8.5 C
London
Friday, March 29, 2024

EXPERIENCES VS NEEDS IN THE NEW B2B EVENTS

Must Read

CREATIVE EVENTS WHERE THE EMOTION OF THE ATTENDEES IS THE OBJECTIVE TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT. A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SENSES THAT WILL STRENGTHEN THE RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR TARGET ACCOUNTS, CREATING LASTING BONDS OVER TIME.

We all like events. Meet people from your sector, with whom you share common interests and visions outside the office environment; enjoy a sporting, technological or cultural event, where in addition to having fun, you will surely learn something new, meet a celebrity … quality food and drink, and return home with a gift. What more could you want?

The events in B2B are an ally you cannot ignore. The events reinforce your personal and professional brand, they are organized by people from one company for people from another company, who share common interests, creating long-term professional and personal connections. Putting a face on a person with whom you may have spent months exchanging emails or phone calls, streamlines relationships and decision-making in the company.

In addition, the informative and / or educational tone of your event will give your company greater visibility and recognition. Showing yourself as an expert in your sector will give your company greater recognition and credibility, as well as positioning yourself as a pioneering and innovative leader in your field.

Emotional events

What happens now with all the changes caused in the events sector by the Covid-19 pandemic? How can I continue to create these connections between companies in a reality in which mobility is limited, capacity is limited and security measures have to be extreme? 

Create and design new formats of emotional events, seek the connection of your company with your target accounts: give a more emotional approach to B2B events. If your objective is more practical than emotional, such as presenting a product or service to suppliers, clients, or company personnel, turn it around, dare to be creative, and turn the main objective of your event into something emotional: design an experiential journey for the attendees, lead them through the emotions to you. In this way, the shopping experience will be faster and more emotional.

What will you achieve with this new approach?

– A faster purchasing decision making within the company as emotion is more present than rationality.

– Stronger and lasting relationships, by sharing common values ​​communicated from transparency and truth.

– Communicate more technical aspects of your product or service in a direct and clear way, with a familiar and close language, that the public can understand, in order to create an emotional connection, which will build a deeper and lasting relationship.

New formats for new times

If we know something, it is that everything is already invented, but that is not why we must stop innovating and searching. If at this time we cannot develop the events as we have done so far, we must give it a twist, and adapt the formats to the new reality, without losing sight of the experiential journey of our attendees. New mixed events based on experience, emotion and creativity.

1. SPORTS EVENTS

Sport is associated with positive values ​​that any company can identify with: sport is emotion, it is passion, it is a team… a good sports sponsorship can make a difference and bring great benefits to your company / brand.

Events in an outdoor space, where it is easier to comply with security measures; where you can combine various formats of B2B events such as conferences, VIP dinners, product presentations, meetings with brand ambassadors … and thus be able to achieve various objectives on various audiences in the same space.

2. CONFERENCES

Share knowledge and training with an event based on presentations of interest about your sector, in which your company is positioned as a promoter of knowledge. In the new normal, you can do the event in person, taking into account the limited capacity and security measures ; semi-face-to-face, where you accommodate your entire audience or totally online.

In any case, you are going to need quality speakers, key names that attract an audience to your event. If the event is face-to-face, make sure there is an exhibitor area so that sponsors and collaborators can exhibit their products. Nothing like being able to see and test the things that are being talked about.

The roadshow conferences are being a successful trend in recent times. With a clear and concise format; quality speakers and an experiential theme, an event that moves through various parts of the geography helps you reach more target accounts, where the initial investment of creativity and talent has already been made and amortized.

Another type of conference is internal conferences at the company or group level, where sponsors, suppliers, company personnel, etc. are contacted directly. A way to connect people, to know who is who on the game board, and helping to build solid relationships to understand the common goal of the company or group. Days of several days in which to work on concrete values ​​and offer attendees the possibility of enjoying leisure moments together , where interpersonal relationships take on importance, and lay the foundations of B2B.

3. EXPERIENCE SEMINARS

Mini events, either in person or online, where attendees will acquire specific experience and knowledge of your product or service. The host is usually a subject matter specialist or marketers. If, in addition, these experience seminars can be used to accumulate training hours or credits, you give them added value.

4. VIP DINNERS

VIP dinners for clients are a great opportunity to network among a select audience, very exclusive and with a clear objective and purpose. They work with invitation in a private space where an intimate experience is guaranteed that makes the guest feel unique, cared for and special. In this select environment, you can have real conversations in a more relaxed atmosphere, accompanied by a gastronomic experience and a special atmosphere. Complementing the event with live music, offering luxury gifts or an interactive experience are some of the recommendations to carry out these VIP dinners with a successful result.

5. FAIRS

The fairs are a unique event to publicize first-hand a new launch or any novelty in our product or service. A space where you can see and test, where you can network and create personal engagement. Perhaps, in the current circumstances, face-to-face fairs, as we have known them so far, will have to wait a little longer to recover the previous formats, but adapted to new needs, they can continue to be offered, either in a mixed way complementary to another type of B2B event.

7 Aspects to take into account when organizing a B2B event

1. Choose your target audience well. This will also help you choose the format and type of event, the more defined the better. Create your “buyer persona”, a concept taken from Inbound Marketing that refers to the ideal person or people in your purchasing process. As it is a business event, your person will most likely be CEOs, entrepreneurs, marketing directors or other departments…

2. Define your goal. According to eWorldTrade, Once you have chosen the audience you are going to address, you have to set a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time). Depending on your needs, you will design an event that is in line with the marketing strategy, always taking into account what you want to communicate, without neglecting the objective so as not to lose the focus of the event.

3. Choose a theme. Focus on a very clear and definable topic, in which you are an expert and that adds value to the public. Do not be afraid to be creative, help yourself with storytelling, design an experiential trip for your audience, avoid live advertising, explaining the benefits of your product or service, instead provide valuable content where you can be useful for your audience.

4. Quality speakers. Presentations are a fundamental component in a business event. They are one of the main reasons why the public will choose to attend your event. Select experts in the subject to be discussed, since in addition to your target audience, they will always provide you with their followers who will end up being yours.

5. The public as an active part. If we want to work business events from an experiential point of view, we have to see the public as an active part of it. They have to participate, to live the experience through active networking sessions in a special environment outside of the office routine.

6. Technology will be the great ally. Streaming connections, Artificial Intelligence, augmented reality … if before technology was one of the main elements, now it is more. Lean on it to offer a new and innovative experience for your audience.

7. Social networks as an amplifier of your message. Both in the pre-event phase, where social networks such as LinkedIn can be a key tool to communicate, take advantage of social media during the execution of your event. Take advantage of the immediacy of Twitter and create a hashtag that you feed from the beginning; use Instagram Live to broadcast key moments live, and record the presentations to be able to share them later on all your social networks, as well as capsules that will serve as a summary to send to the attendees and also, to promote the event in subsequent editions and make it grow.

With all this we dare to say that the events have not died, only that we have to see them from a different point of view, turn it around, the value they bring us is greater than we can think, we just have to dare to try … long live the events.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest News

Skoda Car Common Problems and How to Solve Them

Skoda cars are known for their reliability and performance, but like any other vehicle, they can experience common problems....

More Articles Like This