Your Ultimate List of Event Marketing Statistics and Trends
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Written by Melanie Singer

@esthermchung
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 Event Marketers, Rejoice! Here's Your Ultimate List of Event Marketing Statistics

September 20, 2018

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Your Ultimate List of Event Marketing Statistics and Trends
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Written by Melanie Singer


 Event Marketers, Rejoice! Here's Your Ultimate List of Event Marketing Statistics

September 20, 2018

With the saturation of digital channels and the lack of marketing diversity, it's becoming clearer that going "only digital" doesn't work. Not only are in-person events growing in importance – but they're becoming necessary for your entire marketing strategy. Necessary for lead generation, growth, customer engagement, and above all, generating real ROI for your business.


Don't believe us? Here are 90 stats to prove it.


Bonus: want to know how you compare to other event marketers in the industry? We've also included the latest trends in all areas of event marketing.

What our stats cover:

1. The Value of In-Person Events

2. Customer Engagement and Experience

3. Event Marketing Budgets

4. Lead Generation/Growth

5. ROI/Closing Deals

6. Event Technology

7. Event Technology Trends

8. Event ROI Trends

9. Event Promotion/Planning Trends

10. Event Sponsorship Trends


Event Marketing Trends

1. In-Person Events

2. Customer Engagement and Experience

3. Lead Generation

4. ROI/Sales

5. Event Technology

7. Budget

7. Event Technology Trends

8. Event ROI Trends

9. Email Promotion Trends

10. Event Sponsorship Trends 

 

The Value of In-Person Events

• 69% of B2B marketers consider in-person events effective. (Source: Sensible Marketing)

• 83% of B2B marketers are heavily invested in events. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 73% of B2B marketers say events are better than other tactics for customer engagement. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 31% of event marketers believe that trade shows, conferences, conventions, and channel events are essential to doing business in their target customer markets. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 77% of marketers use experiential marketing as a vital part of a brand’s advertising strategies. (Source: Event Marketer)

• 60% of marketers are satisfied or very satisfied with their event strategies and results. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stated conventions and events are expected to expand by 44% from 2010 to 2020. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• On average, the size of companies' event teams ranges from 20%-25% of their total marketing team size. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• 51% of brands surveyed employ between one and ten full time event planning and management employees. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• 52% of business leaders say event marketing drives more ROI than any other marketing channel. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• 93% of marketers say their organizations place a priority on hosting events, including 57% who give it a high priority. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)
• 40% of marketers say they’ll increase spending on hosted events in the year ahead. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)
• On average, organizations host 73 events and sponsor 62 events annually. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• The most popular types of hosted events are one-day conference or seminars, product trainings, business or channel partner events, thought-leadership workshops, and VIP meals. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• The most popular types of events that B2B companies host are: multiple-day conferences, industry trade shows/conventions, one-day conferences/seminars, business or channel partner events, and thought-leadership workshops. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• The most popular types of events that B2C companies host are: one-day conferences/seminars, product launches, in-store events, entertainment events, and business or channel partner events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

Customer Engagement and Experience

• 51% of marketers surveyed believe that events strengthen existing customer relationships. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 60% of marketers use tradeshows and events for face-to face customer meetings. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 48% of event attendees say face-to-face interactions are more valuable today than two years ago. (Source: Live Marketing)
• 58% of marketers believe that events and conferences are important ways to improve customer experiences of their services or products. (Source: E-Strategy Trends)

• 73% of B2B marketers say events are better than other tactics for customer engagement. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 85% of B2B marketers believe engagement at events is an important way to accelerate the buying journey. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 91% of event professionals stated that increasing engagement at their events was an important priority for their organization. (Source: Engaging Events)

• 48% of event attendees find in-person interactions with brands more valuable than 2 years ago. (Source: Live Marketing)

Event Marketing Budgets

• Events (hosting, attending, exhibiting) command 21% of corporate marketing budgets. (Source: AdAge)

• Events occupy 14% of budgets, which is the largest share of B2B marketers’ budgets. (Source: Forrester Research)

• 14% of B2B marketers’ budgets were allocated for in-person trade shows in 2015. (Source: Statista)

• One third of marketers spend more than 20% of their marketing budget on events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)
• 10% of marketers spend more than half of their marketing budget on events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• Companies are spending on event marketing at a growing rate, with 54% boosting their event activity over the past three years, and only 17% cutting back. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• B2B companies spend 29% of their marketing budgets on events, on average, versus 19% for B2C companies. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)


Lead Generation/Growth

• 46% of event managers view lead generation as a top reason to attend events. (Source: Exhibitor ROI at Tradeshows)

• 64% of marketers use tradeshows and events to source new prospects and business opportunities. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 63% of marketers use tradeshows as a form of lead generation. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• Leads generated and pipeline opportunities are the most commonly used event success metrics. (Source: Marketing Charts)

ROI/Closing Deals

• 44% of marketers experience a 3:1 ROI from event marketing. (Source: Statista)

