B2B marketers tend to dream big, but can sometimes be held back due to time constraints and lack of financial resource. This can mean that necessary changes aren’t made to websites, new landing pages can take ages to implement, and the smallest design update can end up being expensively outsourced.

If this set-up sounds familiar, take a look at our top free content creation tools, and see if you can’t solve your creative challenges without seeking help from outside.

If you watch this video and find yourself nodding, smirking and coming to the crude realisation that this fictional guy represents your business, then you have a reason to be well and truly ashamed.

While this video may be mocking an old school mentality, it is a sadly somewhat accurate reflection of the approach some organisations use to promote and sell their events.

I regularly reiterate the benefits a marketing automation platform can offer a business, and the assistance it can provide in terms of achieving and sustaining your inbound marketing goals. But what about marketing automation for SMEs? Your budget may not allow for the kind of outlays associated with the top five (HubSpot, Eloqua, Pardot, Act-On, and Marketo), and even if it does it may feel like a risky spend for your first venture into marketing automation software. So why not research one of these platforms, for a lower cost for the specific functionality you require?

If there is one single organisation which can be considered the events industry authority on events big and small with meaningful data, it is EventBrite. They recently released their Pulse report which delves into the must-know trends and crucial benchmarks for the UK events industry.

From my point of view, the Pulse report is a key piece of research to have at your fingertips. Every event leader asks me the kind of questions that this particular report answers. So get your hands on it today.

I have gone through the process of reading the whole 44 page report and have summarised the main key figures for you here. I do strongly recommend you download it and check it out as it is definitely worth a read.

First let’s talk about the money…

“Lazy exhibiting” is a term I first encountered when speaking with a senior event professional – and it really resonated due to experiences I had personally, and those I had heard about from peers and clients.

Admittedly this is a RANT, I never do this so this will be the first time.

This is a video I recorded at a show I attended earlier this year. I was so annoyed that I felt compelled to use it as constructive feedback to many exhibitors and to share the frustration many event organisers have at situations like this.

You may have already read my summary of a recent 2015 social media marketing report, which covered the areas of social media that marketers are most comfortable using, the platforms they don’t plan on adopting anytime soon, and the amount of time they are dedicating to their social media activity, among other topics.

So here let’s look ahead – what does the future of social media marketing for events look like?

There comes a time in every organisation’s lifecycle when a website redesign is staring them in the face, and it’s an occurrence you simply cannot afford to ignore.

This could be for a multitude of reasons such as a rebrand, a strategy overhaul, or just that it looks increasingly dated.

Don’t sigh with despair when this issue arises, grab the bull by the horns and make your website work harder for you; turn it into an unstoppable inbound marketing machine.

Here’s how to in just ten steps:

I came across this insightful and truly comprehensive report by Social Media Examiner, and found it so useful I thought I’d summarise it here and pass on some of these must-know nuggets of wisdom.

In its entirety the '2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report' covers the top questions marketers want answered on the topic of social media, how much time is spent on this increasingly vital channel, which platforms are most frequently used, and which ones marketers want to find out more about.

So here are some statistics to whet your appetite…

So we’ve talked about how media publishers can drive revenues through monetising website visitors, and their extensive databases – and now we move onto the hugely profitable channel of events.

If you haven’t dabbled in the events arena previously, now is the time to formulate a strategy. But how should you kick off this new revenue driving endeavour?

We’ve dissected the various types of events you may want to make your own, and factored in the pros and cons for media publishers specifically.

For all terms and purposes I am referring to advertisers as sponsors.

This blog is a part of a media publishing series ‘Revenue generating tips for media publishers’.

I was recently invited to take part in Pickevent’s Best practices in social media promotion session.

The event was jam-packed full of insights and best practices in social media promotion, and I can’t help but want to share them!

Here are my top eight takeaways from the session, with thanks to Elvira Hunte, Randy Nyssen and William Watts for being such fantastic fellow panel members. 

Getting someone's attention and agreement to meet you or speak to you on the phone is a very difficult and challenging part of our busy day to day business lives.

But it is even more difficult and frustrating finding an actual suitable time for both of you to engage and not losing their attention in the email back and forth that usually ensues.

I speak to a lot of people in a given week and managing the diaries can easily get out of hand.

So I did my research and here are the five top meeting schedule tools that could really make a difference to your business. They made a difference to mine.

It’s easy to forget just how much value the people who come into contact with your organisation can hold – and not just for you, but for third parties too. If you haven’t already thought about monetising your website visitors and database, now is the time to alter your view of them, and treat them as an additional revenue stream in their own right.

