Event Marketing—How to plan and market an event

Event Marketing—How to plan and market an event

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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What is event marketing, and how can Root and Roam help?

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Why is event marketing important?

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Event Marketing Plan

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Event Marketing Plan—The Questions You Need to Answer

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Event Marketing Strategy

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Develop Event Marketing Assets

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Marketing Ideas for Events

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Our Experience with Event Marketing

What is event marketing, and how can Root and Roam help?

“Event marketing describes the process of developing a themed exhibit, display, or presentation to promote a product, service, cause, or organization leveraging in-person engagement.”Adobe Experience Cloud

As an event marketing agency, Root and Roam aids clients in planning out the finest details of their events. This includes putting together a marketing strategy and asset creation. We even provide photography and videography services during our clients’ events. 

Our team of event marketers is skilled in creating event marketing strategies that help our clients succeed in achieving their event goals. The process of creating the strategy requires diving into the who, what, when, where, and why of the event and building on those answers to paint the larger picture. In this article, we are going to take you through the process of event marketing planning.

Why is event marketing important?

Event marketing allows consumers to get a small inside look at your business, the values your company upholds, and the value that your product or service can provide them. Event marketing spans from trade shows to charity events and even conferences. 

At these events, you have the opportunity to form personal connections with consumers, and the personal connections you form at these events have the potential to blossom into long-term client relationships.

Event Marketing Plan

Your event marketing plan is the base starting point for marketing your event. This is where you plan out the date, time, and theme of the event, what you will offer your audience, and the overarching goal and purpose of the event.

Event Marketing Plan—The Questions You Need to Answer

Similar to any other marketing plan, the first step you need to take when planning a marketing event is to create the strategy. To create the strategy you need to determine the when, where, who, and how of your event.

  • When will the event take place?
    • What is the time and date of the event?
  • Where will the event take place?
    • What is the city, state, and/or country of the event?
    • Will the event be indoor, or outdoor?
  • Who?
    • Who is hosting the event—are you the host, or is someone else the host?
    • Who will be there—is the event open to the public or strictly private?
  • How?
    • How will you be participating in the event?
      • Are you speaking?
      • Will you have a booth?
      • Are you donating?
      • Will you be providing a demonstration?

Event Marketing Strategy

The event marketing strategy is the second step in marketing your event. Let’s walk through the pieces of an event marketing strategy together.

Event Goals

Let’s nail down the goal of your event. We need to know what you are looking to achieve in order to create the best plan for your event. A few goal ideas for events are to raise money for charity, create brand awareness, or generate leads.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Start with your KPIs for the event. KPIs are how you measure the success of your marketing event. KPI’s should always be reasonable and attainable, based on the projected event attendance and your budget. Your event marketing KPIs can include but are not limited to

  • Obtaining a certain amount of contact information (email addresses, phone numbers, or mailing addresses)
  • Speaking to a certain number of people per day
  • Performing a certain number of demonstrations per day or per event
  • Giving a speech that hits on specific topics
  • Achieving a certain number of sales at the event
  • Reaching a certain threshold of dollars donated—this usually applies to charity events

Your team can even look into KPIs that are achieved post-event courtesy of your efforts at the event. Those include

  • Phone calls 
  • Door swings
  • Sales
  • Contracts

All of the above are achieved because the client learned about your business at the event.

Audience

The next step in the strategy is to determine who your target audience is and where to reach them. We determine who the audience is based on your niche market and the goal of the event. If the goal is to raise money, we will want to target an audience with a certain level of income. If the goal is to create brand awareness, we can target a broader audience within your niche. Staying within your niche is also important so that you don’t waste precious resources on those who are not interested in your business type, to begin with.

You can find out where your audience a few different ways, you can survey new potential and existing clients, you can also rely on quality research regarding your target audience’s media habits. The Root and Roam event marketing team is equipped to assist you in the process of determining the best avenues of advertising for your event.

Budget

Determine your budget for the event. Not only do you need to know the overall budget, but you also need to break that budget down into necessities and non-necessities.

Necessities

  • Permits
  • Building/space rental
  • Transportation (plane tickets, rental vehicles, gasoline)
  • Passes—to enter the event and parking
  • Room and board—food and hotel expenses for yourself, employees, and participants
  • Products and tools for demos
  • Advertisements
  • Wages for attending employees

Non-necessities

  • Entertainment
  • Gifts

It’s important to factor in necessities (the things you have to pay for) first, then tack on the non-necessities if there is room in your budget. This way you have a firm grasp of how much the event will cost your company or organization.

Develop Event Marketing Assets

Event marketing assets include messaging and visual elements of your marketing efforts.

