When Event Marketing & Digital Marketing have Sex

In this new blogpost I will tell you how your brand should create a mix between Event Marketing and Digital Marketing to get a much higher ROI on your marketing budget. 

Before I go into details, I would love to have a word on digital marketing. When I see discussion groups about digital marketing on Facebook or on other platforms, the only thing I see are talks about the technical and the hacking part of digital media. "How to X", "how to grow Y" and "what tool do you guys use to automate Z". These are the main questions when reading about digital marketing. Never, but really never do I see articles about how to create a real emotion on digital marketing. On how to create an entertaining experience on digital media. Because digital marketeers don't care about the people that actually consume their creations? A lack of empathy?

That is why, as an (event) marketeer I love to talk about digital marketing. Because I feel I have something to say about it. I really think the discussion on Digital Marketing Groups should be more about "how can we provide our users a better time". Just like during an event. During an event for a brand, we talk about concepts, creativity, fun, food, drinks, amazement, joy,etc. We create a brand experience. That is exaclty the debate I would like to see when we talk about digital marketing. 

But ok, that was just the intro. Let me tell you how your brand can create a real brand experience by focussing on digital marketing and event marketing. 

Let me get tactical on this one. And let me explain how you should do this. 

First, you start by defining your brand DNA (mission, vision, target groups, what differentiates you, strenghts,...).  

Then, you create an event concept within this brand DNA. A stunning concept. And you develop an amazing event where people get to know your brand. There, you get to know your customer. During that event, there are 2 important things. One, you gather as much data as you can. Two, you turn every single guest into an ambassador of your brand. So, make sure to invite relevant influencers on your event. Your cost per contact is high, so be selective and be smart. Data Gathering & Influencer Marketing are so important in that phase of Event Marketing.

Important to know : on that event, you do NOT sell. I repeat, you do not sell on your event. You do branding. Relationships. Bounding. Talking. Sharing the fun. Getting their data. And getting the influencers in your team. The selling part, is in the next step. 

As you have the data gathered on the event, you can now start to build a digital relationship. Careful, remember the first part of this blogpost. I want you to continue to create a great experience. Now is not the time to go all spammy, to growthhack, to push them into sales, etc. Now is time to show some love. To provide value, to entertain, to be fun. In this part of the journey, you must create a digital experience. 

That Digital Experience is devided into 3 steps.

1. Depending on your business (B2B vs luxury B2C vs FMCG) you choose 3 social platforms. On these platforms you repeatedly create native content (that is content adapted to the platform). That content should be entertaining and related to your brand and your business. Not about your business or your brand, but related to it. So entertain, tell a story, share some tips, share some of your favourite spots, show something funny, create emotional pieces of content. Be creative! But it should be related to the DNA of your brand, otherwise there is no subtle link. Got it? 
On these platforms, you also participate. You talk, but you also react and listen to what your customers are posting. It's SOCIAL media. Not pushy media.

2. E-Mail Marketing. So underestimated. Considered as spammy. Why? Not because of the medium. But because of the messages on it. When the message is selling to you, you delete it within a second. But when you apply the same rules as on social media, you will be read. You will be shared. And you will be cared about. 
This medium is also very interesting because you can be personal. You have all these data from the event. You know their history. You can send your customers very personally fitted messages without selling to them. Of course, it is here that you sell. In a couple of these e-mails, you go for the win. You create a sense of urgency. A sense of uniqueness in the offer. And you sell. You lead them in the 3rd part of the experience.

3. Website. Mostly, marketeers start with the website. Not me. it comes last. Because this is the place where you sell. When people are on your website, they mostly already know all about you. So forget the "about" landingspage. Forget the long stories. Go for selling. Clear as a brick. Easy & fun to do. And here again, you get new data. And the journey continues.

So, this is how event marketing and digital marketing have sex (yeah, I know, but I wanted you to really read this :-)).

That is how you create a great customer experience without overpaying for all kinds of marketing. Be smart, be creative and handle your digital channels as if they were events. It will really make a difference for your brand.

Hope you enjoyed it. If it was, please share this with your friends. And if you want to grab a coffee to talk about marketing - just send me an e-mail at laurent@lapinquotidien.com

Written by Laurent Lootens, owner and Founder of Lapin Quotidien and So-Phi.