mdg | Event Marketing Agency for Trade Shows and Associations

As event marketers, we know all too well how challenging it is to get an audience to pay attention to emails.

In today’s integrated media landscape an intelligent, omni-channel marketing campaign is critical to ensuring that your tactics are strategically in tune.

When navigating the (often) rough waters of trade show public relations, it’s helpful to have the support of a good crew. mdg’s public relations experts are old salts when it comes to the creation – and execution – of integrated plans that keep events top of mind with trade and mainstream press.

We all know social platforms are a critical part of the marketing mix, but are you leveraging them to their fullest capabilities? Social platforms are rapidly evolving to remain relevant and they’ve added several new features.

Last month, thousands of association professionals united in Toronto to learn, network and gain inspiration from each other.

When attendance doesn’t quite meet expectations, who better to question than ourselves, asking why we would or wouldn’t attend our own event?

When we forget about these emotions, and the ability they have to compel participation at our events, we have a tendency to place too much emphasis on how many square feet of space our show floor covers, the number of educational sessions we offer, our 50th anniversary year and/or other features that do very little to convert our fence sitters to registrants.

On May 30, more than 200 event industry executives gathered at Sam Lippman’s ECEF in Washington, D.C., to glean inspiration and share ideas. As a proud event sponsor, mdg was there, eager to take it all in. In case YOU weren’t there, don’t worry, we took notes…

Direct mail isn’t dead. Yet. Savvy event marketers are, however, anticipating and preparing for the moment the direct mail death knell finally rings. As attendee demographics change, the way prospects are identified and nurtured through the buying cycle must also change. As mdg’s director of social + digital, I often guide trade show marketers through the conversion from print to digital, typically with dramatic results.

In my opinion, SXSW is the gold standard when it comes to events. It’s the perfect combination of pop culture, innovation, and inspiration that attracts thousands of movers and shakers from across the country and around the world in marketing, tech, music and film. Here are four of the many applicable event-marketing lessons that I learned from my experience this year…