Event Marketing—Messaging

The messaging should be informative and easy to skim. Messaging includes all of the need-to-know elements of the event, along with any fine details that your audience should know. The messaging should also match the event theme and meet your goals of what you want your audience to feel when they read it. Need-to-know information includes but is not limited to

  • Event name
  • Event time, date, and location
  • Entertainment—live entertainment, speeches, tradeshow vendors, food and beverages available—ALWAYS INCLUDE FREE ITEMS IF AVAILABLE

Fine details to include in your messaging are

  • Entry or ticket cost and where to purchase or pre-pay
  • Parking information if applicable
  • VIP opportunities
  • Age limits if the event is not child friendly
  • A web address where your audience can learn more about the event

Event Marketing—Visual Elements

The visual assets are the “pretty pictures” that go along with the event messaging. Visual assets include graphics, infographics, websites/landing pages, photographs, and videos. To create these pieces, you will need to hire graphic designers, website designers, website developers, photographers, and/or videographers. 

Luckily for you, Root and Roam is a full-service event marketing agency—meaning that we are fully staffed with team members that can cover all of the asset development pieces for you.

Marketing Ideas for Events

Based on Root and Roam’s experience, there are a few marketing avenues that we suggest looking into when planning marketing for your event. Our suggestions include pay-per-click advertising, a website or landing page on your website, social media posting and paid ads, radio, newspaper, and magazine ads, flyers, direct mailers, email blasts, newsletters, billboard ads, and word of mouth (tell everyone).  The marketing avenue that will work best for your event depends on your target audience, discussed in the “Audience” section of this article.

Here are a few other marketing ideas for events that we can offer, depending on your role in the event: 

  • Prepare a speech that delivers the purpose, goal, and good of the event and your company or organization’s role there;
  • Purchase booth equipment—this includes the booth fee, tables, chairs, and sectioning screen or curtains if needed;
  • Purchase fliers, banners, pamphlets, a digital slideshow, or free gifts for guests at the event;
  • Prepare sample kits—include any products that you are willing to give away. Remember that consumers are more likely to purchase what they can taste, smell, and touch;
  • Prepare a demo stage—include the equipment you need to produce a demonstration, including safety equipment;
  • Stock up on checks with your company’s name on it, and/or order a giant check for photos;
  • Post on social media—post lives, photos, and videos, and schedule updates throughout your time at the event. You can even let your fans know where to find you at the event.

Our Experience with Event Marketing

Root and Roam has specialized in event marketing in a few different forms, the largest being the production of Bacon Bash Texas, held annually in Cranfills Gap since 2011. Our team is fully involved in the planning and production of Bacon Bash Texas every year. This means that we assist with things as small as hiring judges for the bacon cook-off to the setup and takedown of booths on the day of the event. We also handle all of the pay-per-click, social media, and website marketing for the event year-round.

Outside of Bacon Bash Texas, we assist our clients in preparing for conferences and trade shows by designing and ordering banners and signs for booths. We can even let your fans know that you will be at an event in their area via social media or pay-per-click ads.

Needless to say, Root and Roam has the experience to assist with your event marketing needs. Click the button to kick off your event marketing plan.

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The History of Marketing

The History of Marketing

The history of marketing – Marketing is defined as the action of promoting and selling products or services. For as long as there has been something to trade, barter, or sell, there has also been marketing. From the first example of branded materials to the invention of the printing press to modern technology, let’s take a trip through time and discover the history of marketing.

The_history_of_marketing, The history of marketing goes back thousands of years. In this image, we explore the history of marketing from 1450 (the first appearance of printed advertising) to the more recent boom of social media in the early 2000s-2010s. This timeline of marketing history takes you through the major events that made the industry what it is today.

Looking Forward

As we step into the new year, marketing looks a bit different than it did 200 years ago. Cutting-edge technology and business practices, coupled with new consumer habits, require brands to step up with new marketing techniques in 2022. Forbes magazine predicts that this year consumers will be more inclined to purchase a brand than a product. Buyers want to do business with brands that share their values. Forbes also predicts that consumers will prefer to be taught, rather than sold on the ethics of a business. They understand that company X may have the best customer service around, but they are looking for companies to educate them on their biggest questions.

