Event marketing is in the spotlight as event organisers push for growth and prioritise having exactly the right people in the room to deliver the most value for sponsors and exhibitors.

A well spent marketing budget and measured, visible results have never been more important.

But the hard truths are:

1. If event marketing is not truly data-driven, growth potential won’t be realised because so much (including AI) relies on well organised and well leveraged data.
2. Too many event marketing functions are not operating in a data-driven way.
3. Because the AI already at work in marketing channel is not understood, money is being both wasted and left on the table – especially with regard to spend on PPC/Paid Media which presents huge opportunities, if deployed in the right way.

At the same time, event marketers are still not realising the value of content marketing as a key driver of customer engagement and growth. As AI-led search is now well and truly upon us, original, valuable and trusted content has become more important than ever as brands fight for attention, credibility and the ‘top spot’ as market leaders.

So, for this digest we’re focusing on these two very different but equally important aspects of event marketing. All senior executives and event marketers should be paying attention to both of these aspects of a winning event marketing approach.

 

EVENT MARKETING STRATEGIES

Two recommended focus areas:

#1 You could be wasting a lot of money and sabotaging your event marketing with the wrong approach to PPC/Paid Media.

There are some critical mistakes event businesses are making with their digital campaigns - including incorrectly configured analytics feeding bad data into AI-driven campaigns; poorly allocated budgets stopping campaigns from working, and ignoring serious knowledge gaps in event marketing teams.

These issues are easily fixable. But first they need to be acknowledged and understood. I recently wrote this LinkedIn article about what the problem is, and how to fix it.

Read LinkedIn Article.
 

#2  Content marketing for events is straightforward when the right framework is applied.

The following 5-stage framework is used by Team MPG when deploying content marketing within a multi-channel campaigns outsourced to us:

1. Content planning
2. Content creation
3. Content packaging
4. Content distribution
5. Content amplification

Get in touch to request your free copy of MPG’s 5 Stage Framework to Content Marketing for Events.

 

MPG DIARY

MPG hosted gatherings coming soon:

Expert Briefings:

• AI in PPC for B2B Events - 10th December
• What every event marketer should know about PPC - 18th February and 18th March

Complete this enquiry form to request invitations to these expert briefings, including the names and email addresses of those in your team you’d like us to invite.
 

Roundtables – only for event directors, marketing directors and sales directors:

• Event marketing in 2026 and beyond - what are our strategic and tactical priorities? - 15th January

• Getting spex marketing right to boost revenue - what is the best approach for my business? - 29th January

Request your invitation here.

 

Events MPG will be attending:

• AEO Marketing Forum - 30 January
• International Confex - 25 & 26 February

 

LATEST MPG INSIGHTS

The Missing Middle: Why most events underinvest in sponsorship marketing (and what it’s costing you)

Sponsorship and exhibition sales account for 60-80% of revenue at many events. Yet those teams often get less than 10% of the marketing resource. Without the right support, sales teams spend too much time generating their own leads instead of closing deals. 

In our latest blog, we explore: why this gap exists; what dedicated sponsorship marketing looks like; and the commercial upside when you get it right.

Read latest MPG Insights Blog.

 

Events CEO's Marketing Series

Here  are 4 more articles for CEOs and leaders of events businesses:

• Essential questions to ask about your investment in marketing
• Measuring your marketing to unlock growth
• How best to manage your attendee booking patterns & make final numbers more predictable
• The email marketing performance problem - and what to do about it

 

TEAM MPG

As Team MPG evolves and grows to serve our customers in the best way, we’ve organised ourselves into the following five service pillars – all focused on events:

1. Audience marketing: multichannel, integrated marketing to attract & retain event attendees.
2. Commercial marketing: multichannel, integrated marketing to attract & retain sponsors & exhibitors.
3. PPC/paid media: highly targeted, scalable digital marketing - complements & fills gaps left by email & SEO.
4. Analysis & reporting: real-time benchmarked ‘in campaign’ results + engagement scoring predicts event attendance.
5. Tech stacks & databases: automated data flows & streamlined processes + database growth + AI-enabling data quality & structure improvements.

To get a quote for MPG to deliver one or more of these services for your business, get in touch.

 

FEATURED LINKEDIN POST

Kicking off Christmas with fresh leadership thinking!

Before our festive celebrations, we welcomed Paul Spiers from The New P&L® Institute for his keynote "Champions of Change: Redefining Leadership & Culture for the Age of AI." Drawing from 260+ global leaders, Paul challenged us on building intrapreneurial cultures, unleashing curiosity and creativity, and purpose-led leadership in an AI-enabled world - the perfect catalyst for renewed purpose heading into 2026.

Read the full post here.
 

And that’s a wrap for December. If you’d like to talk about how you can get more out of your investment in event marketing, please drop me a line.

Kind regards,

Helen Coetzee
Founder & CEO, MPG