1. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Executing an Event Marketing Plan
Executive Summary
Event Marketing is used to support a variety of marketing programs and initiatives.
Deciding what types of events to attend and/or host, identifying the content you will
present, initiating promotion to attendees, and evaluating every detail of your event(s) are
just a few components of the overall event marketing process. Meticulous planning and
effective promotion of your event will ultimately lead to ease of execution and, in turn, a
positive response.
This How-To Guide is designed to provide practical advice on planning, promoting and
executing your event marketing plan. This guide outlines the event planning process,
provides tips to promote your events, and explains how to execute a successful event.
What Does the Event Marketing Planning Process Involve?
After you have committed to an event or an event strategy, you will enter a planning
phase. To make the best possible impression, events require extensive planning. Here are
some items that need to be considered:
1. Selecting Events - When considering tradeshows and industry conferences to
choose from, there are some key factors that should influence your choices:
 The types of events your customers & prospects attend,
 Which events show reputation & quality,
 The presence of competitors, and
 Cost.

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© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
If you plan on attending a trade show, Use Demand Metric’s Tradeshow Evaluation
Matrix to determine the best fit.
2. Choosing a Venue (if hosting) – When choosing a venue for your event it is
important to consider:
 Capacity
 Amenities
 Parking
 Pricing/Fees
 Storage
 Availability
 Maintenance
 Food & Beverage
 Technical Requirements
3. Staffing Your Event - Determine the optimal staffing requirements to ensure
success. Elements to consider include:
 Staffing Level - At tradeshows, staff for peak traffic flows to ensure prospects
aren’t waiting or passing by because your team is busy.
 Set-up - Create a team just for set-up and take-down to allow staff involved
in the actual event to focus on the purpose of the event and potential clients.
 Length - At day-long events, plan to have enough staff at peak times and
schedule breaks accordingly.
 Type - Bring customer-facing staff (sales, marketing and support) to the
event. Personable and/or outgoing team members are generally best.
4. Technology Requirements - Determine your technology requirements and ensure
the event venue is able to accommodate them. Aspects to consider in your
planning include: Internet availability, mobile phone coverage, equipment (PCs,

3. How-To Guide
© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
displays and/or other demo devices), electrical/power requirements and the
availability of a lead capturing system at your venue.
5. Promotion Items & Collateral - Determine what promotional items and marketing
materials are needed to provide event attendees. Promotional items & collateral
may include branded giveaways, contests and/or draws and marketing materials.
Keep in mind that tradeshow attendees throw away much of what they get before
heading home. Provide basic product and company information, and plan to follow-
up after the event to provide more details.
6. Amenities - Consider other amenities your event may need and plan for them.
Amenities can include, but are not limited to, catering, decorations, booth design
and signage.
Key Steps of Event Promotion
When it comes to event planning; the promotion strategy deserves special attention. You
can tend to all other details of event planning, but if you don’t promote your event
properly, it can easily fail. This section will cover three steps of event promotion:
1. Pre-Event Marketing & Promotion for Tradeshows – Promote your presence prior
to a trade show by incorporating the following activities into your promotional
strategy:
 Promote your attendance via your website, blog, eNewsletter and social
media channels.
 Obtain registration list from show organizers and develop pre-event
communications to attendees such as: direct mail, email or both.
 Help attendees qualify themselves in your communications by positioning
your company or featured solution.

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 Indicate your booth number or location and provide an incentive for people
to visit (“register to win”, “stop by to pick up swag”, “see a demo”, etc.).
2. Pre-Event Marketing for Events you Produce – Before you kick-off your upcoming
event, follow the steps below to help increase attendance:
 Collaborate internally with sales team, and executives to identify ideal
attendees.
 Determine advertising strategy: invitations, print ads, social media, email,
other
 If using invitations, build the guest list and design invitation.
 If you require an RSVP, have a follow-up plan to ensure attendance.
 Make sure that accepting an invitation is as simple as possible.
 Provide all event details in your promotional material: time, place, duration,
transportation, etc.
3. At Event Promotion – If your objective is to obtain impressions (encounters with
attendees/leads), your goal is to:
 Maximize the number of impressions you get.
 Have the impressions you get represent your brand well.
 Capture significant “impressions” as leads.
Impressions are valuable opportunities to create and build relationships with
potential leads. Make sure your presence at an event takes full advantage of these
opportunities.

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© 2013 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Essentials to Successful Event Execution
A successful event is a product of meticulous planning and flawless execution. The more
care and effort invested in planning; the easier the event is to execute, and the more likely
it is to succeed. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind:
 Focus on details – Anyone who has managed an event will tell you that if
something is likely to go wrong, it will. For this reason, best practices for managing
event execution include:
 Work your plan – check and double-check your plan, then work from it.
 Anticipate problems – expect the unexpected. Come up with a plan of action
for potential problems or issues so you’re ready to deal with them quickly &
efficiently, and avoid any disruption during the event.
 Be specific – make no assumptions. Any aspect of your plan that lacks
sufficient detail risks being misinterpreted and executed incorrectly.
 Show up early – give yourself plenty of problem resolution time.
 Communicate proactively – communicate with everyone involved to ensure
roles and responsibilities are well understood.
 Manage the participants – Events usually require the participation of internal and
external stakeholders. A few tips for managing participants include:
 Clarify roles - make sure that everyone who has a role understands their
specific responsibilities.
 Set expectations - In addition to clarifying roles, communicate exactly what is
expected from every participant and get acknowledgement of acceptance and
understanding.

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 Send reminders – Don’t assume participants will remember their role.
Communicate their responsibilities and confirm their commitment before the
event.
 Plan for contingencies – Consider “worst case scenarios” and have a contingency
plan for each one. Examples to consider:
 Malfunctioning demo technology
 Speaker/presenter no-show
 Inclement weather
 Booth display or materials fail to arrive at show site
 Flight delays or cancellations
Action Plan: How to Get Started
1. Begin the planning process – work with your team to plan for tradeshows,
conferences, webinars or any other events you are planning to attend or host. A
few tools that may assist you in the planning process: our Webinar Program
Methodology, Events Database, and Conference Planning Checklist.
2. Promotion – advertise your events to ensure you get enough attendees to justify
the investment in your tradeshow, conference and/or webinar.
3. Execute and attend – now that you’re planning and promotion stages are complete,
you can attend your events and ensure everything runs smoothly.
4. Evaluate & measure the results – our Key Marketing Metrics Dashboard will help
you track & assess the results from all of your event marketing efforts

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Bottom Line
Events can have a large impact on your brand’s overall perception. By outlining every
detail of your event(s), advertising your presence, and executing your event(s) flawlessly;
attendees will take away, at a minimum, a positive experience associated with your brand
and company. Potential clients and partners will remember those positive experiences
when considering doing business with your company in the future.