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Consumer Events Marketing 101: Five Proven Principles to Produce Successful Consumer Events
- 1. SPECIAL REPORT CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 Five Proven Principles to Produce Successful Consumer Events Dan Louie ! " ! . $ % % . & ' % ' danielklouie@gmail.com
- 2. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 2 INTRODUCTION Companies are slashing or eliminating marketing programs given the current economic environment. If your organization has a sufficient marketing budget to launch a new product or service, you are very fortunate. As the Consumer Events Project Manager at Volvo Cars of North America, I launched several new vehicles. I designed and implemented experiential drive programs where consumers test drove the new vehicles on closed-‐course tracks. Automobile companies produce these events to create marketing awareness and excitement that will lead to future vehicle sales. As I was planning these drive programs, I researched marketing events best practices both inside and outside the automotive industry. Unfortunately, no definitive document existed. I thus created my own consumer events best practices. The following five principles have been thoroughly tested with much success. These principles will work in any industry. We’ve all heard of the four marketing P’s (product, place, price, and promotion). Now we have the five P’s for successful consumer events. PRINCIPLES TO PRODUCE SUCCESSFUL CONSUMER EVENTS ▲ Parameters Clarify the marketing objectives ▲ Process Use an objective decision making process ▲ Partnership View each vendor as a valuable partner ▲ Prepare Plan for the unexpected ▲ People Interact with consumers at the event
- 3. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 3 1 PARAMETERS CLARIFY THE MARKETING OBJECTIVES Having clear marketing objectives is an important first step to produce successful consumer events. Your marketing objectives are the foundation for the event planning and implementation. The marketing objectives should be defined and agreed upon before the project starts. You must understand the project objectives and then determine the deliverables needed to achieve them. Many organizations, however, skip this planning step because they are too busy implementing. Others may not have an internal process or corporate culture that encourages stakeholders to clarify and agree on the marketing objectives. Your organization cannot afford to produce a consumer event with vague marketing objectives. Vague marketing objectives lead to: ▲ Incomplete and / or unfocused vendor proposals ▲ Difficulty in evaluating and selecting the best vendor ▲ Frustration from constantly changing tactics ▲ Wasted time and resources on distractions ▲ Going over budget with both time and capital ▲ Opportunity for your competitors to react to your marketing strategy ▲ Difficulty in determining event success I was the Project Manager for the new Volvo S40 sedan launch. Volvo invited consumers from around the country to hear product presentations and to test drive the new vehicle on closed-‐ course tracks. Early in the planning stage, I facilitated meetings with key stakeholders from Marketing, Training, Public Relations, Product Planning, Advertising, and Finance and established clear S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely) objectives. Note that objectives can be subjective as well, as long as they are clearly defined and agreed upon by the stakeholders. The S40 launch objectives were documented and distributed to the team members. As the project progressed, I often referred to these marketing objectives to keep the team focused. ? Are vague marketing objectives causing problems for your organization?
- 4. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 4 2 PROCESS USE AN OBJECTIVE DECISION MAKING PROCESS We make decisions all the time: what to eat, which clothes to wear, which television program to watch. In these cases, the risk of making a wrong decision is fairly low. With your marketing events, however, the risk of making wrong decisions is much higher. The quality of the event, budget, customer satisfaction, etc. could all be in jeopardy. Vendors are your partners in the project, so the vendor selection process is very important. Choosing a vendor can sometimes be a very time-‐consuming and painful process if decisions are made subjectively, or are emotionally charged. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I used the Kepner-‐Tregoe decision making process (see Figure 1) to select my marketing event vendors. This step-‐by-‐step process marries logic, expertise, creativity, and factual Decision Analysis is information to reveal choices that have the right used for making a balance of acceptable risk and reward. By choice. When there clarifying the thinking behind the decision, are too many highly complex, controversial, or emotionally choices, or the risk of charged decision can be made faster and with making the wrong greater confidence. choice is great, this In this highly collaborative process, I facilitated objective decision meetings with the marketing stakeholders. We making process first defined and prioritized our marketing clarifies the purpose objectives. Next, we evaluated how the potential vendors best met our objectives. Then and balances the we examined the risks of selecting each vendor risks and benefits to before making our best balanced choice. arrive at a solid and Executive management was impressed when I supported choice. showed them the decision making process that we used. It was very clear how and why we selected the vendor that we chose. ? Would your organization benefit from an objective process for selecting the best partners?
- 5. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 5 KEPNER-TREGOE DECISION ANALYSIS Process Steps (Figure 1) ▲ State the decision Clarify ▲ Develop objectives Purpose ▲ Classify objectives into MUSTs and WANTs ▲ Weigh the WANTs ▲ Generate alternatives Evaluate ▲ Screen alternatives through the MUSTs Alternatives ▲ Compare alternatives against the WANTs Assess ▲ Identify adverse consequences Risks Make ▲ Make the best balanced choice Decision
- 6. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 6 3 PARTNERSHIP VIEW EACH VENDOR AS A VALUABLE PARTNER Once you have selected your vendors, view each of them as a valuable partner. I’ve found that relationships based on mutual trust and respect will result in more collaboration and smoother project implementation. As I developed rapport with my event partners, I found that they would readily share their insights and experiences to develop innovative solutions. The partners also had access to resources who could do things faster, cheaper, and better than my own contacts. I had partners go beyond the contract details / project scope because of the goodwill that I had earned with them. In particular, several partners shared that they enjoyed collaborating with me because I acknowledged and respected their staff. Bottom line: treat people with respect and you will be rewarded many times over. How to develop the partner relationship: ▲ Promote two-‐way communication ▲ Listen to their recommendations ▲ Build mutual trust and respect ▲ Have clear project objectives ▲ Collaborate on creative solutions Additional benefits of viewing each vendor as a valuable partner: ▲ Builds goodwill for future opportunities ▲ Partners may prioritize your project over another if their resources are scarce ▲ An established partner is able to respond quickly to emergency requests ▲ Your success is their success ? What type of relationship does your organization have with its vendors?