How To Plan For Holiday Marketing

How To Plan For Holiday Marketing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Holiday Offer

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Holiday Marketing Goals

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Campaign Key Performance Indicators

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Holiday Marketing Campaign Target Audience and Personas

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Holiday Campaign Budget

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Holiday Marketing Action Items

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Get to Work On Your Marketing Plan

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Holiday Marketing Summary

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Final Thoughts

How to plan for holiday marketing. – The hustle and bustle of the holidays do not come without intense preparation months in advance. Consumers save their money year-round to purchase the best decorations, food, and gifts available for their loved ones and themselves. In 2019, $729 Billion was spent during the holiday season. Whether you are advertising for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or December global holidays like Hanukkah and Christmas, or any other holiday, it all boils down to your campaign strategy. A complete campaign strategy will help your marketing team stay organized throughout the process. Your trusted Root & Roam team has put together this checklist to help you get started on your holiday campaign.

HOLIDAY OFFER

The first thing you need to know when preparing for the holiday season is what you want to offer to your customers. Typically, holiday campaigns include discounts and/or limited, seasonal products. When determining what to offer, you will need to consider what will make the most sense for both the consumer and for your business. For reference, you might want to look to the leaders in your niche. The leaders in your industry have likely tried many tactics to reach their audience. They know what works best. Never copy other brands’ offers or campaigns. This is simply an exercise to help you brainstorm your own ideas. Choose an offer that will bring value to your customer and your brand.

HOLIDAY MARKETING GOALS

Your goals are the things you want to achieve with your holiday campaign. A few examples of common goals are to generate sales, revenue, contact information (emails, phone numbers, mailing addresses), website visits, and door swings. 

Your goals will vary depending on your brand and what you wish to achieve. Keep in mind that consumers purchasing products or services during the holiday season are likely expecting to receive their goods or services before their respective holiday. When setting goals, you will need to consider the time it takes to fulfill and ship the item or provide the service.

CAMPAIGN KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are specific measurements of success related to your goals. While key performance indicators are similar to goals, it is important to brainstorm each separately. Because there are many ways to measure performance, your team will need to know what they are looking for specifically. When creating your KPIs, keep them reasonable and attainable while challenging your brand’s capabilities. What we mean by that is to set KPIs that are not beyond your reach like selling more orders than your team is capable of getting out in a reasonable amount of time or obtaining a level of revenue that is extreme. Aiming for a 20% increase from the previous year’s Black Friday sale, for example, is a reasonable KPI. Some examples of KPIs are a specific percentage increase in sales or obtaining a specific number of email subscribers.

HOLIDAY MARKETING CAMPAIGN TARGET AUDIENCE AND PERSONAS

Your target audience is the group or groups of consumers you wish to reach with your marketing efforts. The persona is a visualization of your ideal customer. Having the persona is helpful in determining messaging and platforms. Each persona is determined by research. Gather the following information for each persona:

  • age
  • gender identification
  • social status
  • job status
  • source of media consumption (search platform, social media platform, television, radio, magazine, etc.)
  • parental status
  • professional status
  • relationship status

You need to have at least one defined persona. However, multiple personas are recommended if your target consists of a range of any of the factors listed above. A few tools that you can use when creating personas are surveys, interviews with current or previous customers, and research. Feedback from your clients is valuable when trying to figure out status and media preferences. Give the persona a name and a face to aid in visualizing the persona.

Keep in mind that consumers are typically not shopping for themselves during the holidays. Typically, your persona and target audience are the same. During the holidays, your persona represents the person that would find value in your product or service. Your target audience is the person who might purchase your product or service. Due to this, your team will need to conduct a little extra research to find where they might reach the actual buyer. Depending on what you are selling, your target audience might be grandparents, adult children, parents, friends, or spouses.

HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN BUDGET

The next thing you will have to determine is the budget for the entire campaign and how the projected cost meets your budget. The research will need to be conducted to determine the cost of graphics, photography, videography, models, ad spend, landing pages, social media posting and maintenance, radio ads, and/or actors depending on your chosen platforms. 

The visual piece and labor are usually charged at a flat rate or hourly rate depending on the specifics of what you are looking for. Ad spend is a bit different. Your ad spend should reflect your goals. Ad spend is based on the cost per click or cost per conversion, depending on your goal. Obtaining a sale or a click requires your ad to be shown to anyone who relates to your set audience. Each time your ad shows, a portion of your ad budget is spent. The total amount of your budget that is spent to obtain one click or conversion is the cost per click or conversion. The higher your ad budget, the more people your ad will reach. The more your ad is shown, the higher your chance of achieving your goals. 

Factors that might affect ad cost include but are not limited to: keyword search volume, keyword difficulty, and keyword cost. The appearance and messaging of your ad may also affect your ad spend. The Root & Roam digital marketing team is here to help you navigate ad placement and budget.

HOLIDAY MARKETING ACTION ITEMS

The action items are the key piece of your holiday marketing strategy. This is where you plan out each step to achieve your goals based on your KPIs, personas, and budget. Action items might include creating an ads account, researching keywords, contacting publishers or networks, and creating a social media post or graphic. If you are not sure what is involved in a specific action item, collaborate with your team. Use their input to set each deliverable and their deadlines.

