The life of a business professional is never easy. There’s always a new objective to reach, fresh budget cuts, increased expectations, more effort needed. All this while maintaining a high level of work quality and generating new business. And while there is no easy solution to fix all problems, events can come pretty close.
Generate more leads? Invite them to an event.
Re-engage with leads that might have gone cold? Invite them to an event.
Get contacts closer to signing that contract? Get them to engage with you face-to-face at an event.
Delight customers? You know the answer by now.
With the proper set-up, events (and especially B2B events) can deliver quick results with companies of all sizes and across the entire sales funnel. They support business objectives and have a clear deadline in which you can track results (the date of the event). Let’s see why they’re so beneficial and how to take full advantage of them for your marketing.
1. What does research tell us about B2B events
2. The different types of B2B events
4. When you shouldn’t plan your own B2B event
5. How easy is it to plan a B2B event?
7. Evaluating the results of a B2B event
8. The complete B2B event marketing checklist
B2B events are a huge booster of awareness & engagement. They give the potential customers the chance to engage with the company’s representatives, to build a relationship with the brand, to position you as a thought leader. The positive experience they will have at your event will help take the brand’s name further.
Here are some event statistics that show you why events are a valuable resource:
On top of awareness and engagement, B2B events generate leads. Having people register for the event creates that first contact and interaction between them and your brand. Events help you navigate through the funnel, whatever your lead’s stage may be.
These numbers show the potential impact of well-executed B2B events. To help you achieve similar results, we've created a comprehensive planning template that covers all the essential steps.
In marketing terms, events, with variable size and different topics, are a method of connecting customers to your business. B2B event marketing is “planning, organizing, and executing an event for the purpose of promoting a brand, product, or service. B2B events can take place in-person or online, and companies can either host an event, attend as an exhibitor, or participate as a sponsor.” (according to Hubspot).
Based on your resources, you can join an external B2B event as an attendees, speaker, exhibitor or sponsor, or host your own event (or all of the above). Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of event:
|
External B2B events |
Own B2B events | ||||
| Features & benefits | Attending | Speaking | Exhibiting | Sponsoring | |
| Operational Complexity | Low |
Medium – preparation for presentation |
High – booth setup and staffing |
Medium – coordination with organizers |
Very high – full event planning and logistics |
| Content (topics, speakers, etc) |
No control over content delivered in the event |
Limited control - of your own session |
No control over content delivered in the event |
No control over content delivered in the event, unless a speaking slot is included |
Full control over content delivered in the event |
| Access to other attendees |
Limited to networking sessions and own efforts (no contact lists shared before) |
Usually limited to networking sessions, but with more visibility to other attendees compared to just attending |
Ability to gather contact details at the stand (+ full list of attendees in some events) |
Dependant on organizer’s rules (some share contact details, others promote your services from their channels, etc) |
Full access to contact details of everyone joining the event |
| Budget |
Participation fee - some events may be free |
Free, but by invitation/application in general |
Costs ranging from hundreds to thousands of € |
Usually in the thousands/tens of thousands of € |
Depending on event type* (see budget section below) |
| Brand Visibility |
Low – limited to name badge or attendee list |
Moderate – personal and brand visibility during session |
High – branded booth, materials, and representatives |
Very high – brand featured in official event materials |
Maximum – full control over branding throughout the event |
| Lead Quality / Intent |
Low – often early-stage interest & hard to target attendees with high intent |
Medium – depends on session topic & post event follow ups |
High – visitors opt-in at booth |
Medium to high – if aligned with content and depends on post event follow ups |
High – control over messaging and funnel |
Of course, budget will be one of the reasons for choosing a particular type of B2B event. But it shouldn’t be the first or only one.
When we advise clients on including B2B events in their marketing mix, we look at:
Good content is the first step to a successful B2B event. The next one is making sure you promote it; otherwise, you have a great speaker line-up without anyone knowing about it. It is not uncommon for people to forget about one or the other, so don’t make that mistake.
Not sure what type of event is right for you? Reach out and let’s discuss!
Events shouldn’t live in a bubble that is unconnected to everything else. On the contrary, successful events feed into the different stages of the sales funnel and deliver results based on them.
One common mistake we see in companies is designing a B2B event that isn’t niched. Because resources are limited, sometimes, you try to cram everything into one event - invite all your company contacts, regardless of their profile (different industries, different job titles or roles). And when you try to come up with topics that appeal to everyone in the audience, you either end up with general stuff that doesn’t bring value to anyone or with niched content that leaves some of the audience bored.
Another mistake is misalignment between the B2B event objective and content or event format. If you want to generate awareness, a demo about your service isn’t the best way to go about it, since it won’t attract new leads, who might not be in the market for your services now. If you want to close deals, a general B2B networking event might not help as much as presenting a case study or showing your services in action.
A successful event will be one that:
Making sure that event promotion takes place at the right time is key for success. Our planning template includes a list of promotional strategies (& auto-calculated deadlines) to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the basic stuff.
If you’re creating an event for early stages (awareness), clients will mostly be interested in thought leadership and general topics. At this point, they are not actively looking for providers, so the B2B event you create (or attend) should focus on industry trends or pain points of your customers that have a similar profile to them.
