From partnerships to publicity, here’s what your team should be tracking
I was recently catching up with a dear demand generation colleague of mine. She shared that she was working on evaluating the overall performance of her event strategy. She explained she was having a little difficulty succinctly tying the total value of her field event successes back to her overall OKRs.
This challenge prompted a greater conversation about the full value of field events in a B2B setting.
While many demand generation marketers are quick to proudly share lead gen or pipeline attribution after an event (as they should!), we agreed there are more wins these marketing pros can be sharing with their teams.
First Win – Partnership Alignment
Investing consistently in partner-specific events is a long-term strategy that can pay off big. While a single event might not show an immediate return on investment, the relationships you build over time are invaluable. The overall time and money invested in a partner’s events will signal to your partner that you are a ready and willing participant, wanting and willing to join forces to work together. For example, offering to co-host an event where you handle the heavy lifting while your partner brings their customers can be a profitable way to break into new accounts. The key is to be in it for the long haul and align your strategy closely with sales and customer success teams.
Second Win – Generate Brand Awareness
Publicity and awareness are huge wins that should always be part of your event recap. Even if someone else on your team is in charge of tracking ad impressions or media mentions, make sure these are included in your post-event report. Remember, lead generation can’t happen without awareness, so these metrics are a foundational part of your marketing success.
Third Win – Customer Relations and Content Creation
Events are the perfect opportunity to get more face time with your key customers. Use this time to not only strengthen relationships but also to create valuable content. A field event or trade show is a great setting for filming a customer testimonial, grabbing a few quotes, or generating new video content. With a little help from AI, a 30-minute chat can be transformed into a blog post, a social media video clip, and a new case study. This kind of customer engagement makes them feel special and helps you grow key accounts.
Are you sharing the full extent of your marketing team’s event wins?