Interaction is the key objective of any marketing effort. Whether online or offline, events are the key drivers for attracting and keeping your potential customers’ attention and nurturing your existing relationships. It’s a learning exercise that works both ways – you get to know them and they get to know you. Everyone wins. But if you are not convinced, these reasons might help you to understand why events are so effective:

1. Events are personal

People buy from people and they buy from people they like. And vice versa – as a business, you want to choose customers you enjoy working with. By engaging in a conversation – either in a form of a webinar or face to face – you will be able to interact with your audience on a personal level and understand them and their business issues better.

2. Events create attention

The ultimate marketing objective behind any campaign is to get and keep people’s attention. Out of all channels, events have the ability to keep people’s attention for the longest – especially if you make them worth remembering. If you are able to engage your guests emotionally and intellectually, their attention span will go beyond the event itself and they will continue to reflect on it going forward.

3. Events showcase expertise

By accepting your invitation and attending your event, your audience is essentially coming to you to hear what you got to offer. It doesn’t get better than that. This means you have them in a room – virtual or real  –   and you can present your capabilities. As you are using events as a marketing tool, avoid hard sell. Save selling for later, that’s if their experience triggers further interest.

4. Events are experiential

Experience sticks with people for much longer. It will also trigger emotions that they will associate with your business and the memories will stay with them. If you do it well they will share their feedback with others which will turn your event marketing into word of mouth marketing, which is by far one of the most effective ways to gain new clients.

5. Events bring people together

People love to connect with their peers, learn what’s new and share best practices. By bringing people together for your event you are not only connecting your business with them, but you are also expanding their own networks.

Overall, events are a great way to merge social and business interaction whilst marketing your business. The two things to watch out for are to make sure the experience is positive and that you are using them as a marketing tool, not a way to sell. Crossing that line could ruin the success of your event.