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Sixth sense in the meetings industry

Why it is still better to rely on hard facts and ROI instead of personal feelings

Nov 29, 2024

Don't rely on intuition

A few days ago, I got a call from a journalist who works at one of the many destinations where Kongres Magazine is present or where we have had strategic partnerships. I managed to curb his aggressive narrative by presenting concrete data on the reach of activities we did for a destination deep in the heart of Southeast Europe, or, if you will, the Balkans. I send him all the information about the reach, planned and realised goals, and, most importantly, results via mail. Judging from his response, he was grateful but surprised because of my sincere and professional attitude. He had expected a Netflix-inspired story with mafia deals, money laundering, offshore accounts and unrealised marketing activations – all that befits the genre of Balkan crime and science fiction stories.

The moral of the story is simple. If you are a private company, the responsibility to make marketing and sales decisions falls on your shoulders. The same goes for costs and results. However, if you conduct marketing with public funds, you may be asked to report on those activities by the public or media outlets – whatever is left of them. The disparities between media of the past and today are evident. Yet, media platforms still aspire to open Pandora’s box, which hides clandestine, dubious investments in various marketing projects.

If you manage public funds, you will need to answer the following five questions to journalists, even if at midnight:

1. Is data on the use of funds publicly accessible?
2. Is the activity coordinated with the strategic goals of the destination?
3. Are the indexes measuring ROI clearly set and achieved?
4. Did you prevent a conflict of interest between subcontractors and clients?
5. How did the promotional activity benefit the local community?

conventa_carbon_footprint — Photo: Marko Delbello Ocepek

The mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg, as most journalists will press further, demanding even more information. Thus, the question arises of how well indexes measure the success of a campaign.

In practice, a quarter of event organisers trust their sixth sense or intuition.

In our annual research on marketing trends, the Kongres Barometer, we also ask respondents to share how they measure the success of their marketing activities:

How do you know if your marketing or sales activity was successful?

56.6% ROI analysis
15.8% Sales maths (numbers)
14.5% Other
13.2% Magic

A surprisingly large percentage of respondents (72.4%) trust ROI analytics and hard data. Compared to last year, the percentage increased by nearly 15%. Still, over 13.2% of respondents continue to rely on magic (the percentage last year was 23%).

The indexes they use to track their progress reflect the real state. Here, answers vary. As destinations are skimming through their previous marketing plans in preparation for 2025, we decided to gather the most common answers. Above all, it is important to stress that the market of event organisers is limited. The number of destinations competing for their attention is tremendous, though. The leading event organisers usually do not have time for everyone. They remain loyal to events and partner with established and credible brands.

Hence, you MUST NOT rely on your gut feeling or your colleagues’ recommendations. Instead, develop tools and techniques to measure the effectiveness of sales and marketing activities.

To begin, you should ask destination representatives whether they have an active database and CRM system. Kongres Barometer has shown that over 38.2% of respondents do not have a professional CRM system. They may use Excel, but that should not be the dominant case.

Any marketing campaign can be excellent If there are no set goals or KPIs. Setting obtainable, real goals is a priority. Only with clear goals can we measure what we achieved. Let’s see some of the most suitable KPIs for destinations.

SUCCESS OF INQUIRIES

Number of received RFPs
Success percentage of RFPs Odstotek uspešnosti povpraševanj
Value of new business ventures in EUR
Value of opportunity loss in EUR
Approximate number of attendees gained through RFPs
Estimated number of overnight stays at a destination thanks to successful RFPs

Different kinds of indexes:

CRM indexes
CONTENT MARKETING indexes
DIRECT MARKETING indexes
MARKETING AT EVENTS indexes
DIGITAL MARKETING indexes
SOCIAL MEDIA indexes

1. Short-term sales is still the predominant criterion for evaluating ROI at B2B events.
2. Brand development and client loyalty are the second criterion with specific long-term effects. Continued attendance at events over the years brings concrete results.
3. Networking and influencing key stakeholders is a long-term activity that can boost the sales of your brand.

10 rules to reach marketing goals

1. Before attending trade shows, set clear marketing and sales goals that align with your business objectives. They should be defined in terms of quantity and time.

2. Besides short-term goals, you must know how to measure long-term effects, such as loyalty and brand awareness.

3. Do not measure just the immediate feedback. Conduct surveys over long periods.

4. After a trade show, conduct a study to see the responses according to databases. By examining the responses, you will learn the effects of communication on those who responded and those whom you contacted at the event.

5. Track indirect effects, as attending a trade show can boost your sales via other channels, such as positive PR on your website or other platforms.

6. Measure the responses at a trade show through prize games or other marketing innovations.

7. Measure the quantitative impact (number of contacts with buyers) and qualitative impact of your attendance at a trade show (one good contact is worth more than ten irrelevant ones).

8. Building a database and comparing the quality of contacts at individual trade shows is crucial to differentiate between excellent B2B events and poor ones and conducting follow-up activities.

9. Existing clients are a gold mine. You can meet and solidify business ties with them at trade shows.

10. Pareto’s rule applies to trade shows: 20% of trade shows are worth 80% of our attention.

Written by Gorazd Čad