B2B Marketers Investing in Physical Events to Improve ROI

According to Regalix Research’s “State of B2B Event Marketing” report, 91 percent of B2B marketers still invest in event marketing, with 79 percent believing that physical events yield better ROI when compared with other elements of the overall marketing mix.

Event marketing can be defined as strategic marketing and advertising specialization that provides customers and prospects with an interactive experience of a company, according to Regalix Research. About 73 percent of respondents said that conferences were the most commonly conducted marketing event. Furthermore 64 percent see their event marketing budgets increasing within the next 12 months.

“B2B event marketing continues to be viewed as a critical thrust area in a company’s overall marketing mix,” wrote the authors of the report. “Of the executives surveyed, only 4 percent say events are not significant. As many as 57 percent of marketers find event marketing extremely significant in accelerating lead generation and growing the sales pipeline.”

About 76 percent of marketers have a calendar that features at least one even per quarter. Nearly 44 percent of respondents said that they conduct at least 10 events per year.

“A variety of physical events are popular,” wrote the authors. “Possible reasons include higher ROI, higher immediacy, and the opportunity for nondirective, face-to-face marketer-customer and customer-customer interaction and experience-sharing.”

Boosting Tradeshow ROI

Marketech and Skyline teamed up to create a white paper based on what trade show attendees consider to be best practices. “What Attendees Tell Us About Best Practices” looked at responses from 3,341 trade show visitors to find out what grabbed their attention.

Researchers found that 53 percent of trade show visitors come to learn if exhibitors have any new products or services, while 32 percent said that they come to obtain product information. Approximately 11 percent said that they come to see a product demonstration, while 10 percent say that they visit to speak to a representative.

“We have noticed in all of our studies over the past six years that there is a correlation between learning and inclination to buy, prescribe, recommend or influence after visiting an exhibit where there was new learning,” wrote the authors of the white paper.