How important are events to marketing?

The CMO Council and Exhibit & Event Marketers Association (E2MA) have issued a study on the importance of events to customer engagement and marketing.

This examination shows that many businesses rely on events, trade shows, conferences, conventions, and channel events for customer acquisition and retention. Although these businesses are not the majority, for many B2B content marketers, events are rated their most effective in-person marketing tactic.

The findings of the report show that 31% of marketers believe that trade shows, conferences, conventions, and channel events are vital to conducting business in their target customer markets. Also, 42% believe events to still be very valuable to their marketing process.

Events like trade shows and conferences are frequently relied on as sources for aquiring new prospects and business opportunities.

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has discovered that B2B exhibitors and attendees are witnessing greater value from face-to-face interactions. This research does not make a case for using events to close deals, but it does make a case for utilizing events to build engagement and create the initial push for deals within the B-to-B market.

Another finding shows the importance of connecting other channels to event marketing to strengthen the impact and outcome. For example, email marketing (72%) is a common marketing tool used to maximize trade show presence.