What is event marketing?
Event marketing covers any event a brand creates, sponsors or takes part in to reach people: a product launch, a pop-up store, a conference, a party, a screening, a fan experience, a trade show booth, a tournament, a livestreamed show. The common idea is that experiencing a brand in person, or live online, makes a stronger impression than seeing it in an ad.
Modern event marketing rarely stops at the door. Most events are designed with a second audience in mind: the much larger number of people who will see them on social media, in the press and in the films and photographs made there.
Why it matters
Why event marketing matters
Events create real connection. People who have tried a product, met a founder, watched a show or spent an evening in a brand's world remember it and tell others. Events also generate content and coverage, give sales teams a reason to meet clients, and create moments a brand can build a whole campaign around. For business-to-business brands, events are often where the biggest deals start, because a conversation over dinner or on a show floor can do what months of emails could not.
They are also expensive and fleeting, which is why the best event marketing plans for life after the event: the film, the photographs, the social content and the press that turn a one-night audience into a much larger one.
In practice
How event marketing works in practice
- 01
It starts with the purpose and the audience: who should be there, what they should feel and what the brand wants to happen afterwards. The concept, venue, format and guest list follow, along with production (design, staging, lighting, sound, catering, staffing) and the plan for capturing it all.
- 02
Capture deserves its own plan. A film crew and photographers are briefed on the key moments, social content is shot and sometimes published live, and press and creators are given access. Afterwards the content is edited into a recap film, social cut-downs and image galleries, and results are measured: attendance, leads, coverage, social reach and the business that follows.
At RIOT
Event marketing at RIOT
Watch out
What people get wrong about event marketing
Designing for the room only. An event that looks great to the people there but produces nothing usable afterwards has reached only its guest list. Capture should be planned with the same care as the event itself.
The second mistake is confusing a party with a strategy. An event needs a reason to exist that connects to the brand's goals, whether that is launching a product, building a community or winning clients.
Finally, many brands start planning too late. Venues, talent, permits and production crews book up months ahead, and rushed events show it.