- 7. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 7 4 PREPARE PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED You are busy implementing your project plan, but have you thought about potential problems? These potential problems can sabotage the best planned event. For example, what will you do if you have inclement weather or the vehicles are delayed? A comprehensive marketing plan must include potential problem analysis. Potential problem I used the Kepner-‐Tregoe potential problem analysis is used to analysis (see Figure 2) when developing the project protect actions or plan for the S40 drive event. The process identifies plans. When a project potential problems and the likely causes, develops simply must go well, preventive actions, develops contingent actions, and sets triggers. Often times, potential problems risk is high, or a are not examined because it is negative thinking. myriad of things can go wrong, potential Inclement weather was a concern for the S40 problem analysis reveals the driving factors and identifies ways to lower the risk. Potential problem analysis directs experience and February event on the East Coast. Since I could not creativity to prepare prevent Mother Nature from providing snow, I for the future and to prepared for contingent actions. I upgraded the presentation venue heating system to handle manage acceptable extreme cold, ordered additional winter crew risk. clothing, and had snow removal equipment on standby. As luck would have it, it did snow. Thus, the contingent actions were set into motion and the event continued without any interruptions. ? Is your organization prepared to handle potential problems?
- 8. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 8 KEPNER-TREGOE POTENTIAL PROBLEM ANALYSIS Process Steps (Figure 2) Identify ▲ State the action Potential ▲ List potential problems Problems Identify Likely ▲ Consider causes for the potential problem Causes Take Preventive ▲ Take actions to address likely causes Action Plan Contingent ▲ Prepare actions to reduce likely effects Action & Set ▲ Set triggers for contingent actions Triggers
- 9. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 9 5 PEOPLE INTERACT WITH CONSUMERS AT THE EVENT After all the planning, implementing, and anticipation, your project managers and vendor partners should attend the event. First, they will see first hand if the consumers “got the marketing message.” Second, consumers are more than happy to share what they liked and what needs improvement. For example, several consumers mentioned how they enjoyed the night time concert in conjunction with the drive event. Others, however, wanted to drive competitive vehicles (not offered due to safety considerations, throughput goals, and venue space). By attending the event, I evaluated partner performances and noted how effective they were at communicating among themselves and with the consumers. I also acknowledged those partners on the front line for their diligence and professionalism. Many were taken aback because I was the first client to ever thank them in person. Other company stakeholders also attended the event. The training, public relations, product planning, advertising, and finance managers thus had better appreciation for all the planning, problem solving and detail work that went into the project. More importantly, they experienced the event like a consumer so they were not surprised by the event results. The partners who interacted with the consumers came away with a clearer picture of the Volvo customer and gained insight on how to effectively market to them. ? Do your employees and partners attend events and interact with consumers?
- 10. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 10 5 PROVEN PRINCIPLES TO PRODUCE CONSUMER EVENTS SUMMARY ▲ Parameters: Clarify the marketing objectives Clear marketing objectives are the foundation for the planning and implementation of the event. You must understand the project objectives before you can develop the tactics to achieve those goals. Unclear marketing objectives lead to frustration, wasted time on distractions, and difficulty in determining event success. ▲ Process: Use an objective decision making process The risk of making wrong decisions with marketing events is high. The quality of the event, budget, customer satisfaction, etc. could all be in jeopardy. Vendor selection can sometimes be a painful process if decisions are made subjectively, or are emotionally charged. Therefore, use an objective decision making process to clarify the purpose, balance the risks and benefits, and to arrive at a solid and supported choice. ▲ Partnership: View each vendor as a valuable partner Vendor relationships based on mutual trust and respect will result in more collaboration and smoother project implementation. Develop the partner relationships by promoting two-‐way communication, treating them with respect, having clear project objectives, and by collaborating on creative solutions. ▲ Prepare: Plan for the unexpected Potential problems can sabotage the best planned event. Often times, potential problems are not examined because it is negative thinking. When a project must go well, risk is high, or a myriad of things can go wrong, potential problem analysis reveals the driving factors and identifies ways to lower the risk. ▲ People: Interact with consumers at the event Project managers, key stakeholders, and partners should attend the event to interact with the consumers. First, they will see first hand if the consumers “got the marketing message.” Second, consumers are more than happy to share what they liked and what needs improvement. The program manager can also evaluate the event effectiveness and partner performance. ? Are you now better prepared for your next consumer event?
- 11. CONSUMER EVENTS MARKETING 101 | 11 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dan Louie graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. Dan also has an Associate of Arts in Interior Design from the Interior Designers Institute (IDI), Newport Beach, CA. Four of his coursework projects were selected as award-‐winning design solutions and were showcased. Mr. Louie has over twenty years of experience in the automotive industry including brand building, market research, strategic planning, advertising, and consumer events marketing. Dan is a Six Sigma Black Belt and also a Kepner-‐Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making Program Instructor. He has extensive experience both managing and participating in cross-‐functional teams. Dan thrives on designing and executing marketing programs ranging from grass-‐roots events to multi-‐million dollar product tours. He is quick to establish rapport and to develop trust with all team members from staff to executive management. Dan’s strong interpersonal skills and process background make him an effective problem solver. Contact Information: Dan Louie 64 Knollwood Irvine, CA 92602 949 533 8636 (cell) danielklouie@gmail.com NOTE: You are welcome to copy and distribute this Special Report as often as you wish. Please include the author information above when doing so. Thank you.