At MPG, we’ve always invested a lot of time in team training, testing new tools, and researching the latest developments relevant to event marketing. 

What we've learned - time and time again - is that innovation only delivers when it's built on solid foundations. Our mantra has always been: get the fundamentals working really well first, then innovate on a strong base. 

In other words, do the ‘boring’ stuff brilliantly. Then layer on, test, and evolve.

After all, to work well AI relies on a strong set up and good structure of systems, processes, customer data and analytics. And the foundational work is about getting this all into good shape. 

Ironically, these foundational elements are often ignored in favour of the ‘new shiny thing’ even though that very thing depends on the foundations to work well. 

Event marketers are often targeted by service providers and tech vendors promising a ‘turnkey’ or ‘blackbox’ solution. They present their wares as highly progressive, and often easy to buy and use ‘plug-and-play’ with no customisation or manual effort, or some kind of ‘secret sauce’ or ‘proprietary algorithm’. But they have very little if any proof their solutions actually work in practice - especially for event organisers.

The marketing world is full of this kind of snake oil. Slick decks, buzzword-heavy pitches, and solutions that sound hugely innovative and ‘full of clever AI’. Very tempting. Also very risky.

We would always recommend a ‘test and learn’ approach, running small pilots to ensure a new way of doing things will produce better results than what it is replacing. 

There is immense pressure to try new things and adopt AI. This can lead to event organisers losing focus on the incredibly important foundations that have to be in place regardless of what other tools are used, and for those very tools to work well!

Below is a further explanation of what these foundations are.

 

EVENT MARKETING STRATEGIES

6 Foundations of effective event marketing:

1.  Clearly defining and sizing your event target market, followed by segmentation and targeting to attract enough of the right people to your event. You need a structured target market map, including market sizing compared to your current reach. This should be done for both your event attendees and sponsors/exhibitors - at least 9 months before the event, ideally more. For a launch event we’d recommend this is done at least 14 months before the event.

2.  Developing and deploying event marketing messaging that effectively communicates your event’s value to your audience and clients (sponsors & exhibitors) - ensuring different groups you’re targeting get different messages based on what is most valuable to them. You need a messaging matrix that maps out selling points and benefits for each key customer group - ensuring your whole event team is aligned on what they really care about. 

3.  Creating and managing your event website - your most important marketing channel - as an effective hub for converting those engaged with your marketing to event attendees and leads for your sales team. Event marketing sites need to be built and managed in a certain way to be effective. There is no question that you need to invest in a fit-for-purpose event website in terms of structure, functionality and content - otherwise, none of your other channels will work as they should as they’re all driving traffic to your site.

4. A well-managed and truly integrated multi-channel event marketing campaign that will effectively reach, engage and convert your ideal event attendees to actual event attendees, and a separate but aligned campaign that will generate leads to attract sponsors/exhibitors. Your website, email marketing, PPC/paid media, organic social, media partners, and advocacy must all be activated. If one of these is missing, your event won’t achieve its potential. Telesales is usually also hugely beneficial and will more than pay for itself when expertly delivered and managed well. Direct mail sometimes features too - depending on the event.

5. Your event marketing lead time - ensuring your go-to-market timing is early enough. Booking patterns may be falling later, but that doesn’t mean your lead time can lag. In fact, the opposite is true. For events with content as a key driver of audience value, it is more important than ever to publish your full event content programme at least 14 weeks before the show - especially if you’re expecting attendees to pay to attend. And marketing for annual shows should be running all year round - building your brand, community and database.

6. Full measurement of your event marketing performance and ROI - you need to measure reach, engagement and conversions for different audience groups, from a range of channels and from various campaigns and tactics. Every element of your marketing can and should be measured - requiring your analytics to be set up correctly. Marketers should be sharing regular reports with their internal stakeholders on marketing activities and their results in terms of engagement and conversions to leads and sales. This is the best way to:

• Ensure your attendee profile is going to meet expectations.
• Predict final attendee volumes.
• Ensure event marketers’ important internal stakeholders are aligned.

MPG DIARY

Upcoming MPG hosted gatherings - by invitation only.

MPG Expert Briefing (ONLINE) - 29 April 2026: Sponsor marketing: what does a sponsor marketing campaign look like? And how does this differ from and intersect with delegate marketing?

MPG Leaders Roundtable (INPERSON - for senior executives only) - 21 May 2026: In an AI-driven world, as email performance declines, what is the new winning approach to event marketing?

Request your invitation here.

LATEST MPG INSIGHTS

MPG’s blogs publishing in March:

• Three ways event organisers could use WhatsApp for marketing, community building and engagement
• If you’re relying on email to promote your event, you’re in trouble

MPG CAN HELP YOU GROW YOUR EVENTS FASTER WITH DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING

Get in touch to discuss how MPG can help you. We have a variety of services focused on optimising inbound and outbound marketing, incorporating the foundations of success and the latest, proven automation and AI tools.

Kind regards,

Helen Coetzee
Founder & CEO
MPG

E: helen@mpg.biz
W: www.mpg.biz