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Welcome to BDI’s Tip of the Month, where we share lessons learned about field marketing events. We’ve been at this since 2001 and have learned most lessons the hard way, so you don’t have to! This month’s tip is all about choosing the right topic for your event.
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Last month’s post was how to pick a venue, now it’s time to strategize on an event title and topic. The right topic is one of the most important ingredients for success. Too often, we see enterprise tech and services companies using their product as the genesis of the event content. Product marketing does not equate to effective event content marketing because product marketing is about you. It’s also about prospects or customers who already demonstrate interest in your product. When trying to get net new prospects in the top of your funnel, your ability to fill a room with qualified senior executives is based on your ability to communicate the promise of what’s in it for them, not you. Here’s how we do it for our clients at BDI.
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The first step is to understand the most important topics your audience is interested in. There are many ways to do this. Talk to your best sales and accounts team members, they know what’s on the mind of your targets. Read industry publications. Research competing events. For the IT audience, here are examples of successful topics we have been using: Enterprise Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, and Internet of Things. The art of crafting event content is about focusing on the needs of the audience while picking a topic that is related to your product and company. Many failed events lead with a product topic vs an audience topic. It needs to be the other way around.
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The next step is to craft an event title that differentiates your event from its competition. For example, we have been using Enterprise Blockchain – Beyond Cryptocurrencies. Note the focus is on the “Enterprise” and the point of differentiation is “Beyond Cryptocurrencies”, which drives most of the media hype on the topic of blockchain. This topic resonates with a senior technology leader for a Global 1000 company who is very interested in learning about how blockchain technology may impact his organization, not the latest hyped cryptocurrency that everyone is talking about.
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After the topic comes the abstract. A good abstract will briefly describe the opportunities and challenges associated with the topic followed by specific examples or use cases that will be covered. It will also provide a promise to the attendee about what they will get out of the event – benefits such as interactive peer-to-peer learning, high value networking, and a great meal in a private room at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Provide photos and videos of what they can expect. Don’t overlook the attendee experience in the abstract, it’s just as important as the topic. Click here to view an example of a BDI abstract for our upcoming Enterprise Blockchain for Insurance & Banking – Beyond Cryptocurrencies.
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ABOUT BDI
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Business Development Institute (BDI) is an award-winning ABM event marketing agency specializing in producing custom, thought leadership driven, client acquisition roadshows called Accelerate Events. Using an ABM approach, we are able to successfully brand our clients as thought leaders in their industry while simultaneously generating qualified leads thorough our Accelerate Events. As a turnkey partner, BDI handles all of the heavy lifting from conception of the program content, to recruiting our client’s qualified buyers, to executing the event day of.[push h=10] |
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