• 91% of event planners have seen a positive return on investment from event apps. (Source: State of Mobile Event Technology Report)

• 83% of brands say that their #1 reason for event participation is increasing sales. (Source: Live Marketing)

• 87% of consumers said they purchased the brand's product or service after an event at a later date. (Source: EventMarketer)

• 84% of consumers re-purchase the product promoted at the event, after their first purchase. (Source: EventTrack Study)

• 65% of brands say that their event and experiential programs are directly related to sales. (Source: EMI & Mosaic)

• 79% of US marketers generate sales using event marketing. (Source: Statista)

Event Technology

• Event technology can help increase event attendance by 20%, increase productivity by 27%, and decrease costs by 20-30%. (Source: Enterprise Event Marketing)  
• The most used technologies by event planners are photobooths (45%), event apps (44%) and livestreaming tools (44%). (Source: Engaging Events)

• 60% of event planners say that event apps increase attendee engagement. (Source: State of Mobile Event Technology Report)

• 88% of event attendees said that access to meeting or event schedules in an event app is extremely important. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 13% of B2B marketers use event marketing software. (Source: Capterra)

• Events that use event apps generate 42% more social media impressions. (Source: Global Experience Specialists)

• The top benefits for event technology adopters are: improved ability to track and measure their events (40%), increased process productivity (31%), and a better attendee experience (30%).  (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services) 

• 90% of event technology adopters consider themselves well positioned for future success, versus 65% of non-adopters. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

APPENDIX - RELEVANT STATS


1. Community
Building and strengthening our members’ sense of belonging.

 
2. Engagement

Creating opportunities to deliver a complete Equinox experience to drive advocacy, retention, and acquisition.


3. Scale

Leveraging technology to manage, evolve, and expand our events strategy.


Using these 3 major tenets and a killer events program, Matt was able to get better customer engagement, less churn, and, ultimately, everyone’s goal -- more customers.


See how below:

Want your event to run as smoothly as a duck? Here are 5 best practices for reaching your highest door goals.

3. Scaling: Putting it All Together with Technology and Data

Event Technology Trends

 

• 64% of event planners find it difficult to secure budget for event technology tools. (Source: State of Mobile Event Technology Report)

• 63% of event professionals are not using event apps. (Source: The Event App Bible Version 2)

• 22% of marketing departments at B2C companies use event marketing software. (Source: Capterra)

• The cost of an event app is 1.2% of the budget for each attendee. (Source: Global Experience Specialists)

• 46% of event professionals plan more than 10 events a year. (Source: The Event App Bible Version 2)

• The top 3 special features that event planners look for in an event app are: onsite registration 19%, registration within app 16%, and content capture 15%. (Source: Event App Bible Version 2)

• 14% of marketers plan to integrate marketing automation with their events and only 7% currently do. (Source: Capterra).

• One third of organizations have adopted event marketing technology, and another one fifth are planning to adopt event marketing technology in the next 12 to 18 months. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

 • 51% of early adopters report they are getting good results from their event technology investments. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

ROI 

Event ROI Trends

• 75% of leads are never followed-up with after an exhibition. (Source: The Marketing Donut)
• 80% of trade show exhibitors don’t follow up with their show leads. (Source: Salesforce)

 • Most companies plan and execute events without specific business objectives. (Source: SiriusDeciscion) 

• 3 out of 5 marketers don't use tools to measure event ROI. (Source: Hubspot)

• 1/3rd cite ROI as an event success metric. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• Only 34% of marketers use new referrals, quality of leads, deal closure, value of sales, and cross-sell/upsell opportunities to measure event ROI. (Source: Marketing Charts)

• 32% of marketers report being dissatisfied with how they can measure Return on Objectives (ROO). (Source: Marketing Profs)

• 70% of marketers say that the most common metric to judge event ROI is amount of media exposure generated. (Source: Marketing Profs)

• 22% of brands do not have a way of measuring their events. (Source: EventTrack Study)

• 82% of marketers cannot quantify the data received from attendee interactions at their corporate events. (Source: Kissmetrics)

• 23% of marketers can track the ROI of their events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• 55% of marketers are not able to track event ROI. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• 37% of event technology adopters are able to track the ROI for their events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

Event Promotion/Planning Trends

• 74% of marketers say that email is their most commonly used tool for event promotion. (Source: Marketing Charts)
• More than 75% of B2C companies use email marketing to promote their events. (Source: Hubspot)

• 50% of event marketers say that getting attendees to respond to their event invites is their largest challenge. (Source: Hubspot)

• The average B2B company spends 5-8 weeks planning an event. (Source: Hubspot)
• 87% of B2Bs use social media to promote events (the third most popular channel), and it ranks as the second most effective channel for event promotion, tying with websites at 68% of respondents. (Source: eMarketer) 

Event Sponsorship Trends

Event Sponsorship Trends

• 70% of marketers say that the need to validate results from event sponsorship has increased over past 2 years. (Source: Marketing Profs) 