As a media publisher you must have good amount of website visitors with something in common – interest, behaviour, need… And there are many companies willing to pay for this!

Here are the most innovative and profitable ways you can tap into that incremental revenue, and the things you need to ensure along the way.

This blog is a part of a media publishing series ‘Revenue generating tips for media publishers’.

Undoubtedly, the most common question I am asked when speaking to event industry leaders is: “Do you think our open rates and click through rates are above or below the benchmark for the industry?”

While I haven’t officially surveyed the conference professionals that I know, I have many conversations to draw upon, and in my experience email is still hugely important to event companies. They really care about the results they are getting and want to know how they measure up to competitors and peers.

Now, when it comes to actual figures, I believe you have to take them with a pinch of salt. Many marketers like to think that they are already taking the right approach, and simply want to be assured of this. In addition, if you were to ask your marketing manager what kind of results they are seeing you will likely induce panic, and cause them to demonstrate only their best performing pieces for fear of criticism. 

But, based on my experiences across the board within the event industry, here are the metrics you should expect to see:

Often companies look at competitors to see if they’re falling behind, or where they’re leading the way for the rest of the industry – but we forget that there’s a lot to be learned from other industries entirely. In this case I’m talking about media publishers. Struggling to generate high quality leads, surely it makes sense to take a little knowledge from the experts! If there’s one thing event marketers do well it’s lead generation – and I’m about to let you in on the top secret business of how they do it:

Aside from publishing high quality content, there aren’t many additional revenue streams media publishers can tap into, right?

Wrong!

There are several ways you can expand your reach and repertoire that don’t necessarily need to break the bank. And if you at least try these new channels, you’ll be able to discover which are more profitable for your organisation and are worth persevering with.

We’ll explore each of these tips in greater detail in the next few weeks, so watch this space for more information!

Here are our absolute top revenue generating tips for media publishers:

There are many ideas event planners use to stimulate engagement during the event. Some bring comedians, others commission Cirque du Soleil style shows, hire magicians etc... You name it and it has been done, especially in North America where events get additional, hype which I think is pretty cool.

I personally see the value events don't necessarily need to be serious and academic and networky all the time. Well, what if you could invest your money in something that will actually generate excitement, buzz, shares, a twitter frenzy, awareness and, more importantly, an everlasting memory of your event?

Try attempting to break a world record title and give yourself the chance to join the likes of Usain Bolt and Richard Branson by being in the Guinness World Records book!

So you’ve got a webinar coming up and as yet, no attendees. How do you get your registration numbers to skyrocket?

A webinar is a fantastic (and inexpensive) way of showing off your event hosting skills, and your credibility within the industry of your topic. What most event marketers do to get the increase registrations is blast non-targeted, non-personalised emails to the entirety of their database, which is of course ineffective.

So here are our top proven techniques to maximise your audience.

If the qualitative and quantitative evidence that we’ve provided in other blogs isn’t enough to get the support of your team, or your CEO’s buy-in, the cherry on the cake in your argument will be demonstrating the effects of an online community at every level of the value chain.

There are several groups who will thank you for your efforts in your B2B online community – in terms of both monetary rewards and delegate fandom.

Many companies, particularly smaller ones, find it difficult to create their own content, and instead resort to curating, reusing or even copying content from other sources. Big no no. Doing this can be time consuming (for little or no reward), risky in terms of copyright issues, and your website may not really be advanced enough to host this kind of content.

We always recommend that companies create their own unique content, and if possible host their own regularly updated blog. But if this is not a feasible undertaking – for reasons relating to time, budget, or technical capabilities – it’s better to take action and join the content publishers than take a backseat and simply watch others succeed in this arena.

There are a number of different tools you can use to create your own bespoke news portal in less than one hour. Yes you read that right - under an hour. It’s the perfect way to provide your audience (both internal and external) with relevant and industry related content that you think will add value.

This is the single question, budget holders ask most frequently to both marketers and service providers like us.

Everyone understands what are the benefits of adopting an inbound based, community driving approach. Everyone gets it, however to get the support of the big guys you will need to be able to back up the bold statements you’ll be making with some hard facts.

We’ve drawn upon HubSpot’s research with their 30,000+ customers and the findings to demonstrate how a community based marketing strategy can impact your metrics – from website visitors to actual tangible customers.

The ROI is represented in three main areas, visits, leads and sales: