May 27, 2016
Audience: event marketers.
A New Definition of Data-Driven Marketing
Data-driven marketing is a process that captures insights and data from a prospect.
Data-driven marketing is a process that analyzes and scores the prospect’s data and behavior.
Data-driven marketing is a process that triggers marketing actions and campaigns based upon marketing analysis.
Data-driven marketing can be understood through a consumer analogy.
In the online shopping experience, data-driven marketing provides recommendations of complementary products to improve the overall experience.
From the marketer’s perspective, data-driven marketing uses data from secondary sources to customize approaches for each prospect.
This customization optimizes the buyer journey to meet the needs of each prospect.
The challenge at in-person events is the lack of information to determine how to engage each prospect.
Scans provide contact and basic registration data but do not capture engagement before, during, and after the event.
A data-driven marketing approach uses richer data to inform engagement and offers, leading to better event ROI.
How does data-driven marketing improve your ROI?
If you’re still wondering how data-driven marketing can make a difference to your company, you’re not alone.
The approach tracks engagement and collects real-world data to inform decisions.
Companies that adopt data-driven marketing can see improvements in ROI by tailoring campaigns to buyer personas and behavior.
Data-driven marketing helps by combining data from social media, analytics, SEO, and content targeting to improve buyer persona accuracy.
A targeted campaign based on attendee insights can reduce misaligned offers and increase conversions.
The approach aligns offers with a prospect’s needs by using data to customize messaging, timing, channel, and subject matter.
A data-driven marketing approach enables more personalized engagement by using primary and secondary data sources to understand a prospect’s interests and behavior.
The approach helps you map the buyer journey and optimize the funnel around each prospect’s needs.
What steps are needed to get the most out of data-driven marketing for events?
1) Create Targeted Email Campaigns
You can use the information you’re gathering to segment and target your invitation list.
Who is your audience?
Identify the most important attendees and those who will enhance your event by attending and participating.
2) Personalize Prospect Emails
Beyond targeting your invitations, don’t assume a one-size-fits-all approach to your marketing.
Rich data on prospects enables targeting multiple personas.
Without attendee insights, you’ll be unable to properly segment your email follow-up campaigns.
This also applies to creating individual landing pages for each persona.
3) Pre-schedule Appointments
When possible, pre-schedule appointments for the event.
This allows participants to check in, ask questions, watch a demo, and provide opportunities to network.
Include an area on the event app for notes or voice recordings so attendees can share details of the individuals they’ve met.
4) Track Your Social Media Presence
If you can’t add a branded event app, maintain a solid presence on social media at the event site.
Use official hashtags to track conversations.
Offer gated content for those who use the official hashtag to post about the event.
5) Capture Attendee Behavior
The data you gather can guide session recommendations and event scheduling.
Tracking attendee behavior helps you decide which sessions to promote and what topics to emphasize.
6) Monitor Social Media Mentions
Develop a comprehensive social media plan to monitor channels.
Create talking points to keep attendees engaged.
Develop official hashtags and tracking tools to monitor progress toward goals.
Consider upgrades to attendance packages for referrals to extend reach.
7) Review Data for Timely Follow-up
Don’t forget follow-up after the event.
Analyze data from attendees to improve post-event marketing strategies.
8) Plan Post-Event Lead Nurturing
Plan post-event engagement such as links to presentations and contact lists.
Group attendees by persona and tailor follow-up accordingly.
Include analysis of confirmed registrants and no-shows.
Use persona-based approaches for future events to improve engagement.
9) Analyze Event ROI
Measure ROI by examining event outcomes after the event.
Use data to map attendee behavior to exhibitors and sessions.
Use insights to refine future events and improve ROI.
This data-driven approach helps you run cross-channel campaigns that reach prospects at the right times and improves overall event ROI by leveraging collected data to guide decisions.