GET TO WORK ON YOUR MARKETING PLAN

Once you have written out your campaign strategy, it is time to delegate the tasks and get to work putting your plan into action. Begin with essential pieces like script or copywriting, filming or photography, and graphic design. If you’re doing print ads, purchase your ad space. Lastly, launch your campaign and wait for the engagements, subscribers, and shoppers to roll in. Post-launch you will need to allow your marketing team time to monitor and make adjustments to your campaign as needed. Monitoring and adjusting is the most crucial piece to making your campaign successful. You want your team to correct weak points in your campaign while there is still time to recover.

HOLIDAY MARKETING SUMMARY

Holiday marketing is much like everyday marketing intensified. During the holidays, you are not only competing within your niche but with every other brand advertising their product or service. The overarching goal of holiday marketing is to convince consumers that your product or service will make the best gift for their loved ones and their pocketbooks.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As you can tell, holiday marketing can take quite a bit of time to execute. Root & Roam recommends beginning your holiday marketing plan months in advance, allowing wiggle room for unexpected events. We know that planning and executing holiday marketing can be challenging. Your Root & Roam team is here to help you through the process. Are you ready to jump-start your holiday marketing plan? Click the button below.

Bringing Brands and Communities Together!

Bringing Brands and Communities Together!

The agency and the brand

 

Here at Root and Roam, we’ve enjoyed almost a decade of supporting one of our favorite clients, Pederson’s Natural Farms. Pederson’s was the first to create a no-sugar bacon and make it available nationally. They’ve grown to 90 employees with dozens more protein products and they continue to grow steadily. From label design to national campaigns, we’ve showcased Pederson’s across numerous channels over the years. Moreover, we have helped them increase revenue along the way.

Recently, they approached us about getting involved on a national level. Although Pederson’s has long supported local farmers and communities near their headquarters in Hamilton, Texas, they became interested in taking that helping spirit and supporting broader needs. And boy were we excited to hear that!

Broadening that giving spirit

 

Pederson’s is passionate about providing some of the best meat on the market. It’s something they take extremely seriously. They were the first to make a no-sugar bacon available nationally.  Since then, they’ve continued creating no-sugar added, non GMO, no nitrite or nitrate, all natural and sometimes organic, no hormones or preservatives…meat (well, you get the point)! They sell great meat. Naturally, working in an industry that provides millions of meals to fellow Americans gets you thinking, and the question arose: “What happens to the people who can’t get natural, wholesome proteins?” That question led Pederson’s to consider doing more to help feed their fellow citizens.

That’s when Root and Roam introduced Pederson’s to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Feeding America works tirelessly to connect people with food and end hunger. And thus, a beautiful partnership was formed!

#PedersonsFeedsAmerica

 

On April 15, 2021, Pederson’s announced its partnership with Feeding America. Pederson’s pledges to provide 1.5 million meals* to communities through their own charitable donation and the donations of Pederson’s customers through the #PedersonsPrepRally campaign.

In conjunction with this partnership, Pederson’s launched a campaign called Pederson’s Prep Rally to bring diverse communities together to celebrate our differences through people’s shared passion for food. Four influencers from diverse backgrounds were identified to help share engaging content across social platforms all while raising awareness about Feeding America. Diversity is a big part of the Prep Rally strategy.  We want to bring different communities together to share their love of food and to support those who need our help in getting quality food. Donation buttons will be on all platforms and websites leveraging the campaign. Together with Root and Roam and all of the Prep Rally influencers, Pederson’s will play an active role in helping to provide meals to those with food insecurity.

The best part about this partnership is that people who donate literally provide meals in their respective zip codes! People can give back and help support their own local communities in need.

How you can help support Feeding America

 

Pederson’s has provided multiple ways that you can donate to those with food insecurities and help support the great work Feeding America does. Here are just a few ways:

Join the Rally Room! The Rally Room is a membership and subscription-based way to get quarterly SWAG, exclusive deals and meat bundles of Pederson’s delicious proteins. All while donating monthly to Feeding America. It’s part of your subscription! You can find out more about the Rally Room here. https://pedersonsfarms.com/pages/prep-rally

You can also go to www.pedersonsfarms.com and donate right on the homepage! No purchase necessary.

You can also check out Pederson’s social media channels – Facebook and Instagram – weekly to find out other ways you can give to Feeding America. We’ve got you covered there!

And finally, to everyone who participates, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Let’s help feed America!

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks. Meal claim valid as of 7/1/20 and subject to change.