For those in the events business, you know the better experience you provide for sponsors, the more revenue you generate. Elizabeth Kachoris shared her company’s new strategy for not only improving the experience of their event’s attendees, but also creating a rewarding (and lead-generating!) opportunity for their sponsors.
- Publisher: Elizabeth Kachoris
- Magazine: PMMI Media Group
- Big Idea: Data & Personalized Printing for Events
PMMI Media Group connects manufactures to the latest solutions, trends, and innovations in packaging and processing worldwide. The company hosts multiple industry-specific trade shows each year and is always interested in identifying new ways to generate more revenue from these events. Elizabeth Kachoris pitched an idea to leverage data collected from their attendee event registration form to increase the lead-generation potential for their sponsors.
The Formula
Within the registration form, PMMI includes a few questions asking about the types of products each attendee is more interested in. Then, the team at PMMI creates custom print books for each individual attendee. The books are called Game Plan – as in your game plan for attending the show. Each book provides a page-by-page guide of the trade show floor. It highlights the sponsors with products aligning to the attendee’s interests. The books are mailed out prior to the conference.
At the event, attendees get their books scanned at sponsors’ booths to connect with them and receive additional information. In addition to Game Plan, attendees are sent another custom book called Second Look after the show has ended. In this guide, attendees receive additional information from the sponsors they spoke with at the show. Some sponsors even include personalized items and offers for those attendees.
Why It Works
The trade show floor can be overwhelming, and often attendees can miss out on seeing a sponsor relevant to their interests. The guide serves as both a physical map as well as a way to direct users to the areas and sponsors which fit them the best. The Second Look book is a perfect way to make sure sponsors stay relevant and top-of-mind even after the show has ended. For the sponsors, this new guide is a perfect way to make sure the right people are finding them. Plus, it streamlines their process for connecting with attendees after the show.
The Results
The results have been fantastic. The team surveyed their attendees and found some pretty staggering positive results.
- 85% used Game Plan before attending – many of those even researched the companies included
- 64% said Game Plan was useful with over 50% using it as a guide during the show
- 46% said they visited booths of companies they were unfamiliar with or might have missed at the show because of Game Plan
- 88% said they’d keep Second Look as their own reference guide
These positive results for attendees directly attribute to positive results for their sponsors. The more leads a sponsor gets from an event, the more likely they are to return, and the more valuable the event sponsorship package becomes.
P.S. Don’t miss out on the next Million Dollar Mania at the Niche Consumer CEO Summit, November 12-13 in Charleston at the Wild Dunes Resort. Share your best “million dollar” idea and get at least 25 awesome revenue ideas in return!
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More about Megan: Megan Black is the Content Maven for Niche Media. She also directs the content efforts of the Second Street Lab. When she’s not passionately defending the Oxford comma, Megan passes the time with the latest Netflix marathon.
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