The goal here would be to get new leads and then nurture them until they are in the market for buying. To do so, your content should be 100% informative (no sales pitches for people in the awareness stage). They are not in the market for buying and your B2B event should take that into account.
In the consideration stage, people already know they have a need and they are evaluating different providers. Unbound B2B have found some of the factors that influence B2B purchase decisions:
So, you need to figure out how to showcase these in your B2B event, but instead of focusing on your particular service, you need to be more general. Why? Because in this stage, you want to gain people’s trust - they haven’t decided they want to work with you, so you need to be perceived as being helpful and knowledgeable rather than sales oriented.
You could highlight what to consider when evaluating different providers in your industry. You could talk about setting objectives for your client’s projects and evaluating them, which would support your potential future customers in building better briefs. You might also want to be associated with industry leaders or influencers by having them speak at your B2B events, who can enhance your credibility in the market.
Whilst in the awareness stage, the content should be 100% informative, in this stage, it starts to become a little more salesy too and we recommend 70% informative (continue to discuss general industry topics and pains) and 30% salesy (with a focus on how you solve those issues). The goal is to get people to have meetings/conversations with your sales team after the event. However, don’t expect to close deals just yet - that’s for the next stage.
Going back to the factors that influence B2B decision making from above, now it’s time to make your services or products take the highlight. At this point, you’re looking at 60-70% content that is sales-focused.
What examples can you give to show product performance? You could perhaps run a demo or present a customer story. What are the extra features that bring value to your customers and could be addressed in a presentation?
The goal here is to get people to ask for an offer and the event structure and topics should focus on addressing potential objections or questions they have in the sales process.
See how we helped one of our clients, a cybersecurity company, generate 106 new leads and strong engagement with an end-to-end webinar strategy developed by us.
B2B events are one of the few channels that get you in front of your audience and provide a high level of interaction, even if this is virtual. If your services are complex, if you’re pioneers in your market, if the decision making process is complex for clients or you have more than 1 decision maker involved, it might be easier to present what you do in an event rather than on a website landing page, for example.
Face to face interaction can also increase credibility, positioning you as a thought leader. B2B events, in person or virtual, will help put a face to the business and showcase aspects of the brand personality.
However, if:
When you ensure B2B events are integrated in your marketing objectives, you get better results from them.
The answer is: it depends. But because good planning is the key to a successful event, we recommend spending plenty of time in this phase together with the marketing, sales & products team that can provide relevant insights for the event development.
Based on your resources, you can either choose to do this internally or get an external provider to help.
When planning an event you have to start with asking yourself a few questions:
These will help you plan your event and content strategy (agenda wise) and set your objectives. Get them right, and the promotion of the event will basically take care of itself. Of course, with some push.
Talking of promotion, nothing is more important than your B2B event marketing plan and this can absolutely make or break your event. The closer you get to your B2B event, the more likely you are to get too busy to remember what you should be doing and could get lost in tiny operational bits, instead of implementing the strategic activity that will bring you the best results.
That is why, it is important to create a B2B event marketing plan from the beginning, that takes into account where you can find your target audience, what type of messages to send to them, over what channels and with what frequency.
Here is a basic planning and marketing template for a small event, helping you schedule in advance the important milestones.
One of the most common questions we get from clients is "How much should we budget for a B2B event?" The answer, like many things in marketing, is: it depends on the type of event you choose, your objectives, and your target audience size.
External B2B events have more predictable costs:
Own B2B events offer more control but variable costs. Here’s a general guide of budget allocation for own events:
These can change depending on the scope of the event and any assets you might already have. For example, if you have a network of speakers and you can invite them to join the event for free, the cost of speakers will decrease. If you have an event space in the company HQ, venue costs will decrease and so on.
If you’ve gone through the steps from this guide, you know that the performance of a B2B event depends on how you plan it and how well it is integrated in the marketing plan. In the planning phase, you’ve set your objectives and target sales funnel cycle. On top of tracking those, there are a few other KPIs you can look after.
Sure, having a B2B event with a lot of attendees is great, but are they new leads? Is the sales process simplified because it started at an event? Can you upsell to existing clients visiting the event and did the event have an impact in your relationship? Are they even engaging with your company post event or where they a one off?
Understanding your targets in the planning stage will keep you on track when you start marketing the B2B event, since you will always work towards your set benchmark and it will bring more leads from the event.
You can also track indicators such as brand sentiment and net promoter score (NPS), to understand how positive or negative are the feelings of people discussing your brand online and how likely they are to recommend it.
On top of that, you would have to follow up with the leads:
After the event - thank them for joining, potentially send a feedback link, let them know what are the next steps (to get them progressing through the funnel)
Ongoing follow ups:
Many people tend to omit #2, do one follow up, get some replies (or none) and move on. The leads you’ve generated should be included either in your newsletter or revisited frequently with personalised follow-ups: by email, phone or LinkedIn. This will continue to generate results even long after your event has finished.
Now you have everything ready to deliver a good B2B event - good luck!
And if you need any help, reach out to see how we can support your B2B marketing objectives.
Below, you'll find a complete checklist to make sure your B2B event is not only properly organized but also aligned with your marketing and business objectives.
In it, you'll find everything you need to do: from defining your initial objectives to implementing a successful lead-nurturing strategy.
Scroll below or download the full checklist here.