Events and conferences have always been a part of a B2B company’s marketing toolkit, but in today’s media-saturated environment, they are an increasingly important method for businesses to connect. But before this can happen, you first need to attract businesses to your event.
This is where multichannel marketing comes in.
What Is Multichannel Marketing & Why Does It Matter For Your B2B Event?
In the past, and even during the early days of digital media, marketers could focus their attention and marketing efforts on only a few marketing channels.
However, for marketers to have an impact today, they need to spread their message across as many channels as possible. Their potential customers are no longer just reading the newspaper or watching the TV news. Today their customers are looking at their friends’ holiday photos on Facebook, adding a story to their Instagram feed and checking out what’s trending on Twitter. And they’re doing it using their iPhones, Android phones, tablets and PCs.
Even if your potential customer is filtering out a significant number of these channels, an effective multichannel strategy will still allow you to reach them. For example, if they only check work-critical emails, a quick phone call informing them about the opportunities your B2B event will present them with will immediately pique their interest. This approach will dramatically increase your reach and increase the attendance for your B2B event.
How To Implement An Effective Multichannel Approach:
Understand Who Your Audience Is
While you may start off with a large group that looks homogenous at first glance, a closer inspection may reveal subgroups within your audience.
For example, you may be marketing an event to real estate agents. A deeper look at different criteria, such as age, interests and personalities, could reveal that there are actually two major subgroups: real estate agents aged 26–30 who like travelling and browsing Instagram, and another that's 36–40 who like to spend their time with family and friends and use Facebook. This type of information will greatly influence the rest of your multichannel strategy and is vital to your campaign.
Pick The Right Channels
Next, you need to identify the channels that your potential audience are using (multichannel doesn’t mean every channel). This will allow you to ensure your limited resources can have the most impact by targeting channels your prospects are most likely to use.
Channels that you will need to assess include:
- Social media
- Advertising
- Personal networks
- Tele calling
Ensure Your Message Is Consistent, But Tailored To The Requirements Of The Different Platforms
Once you’ve identified the right channels, you’ll need to develop a consistent messaging strategy. Even if you’re targeting different groups on different platforms, an individual should be able to see the connection between the messages and link them to your brand, as well as the product, service or event you are promoting.
That being said, it’s vital that you deliver your message in a way that resonates with the platform or channels audience. For example, an ad or promotional piece that works on Facebook won’t necessarily translate well to Email.
By implementing these steps in your multichannel strategy, you’ll ensure that your multichannel strategy for your event or conference is a success. If you’d like to know more about how a multichannel strategy can enhance the impact of your event or conference, be sure to take a look at our guide Strategies For Maximising The Impact Of Event Communication. If you have any other queries, you can also contact us today.
