The Nuances of Event Marketing & Project Management
BrainDo was recently brought on to support a client in an event marketing campaign that touched almost every service and discipline we provide. For this special episode of the Marketing Roundtable podcast, we’re joined by the project manager who spearheaded the engagement: Rose Baez!
Rose Baez is a Project Manager here at BrainDo, leading workstreams internally and with clients. Taking a holistic approach to management, they ensure that everyone — from the clients to our staff — has the tools they need to succeed.
They’re a natural planner, have a master’s degree in strategic communications, and love to ride horses!
So when a client came to us last year with an event they needed quick support in marketing, Rose took the helm and steered all workstreams over the finish line.
Before diving into the finer details, our hosts first asked Rose to define the difference between event marketing (say, for a conference) and a typical marketing campaign:
“With regular marketing campaigns, we typically have a brand or product or service that exists past the expiration date of the campaign.” They continue, “With event marketing, it’s a lot more fast-paced, and there’s an expiration date.”
Rose also clarifies that event marketing speaks to a much more niched-down sub-audience of the client. Reflecting back on a prior conversation, Rachel adds:
“Just talking to you earlier, you mentioned that there’s so much more pivoting because the timeframe is so condensed; you need to be able to move faster.”
Tatiana also points out that other sales campaigns have the luxury of time. Depending on the client or brand, there’s always next quarter, another milestone, or even seasonality (such as the holidays) to consider.
With event marketing, there’s no such luxury. Seats need to be filled; sponsors need to be secured. If something isn’t resonating with the audience, promoters must adapt quickly. But adaptation efforts may appear differently to marketers and promoters, depending on when they became involved.
These differing perspectives reflect a comprehensive versus a consultative approach to event marketing.
At this point in the episode, we begin exploring the nuances of event marketing, including the comprehensive and consultative approaches to campaigns. A comprehensive engagement often means that you were brought in from the conception and ideation phase of the campaign. In contrast, the consultative approach is often a response to when a client has a gap in bandwidth, capability, or other needed support.
When comparing the two approaches, Rose comments, “The comprehensive engagements feel like playing an orchestra, versus the consultative approach just feels like picking up the phone since you’re responding to a client’s need.”
There are countless reasons why an agency (like us!) would be brought in for the consultative role partway through a project. Another partnership could have fallen through, a new channel was added to the roster, an outside perspective is needed … the list goes on.
“That’s when we really get to shine when it comes to problem-solving!” Rose exclaims. “We get to come up with very custom programs for our clients that directly respond to exactly what they need.”
Regardless of approach, rigorous project management is needed to keep the swift dynamics of the engagement safely on the rails.
The section of this podcast episode wholly devoted to project management comes after discussing our specific client engagement in more depth, so make sure to watch the full episode to learn more!
Rose states that it’s imperative to have a pre-project management phase, where you get to know the client, understand their needs, and familiarize yourself with as much context as possible. They liken this stage to cramming before an exam.
They also emphasize the significance of internal documentation. Bringing us back to the exam metaphor, the best tests were those where you were able to check your notes!
Not only is documentation important for historical reference, but it allows the project manager to keep things as organized as possible behind the scenes, so that the subject matter experts are ready to swoop in and provide their services as efficiently as possible.
From software tools to scoping hours and drafting spreadsheets, all things project management come back to one key element: flow.
If this little taste of project management for event marketing was enough to pique your curiosity, the full episode is linked below! Tune in to learn more about our recent client engagement, content creation for events, and some of the unique challenges that event marketing poses over more typical campaigns.
If you have an upcoming event you’d like support in marketing, reach out! Events present unique multi-discipline marketing opportunities, so we’d love to help guide you through a successful public function.
The Marketing Roundtable is available to watch on YouTube or listen to on every major podcast platform. Check it out today to learn more about project management, social media, data analytics, or browse other episodes for more digital prowess:
The Marketing Roundtable is available to watch on YouTube or listen to on every major podcast platform. Check it out today to learn more about A/B testing in the world of data analytics from two incredible experts, or browse other episodes for more digital prowess: