6 Steps to Build a Great B2B Event Strategy in 2023

Let’s admit it. There’s no dearth of B2B events today. More so because, post-pandemic, the world has become accustomed to the idea of attending events virtually, as much as they have in-person.  

The advent of B2B virtual events has opened the doors for practically every organisation, old and new, to kick off an event to draw their audiences/ customers. So, such a cluttered event space has created a fatigue where people are exhausted from attending webinars and events. 

Given the scenario, how do you really stand out from the crowd? How do you prove to your potential customers that your B2B event is super good and worth their time? What do you need to do to get more event registrations? 

Let’s find out. 

Step 1: Ask yourself – Is your B2B event solving a business challenge? 

More than 3 billion events (virtual, in-person and hybrid) are set to take place in 2023. That’s right. We said 3 billion. So, the most crucial step your business needs to take when planning a B2B event is to understand what purpose your event will be serving.  

Your event needs to solve a pertinent business challenge while also addressing the aspirations and pain points of industry professionals. For example, one goal of your event can be to build brand value, showcase your products, and give your attendess a chance to learn a new skill, enhance their knowledge of the industry, and network with the right people. 

We’re sure you’ve heard of the MarTech Summit that took place early this year. Running since 2018, what’s made this event a global success is; it has a great line-up of speakers: industry leaders, influencers and innovators who are shaping the future of MarTech; it equips attendees with content that explores latest trends, strategies, insights and best practices that they can apply to their work; being virtual, it eliminates geographical barriers and opens doors for more people to access it; and, it hosts interactive workshops that help attendees foster meaningful connections with their fellow attendees and speakers. 

Step 2: Make the registration process easy and intuitive 

There are a number of things you can do to ensure that your attendees don’t have to go through elaborate steps to register for your event. Let’s see what they are. 

• Design a user-friendly registration form that captures only essential information, without overwhelming them. 

• Have a progress bar or indicators to guide your attendees through the process effortlessly. 
• Optimise the form for mobile devices because it’s likely that most of your potential attendees prefer registering on their smartphones. 
• Ensure that the registration form and website are responsive, can handle high traffic, and remain responsive. 
• Prioritise simplicity and user experience to encourage higher participation. 

A Merit expert says, “In fact, you can go one step further and create customised, branded registration forms, instead of going for generic platforms like Google Forms, Typeform or Jotform.” 

Customised forms can create brand consistency, enhance user experience, integrate more seamlessly with your existing event management or CMS systems, give you the freedom to customise your form field, format, design and more, and come with advanced reporting and analytics capabilities. 

Step 3: Provide early-bird offers and incentives 

The general tendency we have is to procrastinate any task until the very end, or unless there is incentive to complete the task early. So, early bird discounts can go a long way in ensuring that you get a good number of registrations right at the beginning. A study reveals that early bird offers can boost registrations by 20-30% compared to regular pricing.  

There are a number of other advantages to it as well; it helps you secure registrations and payments well in advance and you can use a portion of these funds to promote/ market to other potential attendees. It fosters a positive perception for your event and creates a sense of exclusivity.  

Referral incentives in particular encourage your attendees to spread the word about your event to more people. And, in fact, referral incentives are a great way to market your event cost-effectively. 

Step 4: Step up your email marketing game 

In an earlier blog, we talked extensively about the advantages of email marketing and how you can design effective email marketing campaigns to get high engagement rates with your customers. 

Email marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to engage with your customers and in this case, attendees. Here are a few tips to curate great emails to increase your B2B event registration; 

• Segment your email list based on criteria like industry role, job, geography, age and more. 
• Make your emails personalised, include great visuals and testimonials, and create highly engaging content to talk about what makes your event unique, and what’s in it for them 

• Use engaging headlines but also ensure your copy is concise 
• Have clear call-to-action buttons. Tell your attendee what is expected of them from the email. 
• Time your emails well, and ensure that you neither bombard them nor you have less recall for your event 
• Continuously analyse how your attendees are engaging with your email campaigns and tweak as and when necessary 
• Purchase targeted audience lists rather than off-the-rack that is validated and enriched to increase your reach 

Step 5: Use social media effectively 

Do you know? Over 95% of event marketers feel that social media and event marketing integration can greatly boost event registrations and participation. 

There are a number of innovative ways in which you can use social media to promote your B2B event. One approach is to leverage user-generated content by encouraging attendees to share their experiences and insights using event-specific hashtags. This bolsters engagement, widens your event’s reach, and showcases authentic testimonials.  

You can also host live Q&A sessions with industry experts on LinkedIn or organise Twitter chats to create buzz around your B2B event. Collaborate with influential social media personalities or industry thought leaders for guest takeovers and exclusive content to boost credibility.  

Create engaging visual content, such as infographics or behind-the-scenes videos to grab the attention of your potential attendees, and soon. 

Step 6: Reap the benefits of event management software 

An event management software can come with a number of benefits; it can provide a centralised platform for managing registrations, tracking attendee information and overseeing logistics.  

It can reduce manual tasks, increase efficiency, and save time. It can enhance the attendee experience by offering seamless registration, ticketing and check-in process. It can use workflows to personalise communication, and keep attendees informed, engaged and excited about the event.  

It can encourage teams to create targeted marketing efforts – like sending customised emails, sending reminders, tracking engagement and so on. Lastly, it comes with analytics capabilities that can tell you how your attendees are engaging with your event marketing content. 

Merit’s Expertise in Marketing Data Intelligence 

Using our proprietary technology, we source, filter and qualify marketing data from thousands of online sources. We further enrich the data with expert research to deliver accurate contact lists that yield maximum conversion rates. Merit’s marketing data has proven to: 

• Multiply your event RoI with the best target data possible  
• Drive attendance at niche events and conferences 
• Be accurate, up-to-date and tailored for your exact audience  
• Be fully compliant (GDPR in particular), transparent and audit-friendly  

We are more than just a list broker; with a proven 10-year track record in building and validating over 100 million global contacts a year, our clients can rely on us to target relevant and engaging audience groups. 

To know more about Merit’s marketing expertise, visit https://www.meritdata-tech.com/service/data/marketing-data/