• 75% of event sponsors are constantly looking for new partnerships. (Source: Sponsez)

• Total global sponsorship spending increased 4.1% in 2015. (Source: Sponsorship Spending Report)

• Less than 50% of marketers have a standardized process to measure event sponsorship. (Source: Marketing Profs)

• 25% of marketers do not analyze and use data from sponsorship to determine future event spend decisions. (Source: Marketing Profs)

• 85% of marketers say their organizations prioritize sponsoring events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• 30% of marketers say they’ll increase spending on sponsored events in the year ahead. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• The most popular types of sponsored events are industry trade shows/conventions, one-day conference or seminars, business or channel partner events, and multiple-day conferences. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• The most popular types of events that B2B companies sponsor are industry trade shows/conventions, multiple-day conferences or seminars, one-day conferences or seminars, business or channel partner events, and thought-leadership workshops. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

• The most popular types of events that B2C companies sponsor are entertainment events, one-day conferences or seminars, industry trade shows/conventions, multiple-day conferences, and business or channel partner events. (Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services)

Feel like a believer? Get started on learning all there is to know about event marketing in our video series, Run of Show.

 


Event Technology

• Event technology can help increase event attendance by 20%, increase productivity by 27%, and decrease costs by 20-30%. (Source: Enterprise Event Marketing)  
• 88% of B2B companies use content marketing. (Source: Forbes)
• The most used technologies by event planners are photobooths (45%), event apps (44%) and livestreaming tools (44%). (Source: Engaging Events)

• 64% of event planners find it difficult to secure budget for event technology tools. (Source: State of Mobile Event Technology Report)
• 53% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.  (Source: Hubspot)
• 73% of surveyed consumers found that content with a strong personality helps in forming loyal relationships. (Source: Econsultancy)
• By 2019, video will account for 80% of global internet traffic, and 85% in the US. (Source: Cisco)

Attendee Engagement and Experience

Increasing Sales Pipeline

• 83% of brands say that their #1 reason for event participation is increasing sales. (Source: Live Marketing)
• 65% of brands say that their event and experiential programs are directly related to sales. (Source: EMI & Mosaic)
• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stated conventions and events are expected to expand by 44% from 2010 to 2020. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Event Follow-up

• 75% of leads are never followed-up with after an exhibition. (Source: The Marketing Donut)
• 80% of trade show exhibitors don’t follow up with their show leads. (Source: Salesforce)

We all know event data is important. But does it even matter if you don't know what to do with it? Learn how to effectively use and distribute your event data.

See how they built it:



Do you have what it takes to leverage event technology? Learn more from Matt Burton in this 20-minute video.

event-team-collaboration-app

Not only is it helpful to quickly solve any issues (and there are always issues), but it’s also helpful to communicate with your team inside the venue on the status of check-ins. Most importantly, alert your sales team that their VIP guests have arrived.

5. Dos-and-Donts for Not Breaking The Law: Keep Count Of Your Attendee Numbers

The last thing you want to think about is hitting capacity. Because hitting capacity for your event would be a good thing… right?


Unfortunately, not keeping track of the number of attendees, and subsequently, violating fire permit laws, is a common problem for many event planners. Avoid this by using an old-fashioned clicker or the Splash App using the “checked out” status -- that’s key for tracking who’s in and out of the space.


Pro tip: have the fire permit in hand and contract printed out. And have another person keep track of how it feels inside the event, whether it’s hot in the venue or too crowded.


A couple good questions to consider asking the venue manager about the space:


• How many people in the venue makes it feel full?

• How many people makes it feel empty?

• Where can lines form?
• How many people can be at the bar at a time? (A typical drink order takes about 2 minutes. Alleviate bar crowds by having cocktail waitresses holding pre-made drinks.)

Bonus Details:

Timing: Start Door Duty an Hour Before Event

Sure, attendees may arrive late. Sure, you may still be organizing right up until the last minute. But people will begin showing up 25 minutes after starting time, which means, security has to be ready for the flow of arrivals. Some people will also arrive early and if the door isn’t staffed, you don’t want these people sneaking in before it’s time.

Staff Up: The Golden 1:50 Ratio

To maintain organization, have a 1:50 ratio between the company and guests. This may vary based on how complex the on-site registration is.

Veterans know: there is no such thing as too many RSVPs

When I was a rookie planner, I remember being very nervous that there were too many RSVPs and the right people wouldn't get in.

 

As much as the experience at the door matters, remember: a packed event is a good thing. A very good thing. A line makes you look popular, and people don't really mind waiting (if it moves). Much worse than over crowding is UNDER crowding... no one likes an empty room.  And when someone on your team is stressing, tell them to chill. You got this.

Do you have what it takes to leverage event technology? Learn more from Matt Burton in this 20-minute video.

author

Melanie Singer 

Melanie is the Marketing Intern at Splash. She recently graduated from Dickinson College and assists Esther in anything Content Marketing related. 

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