The new customer experience has created a drastic shift in how marketers engage with customers — with much of the focus being placed on the digital space. Yet, positive face-to-face experiences remain an important driver for creating long-lasting customer relationships. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s “2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America,” 69 percent of B2B marketers ranked face-to-face (F2F) marketing as the most effective marketing tactic. And B2B buyers across all industries consistently rank industry events as a top five channel for professional education and networking. There is a reason F2F marketing is so important. These events take relationships offline, where as much as 60 percent of the buying journey occurs, and provides opportunities for human-to-human connections between customers and brands.
Companies that are maximizing their F2F marketing investments are devising strategies that leverage events as a strategic and intentional aspect of the customer journey. More specifically, they are using these F2F marketing events to connect their corporate story throughout the customer journey. Every event you execute should be viewed as an opportunity to bring your corporate story to life and launch into conversations based on key messages your target audience has consumed through other channels. Most companies develop event strategies and messaging in siloes rather than looking at them as a platform from which to extend conversations and engagement that is already taking place.
Stop looking at events as a single point of engagement at a single point in time. Start looking at them as a vehicle through which you can extend your reach by integrating them into your broader strategy that is already at work. To do this, you must implement a holistic approach to Corporate Messaging Development, Content Development and Visual Branding
Don’t forget. Your target audience lives in an omni-channel world. As a result, it’s important that you drive messaging connectivity and continuity throughout the customer experience. A great place to start is with your F2F marketing.
