Am I committed to Face-to-Face events?
By John Failla, CEO, Tesoro
Reprinted with permission from min's b2b - December 10, 2007
In my last column (min's b2b of 11/19), the potential to drive near term incremental profits with events was covered. Today's column deals with the first step to realizing this potential, making a strategic commitment to events.
In speaking to publishers about their involvement with events, I've recently heard comments such as "When one of our advertisers wants to get face to face with their large customers, we'll create a conference for them so we can lock in their schedule", "Our marketing manager handles the events we produce in addition to their marketing duties", and "I'm a publisher, I do trade shows, I don't produce them". These quotes convey the perspective of a "magazine publisher" who on occasion will dabble in face to face events. As you might imagine, companies taking this amateur approach to developing events tend to realize very little of the potential profits available to them from the committed development and execution of a well conceived events business.
Contrast this with the perspective of the B2B media company that is keenly focused on profitably serving the needs of their markets with print, online and face to face products. These companies view their core brand franchise as branded information rather than any one media channel, and are diligent in the development of their strategy and the necessary infrastructure to succeed with each media channel.
Companies that successfully mine the business potential of face to face events in their respective markets typically demonstrated a strategic commitment to the face to face channel by taking the following steps:
- Choose to treat the development and execution of events as a core competence and make the same strategic commitment to building an events business as they have for building a print business or a digital media business. This doesn't mean a commitment to invest large sums of money. More than anything else it represents a mindset and a conviction to treat face to face media in a serious manner.
- Put leadership in place for the events business that has full ownership and accountability for the development, execution and results of the business. One of the biggest mistakes a publisher can make is to place part-time leadership in place of a business that requires full time commitment and attention.
- Understand the full the full range of event models that are available to be deployed profitably in your markets. Conferences, summits, facilitated one-on-one meetings, traditional trade shows, awards programs, road shows and virtual events are all available event models that can be developed and executed profitably. Understanding the unique characteristics of each model and knowing when to implement each is critical to developing a meaningful events business.
- Establish an audience focus in order to develop events that are targeted at meeting unmet needs or making current business processes more efficient. Events that meet these criteria are most effective at delivering legitimate ROI for attendees and therefore have the greatest chance at being sustainable over time.
While potential profits from events are substantial as proven by companies that have successfully implemented an integrated B2B media model, a casual approach to developing an events business is more often than not a path to failure. Success in developing your face to face media channel will be based in large part on the depth of your commitment and your willingness to model the proven approach of other successful companies as outlined above.
John can be reached by email at john@tesoroevents.com
