as a thought-leader in the process.
3. Networking
Next, the key objective of events (be it a conference or a sports tournament) is to connect with your customers and build meaningful relationships with them. From meeting industry peers to avoiding fear-of-missing-out (FOMO), networking remains the leading reason why people attend events. A study by JWTIntelligence reports around half of the respondents stated they are overwhelmed by the amount of information needed to stay up-to-date4.
Use an event platform to provide a space for attendees to stay in the know. From discussing new collaborations to figuring out industry issues, or simply catching up with your peers, the potential to unlock value resides in event networking. They will help you save time and money from having multiple engagements outside of the event. After all, important connections can help enrich your business.
4. Generate Marketing Content, Publicity
Social media has become an integral part of every business. However, accounts that focus on only self-generated content can seem rather dull or uninteresting in the long run for the followers. By participating in an event, the company is able to generate content from a different angle that showcases the human side of the business.
Studies by Sproutsocial on 2020 social media usage statistics state that 57% of consumers will follow a brand to learn about new products or services, 47% will follow to stay up to date on company news. After they follow, 91% percent will visit the brand’s website or app, 89% will buy from the brand and 85% will recommend it to others5.
With this, holding an event can provide your business with an endless source of marketing content. Through strategic sharing of your event photos, videos and others, you can create plenty of stories to engage with others over a long period of time.
5. Learning
This one is self-evident. Learning is as fundamental as ever and your event is the perfect platform for expanding and diffusing knowledge, ideas and technologies. It is an investment in oneself and one’s career as well as for the organisation as you are bringing back fresh ideas or renewed approach to the business. When in a room (physical or virtual) with a number of people from the respective industry, one is bound to discuss about the latest news and trends. The learning aspect here is curative, which may help create better business outcomes, as compared to sifting through the overwhelming information in the market.
Business events distinctly promote opportunities to share key learnings and industry best practices with like-minded attendees, which also increase the organisation’s credibility. This will in turn attract lifelong learners and knowledge seekers from the sessions and possibly create a community, thereafter bringing along with it your company’s brand.
Whether physical, hybrid or virtual, events are still a key platform for your business to invest in. In summary, investment in events will have potential benefits to your business through brand awareness, networking, and even efficient marketing content. On average, the ROI for events is 25% – 34% (Marketing Charts)6 thus let the statistics remind you of the profit events can bring!
