mdg | Event Marketing Agency for Trade Shows and Associations

As much as we love press releases (you’d have to pry them from our Kung Fu grip), they’re not the only building blocks with which our public relations campaigns are built. Now more than ever, we’re leveraging organic social media; galvanizing local community leaders; utilizing the power of influencers; and thinking more creatively to develop innovative, integrated campaigns for our association and event clients. We thought we’d share a few of our recent successes in hopes that they might inspire your next PR initiative.

A consolidating industry. Low-carb diet fads that won’t die. Niche competitors around every corner. That’s what mdg has been up against since we began marketing the triennial International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) in 2007. So, just how is it that attendance has increased by 65 percent since then (from just under 14,000 attendees to just over 23,000)? Here are a few ingredients in our carefully crafted recipe for success.

SuperZoo recently wrapped its largest show in history at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, cementing its place as the largest (in both the number of buyers and exhibitors) pet retail show in North America. How did mdg help World Pet Association (WPA) achieve this record-breaking attendance success? Let’s ask the marketing team…

Millennials: that group born after 1980 and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. They’re also the group that is most skeptical of traditional marketing messaging. The usual “Make New Connections! See New Products! Get New Ideas!” draws a collective “meh” from the millennial crowd. But it goes beyond millennials. Many audiences have turned a deaf ear to the same old, same old. So what’s a marketing professional to do—or say? Enter disruptive messaging.

A phrase once monopolized by the real estate industry is becoming the new mantra for marketing professionals worldwide. And it’s all thanks to that little smart device in your pocket. We take it with us wherever we go, and many of us gladly share our location data through the various apps we use—data that marketers can use to serve relevant messages to prospective attendees in real time.

At Social Media Marketing World, a conference dedicated solely to the latest developments in social media, live video was all the rage. But I questioned how it could work for associations and events. Isn’t Snapchat just for tweens? Should mdg clients use a so-new-it’s-unknown platform like Blab? Should events really “go live?” The answers, dear reader, are no, yes, and yes. Here’s how to get into the now and drive registrations (and engagement!) using Snapchat.

On June 1 at the J.W. Marriott in Washington, D.C., Galen Poss will lead Charlie McCurdy, David Loechner and Deborah Sexton in a moderated discussion about how new technologies, new competitors and the increased pressure for continuous innovation have shaped the evolution of the events business. As an ECEF sponsor, mdg convinced these three visionaries to give InnerCircle readers a sneak peek at their upcoming session.

A poorly organized event or association website impedes visitors, wasting their time and increasing the chance they leave without registering, joining or otherwise consuming the content for which they’re hungry.

Database marketing is the art and science of taking individuals, grouping them based upon common characteristics and speaking to them with language that feels personalized. It’s getting the right messages to the right people at the right time.

Do your attendees and exhibitors have such positive experiences that they tell their colleagues about your event? Are your association members so passionate about your organization that their referrals are driving up your member numbers?