As a small business owner, hosting events for your customers gives you the unique opportunity to connect directly with your target audience and collect sought-after data from them. Whether it’s a trade show, conference, exhibition, or community event, these events provide you with the perfect environment to survey attendees and gain insights that can drive your future marketing strategies and even enhance the products and services you offer.
Though you can run surveys online or poll your customers on social media, having these personal interactions can help improve the accuracy of the information you collect since you’ll know the respondents actually spent time interacting with your products or services.
Discover the types of data you should be collecting at a marketing event.
Contact information: If you want a direct line of communication with your customers, you’ll need their names, email addresses, and phone numbers. Asking for this information at an event may be a little easier than asking for it online since the people are forming a real-life connection with someone representing your brand. Once you obtain this data, it’s essential to use it to your advantage as it’ll be easier to create follow-up interactions, nurture leads, and build long-term relationships. For example, you can send these people company updates, promotions, and other types of valuable content.
Demographic information: Understanding the demographics of event attendees is just as important as being able to stay in touch with them. When you’re aware of your target market’s demographic data, like age, gender, location, and occupation, you can better tailor your marketing efforts to resonate with all these different segments. You’ll be able to create personalized marketing campaigns, design targeted advertisements, and use appropriate communication channels to reach each audience effectively. Additionally, you can ensure your events are accessible and inclusive for all attendees.
Event feedback: Regardless of why you’re hosting the event, it’s always important for companies to gather feedback on the event itself. This type of feedback lets you know what worked and what didn’t and allows you to identify areas for improvement. You can collect this data through surveys, comment cards, or even in-person conversations. Ask questions that let attendees voice what they liked, disliked, or what they wish they saw more of so you can ensure your future events are more impactful.
Sales data: Tracking sales data at events is crucial for any business, but it can be especially useful at events. In doing so, you can evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and better understand your customers’ purchasing behaviors. When you can see the sales volume, how much revenue you generated, and which items or services were most popular, you can allocate your resources accordingly. Plus, this data helps measure the ROI of your event.
Social media engagement: Events can generate significant buzz on social media platforms, so you’ll want to track real-time engagement on these platforms, such as mentions, likes, shares, and comments. This type of information can help you determine the reach of the event and see how people feel about the event as it’s happening. Sometimes, this information can help identify influencers or brand advocates you can use in the future to amplify your message or expand your company’s online presence.
Now that you know what kind of data you should collect at a marketing event, you need to find the best brand ambassadors to get the job done. From surveys and questionnaires to hosting interactive activities, monitoring social media, and creating personal interactions with attendees, the expert event staff at All Aces Promotional Staffing can gather the information you need to ensure your next event is a success.