It’s all very well talking about business events and event marketing in the theory, but what kinds of events should you be running?

Firstly, to help answer that question we’ve created a handy quiz you can take right here.

To help you think through your available options, we also reached out to a few businesses of different shapes and sizes to share their experience of running marketing events.

Here is what they have to say.

1. The Webinar

Webinars are fantastic for companies who can’t afford a venue, want to reach a scalable audience and whose objective is primarily to inform or educate. It also helps that they’re a great form of lead generation too.

We asked Dublin-based digital tax startup Taxamo (@taxamo) about their last webinar.

What was the event?

We hosted a 2015 EU VAT Rules, 100 Day Countdown event.​

What was its main purpose?

The purpose of this event was to raise awareness among digital sellers of some major new rules that were coming into effect on January 1, 2015. These new rules have a significant impact on how VAT is applied to the sale of digital services and we found that many many merchants were completely unaware.​

Did it meet your goals?​

Yes, very much so. Taxamo provides a complete technical solution ​for the 2015 EU VAT rules that enables merchants to comply using their existing e-commerce systems. In addition to using the forum to raise awareness of the VAT rules change, we also introduced the audience to our solution and this led to tangible sales conversions.

How did social media play a part in your event?

Social media plays a big role in all of our activities. As we are a digital company, selling to digital companies, our customers are always online. We have a very active Twitter channel and LinkedIn profile, and regularly produce original content for our audience. We used these social media channels to publicise our event and to post content following the event.​

How did you keep costs down?

The use of social media channels and free tools such as Eventbrite were essential to keeping our costs down. At the time of the event, we were very much in start-up mode and keeping costs down, while at the same time hosting a quality event that represented our brand was a fine act to balance. Our biggest spend was on the live stream element, but we were pleased with the end product and its been something that we have repurposed and used as a sales tool on many occasions.

2. The Networking Evening

Networking events are a brilliant way for companies to bring together all their sales prospects or key customers into a room together. They’re flexible in format, with some having a panel or speaker to offer some education, while others focus purely on the networking, drinks and food. This makes them adaptable to almost any budget and business goal.

We asked London-based founder and publisher of The Mice Blog (@themiceblog) about their last networking event.

What was the event?

#EventPlannersTalk is a weekly Twitter chat for event planners every Monday from 9 – 10pm GMT (Except first Monday of each month when #EventBlogChat for event bloggers takes place).  Some of past topics include how to promote events using social media, sustainability and green events, how to start an event planning business, event technology, event branding, and storytelling.

Based on the high level of engagement on Twitter I decided to host a live event about one of the past topics and bring the online community in the physical space, extend event life-cycle and networking face-to-face. The first event took place in February 2014.

Event milestones were:

August 2014 – first ever #EventPlannersTalk Twitter chat about how to promote events using social media –  questions from organiser.

February 2015 – first ever #EventPlannersTalk live event about how to promote events using social media – panel of event industry professionals discuss questions from the audience, facilitated by Sli.do.

March 2015 – Follow-up Twitter chat featuring top questions from the audience and opportunity for those who attended and not attended to answer the questions and network with each other.

What was its main purpose?

Main objectives are to share best industry practice, collaboration, network with fellow event professionals and extend event life-cycle.

Did it meet its goals?

Yes, the ones who didn’t attend the event could also actively participate and share their views on the topic.

How did social media play a part in the event?

It created and increased awareness, facilitated engagement pre-, during and after the events and constant and prompt communication.

How did you keep costs down?

I kept costs down using Twitter as the main communication platform, by collaborating with event technology providers, venue and speakers. No print and name badges were provided on-site, which is also good for the environment!

3. The Pop-Up

Pop-ups and discovery events are perfect for companies who want to introduce potential customers to the goods and services they have to offer, by getting onto the street and taking their message to the target audience. While it takes a little more budget and imagination to pull off a great pop-up event, the value to the brand can be huge.

We asked our very own City Marketing Manager for Europe, KT McPhee, about her last event.

What was the event?

DiscoveredLDN: The Pancake Academy. A Pancake Day themed pop-up with features including a pancake flipping contest and a ‘lab’ where people could experiment with toppings to get on their pancakes.

What was its main purpose?

To promote Eventbrite as the place to find unique and interesting things to do in London.

Did it meet its goals?

100% yes. We had 890 register for the event (against a goal of 800), nearly 200 social mentions and we saw an increase in the number of people going to Eventbrite to buy tickets in London during and after the event.

How did social media play a part in the event?

We tried to build in talking points and ‘shareable’ features – from the artwork to the window dressing; characters; decor – and the concept itself. I made sure we featured the hashtag on napkins to keep it top of mind too.

During the event we also filmed people in slow motion doing a pancake flip – this was projected on the wall then uploaded to YouTube which people then shared

How did you keep costs down?

I had to prioritise – for me the two important things were supplying delicious pancakes for everyone and the memorable, shareable feature of the slow motion pancake flipping. But that meant that I had to forego the live DJ and a coffee cart which I’d originally planned. We instead used a pre-prepared playlist and had a ‘DIY’ coffee / drinks area.

4. The Conference

Conferences are a big commitment in both time and budget, but if you really want to make a splash with a B2B audience, then they could be a very effective route to get noticed by all the right people.

We asked Israeli-based mobile communication startup Zula (@zulaapp) about why they launched a conference.

What was the event?

The Zula Messaging Summit, which was held in New York City, November 4th 2014

What was its main purpose?

We’re a young, lean startup, so we wanted a way to really make splash in the team communications space, get our name on the map and also benefit our potential customers by providing them with super useful content (and not focus on ourselves).

Did it meet its goals?

Yes! It met its goals and then some…we had endless numbers of people who told us that it was one of the best events they’d been to – full stop.

Not only that, but in terms of building brand awareness, it was a huge win for us, because we actually managed to get the Summit trending on Twitter with the hashtag #ZulaSummit.

The whole thing resulted in a big spike in downloads, so it was totally worth it.

How did social media play a part in the event?

Social was absolutely central to the success. From the moment we open pre-reg we were tweeting about it to our community. That was so successful we sold out pre-reg in a matter of minutes, which shows the importance of having a strong social community.

In the end all of our marketing – so all our attendees – found out about the event through social.

We even used social to invite our speakers.

Then on the day, we had our hashtag all over the place, which ultimately led to it trending on Twitter.

How did you keep costs down?

We were lucky enough to have office space at a venue where the event could be held, and they were awesome enough to let us use it for free, so that was a huge saving.

Again, our social connections and relationships were key here too, because we were able to secure really big named speakers – who can charge 10s of thousands of $$$ – all for free, just by tweeting at them and building on that existing social relationship.

Summary

Feeling inspired by any of these great companies who have recently ran successful events?

Would you like even more event ideas?

Then don’t forget to see what kind of event will be best to meet your budget, timeline and business goals by taking our quiz.