I have worked in media for 20 years but only recently made the leap from the advertising world in to events. While there are many similarities between these giant industries there are also differences where they could learn a great deal from each other.

Face time

In the events world, it still shocks me (in a good way) when I call up a client or prospect and they are so keen to chat! They are open to sharing their stories, triumphs and challenges with a genuine sincerity that I may be able to help. As busy as we all are, I cannot recall a time when someone within this industry has not been able to spare me time for a meeting to talk through things face-to-face.

Hardly surprising you might say, when meeting people is what we advocate.

This is in complete contrast with the advertising world where you can often spend weeks trying to get through to somebody on the phone or arrange a meeting only for them to be running 15 minutes late for a 30-minute slot which they are ‘going to have to duck out early’ from. This is, of course, a generalisation and not always the case but simply put, they do not place anywhere near enough value on face-to-face meetings, something that in my view sets our industry apart and is something we should be proud of.

Closing the loop

Conversely there is one thing my friends in the advertising world are exceptional at - measurement. In events we often use metrics like; number of visitors through the door, audience demographics, number of exhibitors, visitor conversion, revenue generated. They’re all valid KPI’s – however there is a wealth of science we need to apply to get a true measure of our ROI.

In advertising no stone is left unturned. No click isn’t tracked, no social campaign isn’t measured, no customer journey isn’t followed, no direct mail campaign isn’t attributed, econometric modelling is prevalent - the list goes on.

I would like to see us step up to the challenge and begin to close the end-to-end marketing loop. This is going to require us to integrate the various systems we use (website, registration, CRM, email marketing, social, analytics) but is essential for us to demonstrate what is working and, more importantly, how do we replicate it.

On a mission

Over the coming months ASP’s mission is to integrate all of these different data sources so we can get a bigger picture view of who your customers are, how they behave/consume content and who they know. This will help marketers act in an agile way with real and relevant data, enabling more personalised communications and greater ROI.

Fun times ahead!