We advocate that before you do anything else to kick off your community, you must, must, must have a blog, but once that’s done and you’re in the routine of publishing regular content, it’s time to bolster your efforts with the other platforms available to you.

These are the steps you must take to develop your online community:

Great, you’re convinced. You realise that at some point you’re going to have to come around to the idea of an online community for your event(s) and what better time to start than right now? So how exactly do you do that?

Start Blogging! Start your own, blog on LinkedIn, blog wherever you want, but do it consistently.

Well we’ve shown you the shape an online event community can take, so think about which areas you’d like to focus on. We have some advice of our own on that topic but ultimately it’s down to you to fit the forum to your ideal customer, or the place you know your prospects and customers can be found.

However, we can’t stress this point enough – if you don’t have a blog you’re missing a major opportunity to generate leads and build a captive audience. This is the most effective first step you can take in creating YOUR community, though you might not think it’s the easiest.

Here are our 5 steps to blog success, take them one step at a time.

As an experienced marketer, you’re no doubt aware of the power of LinkedIn as a B2B marketing tool. But are you making the most of it for your events? If used correctly, social media (and LinkedIn specifically) can aid your event marketing strategy enormously, building the credibility of your conference portfolio, and you as an individual event industry leader.

Here are our top ten LinkedIn to-do's to help you raise your profile, engage with your community and ultimately generate leads for your B2B event.

Email marketing is still the majority of event marketers’ go-to tool for promoting their events, and with good reason. When done right the results can be astounding, but in the hands of an old school marketer , email can be an overused (and even harmful) tool.

We’ve observed that the pattern is pretty much always the same: 12 weeks out from the event, marketers start blasting. They don’t segment their lists, meaning they end up sending a blanket email which attempts to provide something for everyone and as a result is pretty lengthy and vague, and try to cram in as much information as possible. The cycle is then repeated until the event takes place, causing recipients to disengage and in some cases even unsubscribe completely.

I was recently interviewed by Events Uncovered TV, to share my observations on the ever changing shape that B2B event marketing is taking. The premise of my argument is that while some traditional marketing techniques may have worked superbly in their heyday, the industry is undeniably evolving (and some event marketers are struggling to keep up). Enjoy the interview and please comment away if you have views of your own.

A clear trend is emerging: B2B publishers are becoming increasingly aware that events are a profitable opportunity not to be passed up. Simultaneously, event companies are realising that the industry needs to change. They must think more as publishers do in the battle to fight declining revenues and add value to both sponsors and attendees on a 365 basis.

The current sentiment on both sides is "yes we know we need to behave/think/act more like them", but nobody seems to know where event and publisher paths converge. Neither side knows how exactly how to get to this sweet spot, where to start, or who internally is best placed to drive the change.

Largely, the challenge lies in finding the employee who can be bothered to propel this internal shift in attitudes with different stakeholders, and get their buy in.

The actions publishers and events need to take are clear and they don't have to be complicated! Here's my rundown of where the covergence lies, and what kind of results each side can expect to achieve:

Content marketing is often viewed as a passing fad by B2B event marketers - or ignored completely - but unlike some marketing trends this one is set to stick around. As an experienced marketer, chances are you’re familiar with the fundamentals – but how can you translate the returns of this approach to your event marketing? 

It's all about changing your mindset, and applying the key elements of the content philosophy to your outlook. Ultimately, treating your event as a content offer, rather than a standalone occurrence, will help you to adapt your strategy, generate relevant leads, and increase registrations. 

So we’ve talked about what not to do in email marketing – now let’s address the positives. There are plenty of quick and easy techniques you can employ to ensure the content you so lovingly crafted actually connects with the prospects you intended it for! 

Most of your B2B prospects will receive countless messages about products and services, new content, conferences, discounts, offers, webinars etc. on a daily or possibly hourly basis (depending on how freely they share their email address). As a result, the key to increasing and sustaining your open rate is to stand out by being relevant, interesting and showing a genuine desire to help. Here are our best B2B email marketing tips to improve your metrics and ultimately win more quality leads:

As a busy director, you probably don't have time to get bogged down in the detail of marketing reports. But since your  company is likely to be heavily reliant on the emails you send to your database, not knowing exactly what the  metrics show (or which ones really matter) can lead to lengthy yawnworthy meetings and little clarity on how your team, marketing and tactics are truly performing.