Putting together an event for your business or nonprofit organization is an excellent way to improve your visibility, honour loyal patrons, and connect with potential customers. That same event can also be a major drain on your financial and time resources which is why data collection at your event is so important in 2019. The collected data helps you determine if your event earned a full return-on-investment (ROI) and helps you identify the areas where you can streamline the event planning process.
Given the number of resources dedicated to each event, it’s no longer enough to consider additional exposure a good reason to hold or attend the event. The event must have garnered a decent ROI. The time has come for you to think of each event as a marketing tool. The good news is that with careful planning, a good goal, strategic promotion, and accurate data collecting, a single event can earn a solid ROI and help your organization grow.
The Importance of Data Collection and Events in 2019
Collecting data for each of your 2019 events will save you a great deal of time and money. Once you start collecting data, you’ll no longer find yourself wondering if the event achieved its purpose or if it was a waste of valuable resources. Once you’re in the habit of collecting data for each and every event, you’ll start to notice patterns, work out a better promotional strategy, and even figure out which trade shows and conferences are the best match for your organization. Best of all, the data you collect before, during, and after an event shows you if you’ve achieved a full return on your investment.
Industry Influencers and Data Collection
Marketing experts are quick to point out that industry influencers play a key role in keeping your organization going strong. When you start planning your next big event, you want to gear the event marketing towards your industry’s influencers. Their interest in the event will inspire their followers to take an interest, in both your event and organization. Data and knowing how to incorporate it into your event marketing help you establish a strong and mutually satisfying relationship with your industry influencers.
Data helps you find important industry influencers. The data provides you with important information like:
- Klout Score
- How heavily the influencer connects with their social media audience
- How many followers the influencer has
- Influencer’s geographical reach
Once you’re armed with this data, you can decide which influencers will be the most interested in your organization’s event and approach them for help with your social media marketing.
Event Goals and Data Collection
During the early stages of planning your event, you should have set a goal. The goal could be anything from improving brand awareness, to rewarding loyal customers for their loyalty, to attracting new customers. Setting an event goal does more than assists you with planning and marketing, while simultaneously allowing you set up a system that accurately collects data that you’ll use to determine if the event earned a significant ROI.
During both the planning stages and the actual event, you can collect data that helps you determine if you’re meeting the goals you’ve set for the event.
The data you should consider collecting to help you determine the events ROI includes:
- Event attendance
- Number of leads generated as a result of the event
- Number of referrals and conversions the event nets your organization
- Number of sales triggered by the event
- Net promoter score
- Social media response
The Purpose of Data Collected During an Event
Collecting event data is important but only if you know what you intend to do with the data. Prior to the event, you should know:
- What questions do you want the data to answer?
- What software programs or people will be responsible for collecting the event data?
- Who will have access to the data?
- How long and where will the collected data get stored?
- Will the data be merged with data collected during other events?
The main purpose of collecting event data in 2019 is to determine the ROI for your event. You can use the information to decide if you should hold future events, how to streamline your marketing process and to help gain sponsors for future events.
Whether you’re using advanced data collecting software or having an individual record the data in a notebook, you need to create a data strategy as soon as possible. Having a data strategy worked out beforehand allows you to make sure you have the right software, data-minded person, and other tools needed long before the event takes place.
Collected Data and Event Sponsorships
One of the best ways to reduce the amount of money you spend on your 2019 events is by inviting other businesses and organization to sponsor the event. In return for helping you defray some of the event’s costs, they gain high-quality advertisement. You’ll find that convincing a business to help sponsor your event is a great deal easier when you have hard data to show them. Being able to provide simple answers to questions such as how many people attend the events and how many people share event information on their social media accounts will allow the potential sponsor to quickly decide if they want to be connected to your event.
When using data to help sway sponsors, the data is usually best received when it’s presented in a nice, colourful graph.
Measuring Your Collected Event Data
You have a few options when it comes to measuring the event data you’ve collected. Some good choices include:
- Survey Tools
- CRMs
- Analytic tools
- Data collection and measuring apps
Because each data measurement tool has unique quirks, many organizations opt to use two or more.
The Bottomline
The hardest part about collecting data before, during, and after your events is getting into the habit of doing so. Once you see how much easier the collected data makes things, you’ll wonder how you ever functioned without it.
If you enjoyed this article, click through and learn more about ‘How to measure your event ROI in 2019 ‘.
