Orig Post hubspot.com | Re-Post So-Mark Consulting 12/17/2015
At Mavenlink, we use HubSpot for everything! Drip campaigns, social media, landing pages, and more. Mavenlink is an enterprise project-management-software provider, who recently started using email to promote events we visit. The first event we promoted was Technology Services Industry Association (Technology Services World) in Las Vegas last October. And boy did we learn a lot about event marketing! I want to share with you what I personally learned about using online tools like HubSpot to promote offline client relationships.
Steps to Promoting Offline Client Relationships
1. Mine your data within your CRM
We knew we would want to talk to technology-service professionals in or around Vegas who might attend Technology Services World (TSW). So we gathered all our Nevada, California, and Arizona leads from Salesforce (our Mavenlink CRM) who were in the technology services industry.
2. Email the right folks
We then shifted to specific roles and titles of people likely to be at the event and emailed them. We let them know, “Hey, Mavenlink will be in your neck of the woods. Come see us and have a drink!” We have a salesperson who represents most of these leads, so we used his name on the email to personalize our invitation.
3. Plan your event
Getting to and from events is full of small and large tasks that need to be managed. With so many moving parts, sometimes it’s hard to keep it all in line. Fortunately, I work for a project-management-software company, so I’ve got best practices all around to tap. From confirming hotels and flights to making sure you have literature racks and proper carpeting, every detail adds up.
If you’re new to the event-planning role or just looking to see how others pull it off, I’ve included a chart of key takeaways, as well as a link to download the planning spreadsheet I use. I use a version of this spreadsheet in my company’s software product, Mavenlink, but you can use it as is, or create your own version in your Mavenlink account.
4. Show up in style (vendors, swag, and raffles)
As many of you already know, having a good booth presence is key to sponsoring an event. We’re fortunate to have some amazing booth vendors near our Mavenlink headquarters in Irvine, California. After a thorough search, I visited three vendor locations, met lots of people, and had countless phone calls, we selected Exhibitree. They built us an incredible booth. Our lighting stood out, and trinkets like branded M&Ms (super affordable!) helped us personalize the experience. We also had a raffle for an Amazon Echo. We wanted to be a show floor beacon at TSW, and we were!