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CVM is free and circulated to around 5000 marketing staff at UK conference venues and 5000 overseas, mostly Europe. It is published by the Society of Event Organisers (SEO) and includes a listing of products and services offered for use in the marketing of conference venues.
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It will be interesting to see how, or if the glossy mags in the events industry weather the worsening economic storm. For, along with training, many firms reduce their spend on advertising, seen as the most expensive and hardest to evaluate ingredient in the marketing mix. Illogical it may be – and when everybody is running one way it can make marketing sense to take off rapidly in the other direction – yet it’s an easy saving to make and one that will be finding considerable favour amongst venues right now.
Traditionally trade magazine publishers faced with a downturn in the income they need to stay in business have become even more “advertorial” in flavour (if possible) and slid further down the slippery ethical slope. They publish more “ad-gets” also called “forward features” or positive articles written about a sector with a view to attracting advertising, such as bland destination features and “showcases” cobbled together from the output of a convention bureau or tourist board. More press releases masquerading as editorial appear along with drippy “interviews” with equally drippy “movers and shakers” in the industry and letters about advertisers, obviously written by their PR companies.
For those with advertising money still to spend it could be a good time to leverage what some of our cynical friends in the USA call “more suck for the buck” or more plugs for the pound spent with magazine publishers happy to indulge in the editorial version of the world’s oldest profession.
The problem is that the all important readership of a publication often follows the ups and downs of editorial ethics since readers – and in this case users of venues – are not as stupid as many publishers obviously believe and with limited time available are unlikely to read anything perceived as a thinly disguised sales pitch. And if the readers aren’t reading them there seems little point in advertising in whatever form.
Meanwhile last year a lack of advertising closed two event industry publications.
One was Conference and Exhibition Fact Finder which started life 20 years ago as Exhibition and Conference Fact Finder but discovered that advertising in the exhibition sector was hard. Its publishers, Datateam Publishing had put the mag “on hold” between March and September 2006.
The other was Exhibitor Today, published by Link Publishing of Bristol, which only lasted 14 months before ceasing publication. (See www.eou.org.uk and archive for Exhibition Update, Issues 8 & 9).
This year so far Michael Heseltine’s publishing firm, Haymarket has merged its very advertorial RSVP publication for the corporate hospitality and party sector with its less advertorial Event publication, (RIP) but kept the flavour of the former rather than the latter. RSVP was started a few years back by Tim Etchells the organiser of the RSVP exhibitions and managed only four poor issues before being put “on hold” for a year, at which time it was bought by Haymarket, only to now be merged. It will be illuminating to see if (when?) Haymarket’s next move is to merge Event/RSVP with its much longer running Conference and Incentive Travel mag.
We live, as they say, in interesting times ….
It has often been said that word of mouth is one of the most powerful persuaders when it comes to customers trying something new. And that often event organisers choose venues after trusted endorsements or recommendations from other organisers using them.
Of course any venue doing a good job and sending organisers away happy is in danger of getting such welcome extra business spontaneously, and some seek to maximise this by using third party endorsements – arguably five times more trusted than advertising – in their marketing.
The question is could a venue go further and actually generate endorsements by paying the endorsers? And should they? Is a paid endorser’s power undermined by being found out and them not perceived as an honest broker?
These, and many other questions are being addressed by a new trade association, WOM UK for suppliers specialising in selling word of mouth marketing, which is pro-actively aimed at getting potential customers to talk about products and services in a positive way, rather than letting it happen. This like party plan selling won’t be for everyone but it could be the next old thing with a new twist.
www.womuk.org
On the other hand one important area used by word of mouth marketers is the blogosphere when bogus hotel, restaurant and destination reviewers are giving traveller websites a bad name.
Last September Tripadvisor included a gushing endorsement for the Drumnadrochit Hotel, Loch Ness which read: “My parents stayed many years ago and said what a lovely spot this place was. They were so right! Well done to the staff who really were charming”.
The “impartial” review was written by David Bremner, the hotel’s proprietor who told the Daily Telegraph: “Maybe I shouldn’t have done it but I don’t think it’s that big a deal”.
According to Holiday Which magazine the practice has created a climate of mistrust on the internet where “a hotel which has bad reviews is probably bad but a hotel with good reviews might not be that good”,
One Zimbabwe hotel group building a reputation for exemplary customer service in a difficult business climate is Zimbabwean Sun.
According to Strategic Marketing, the monthly newsletter of The Marketing Guild, the company’s owner Shinge Mungatse has his telephone number and other direct contact details left in every room, with guests encouraged to contact him personally if they encounter any problem that his highly trained and motivated staff cannot put right.
One for some in the UK to note?
Tel: 01904 520888
www.marketing-guild.com
A new exhibition for the sector, the clumsily-named Easyfairs LondonLaunch Live takes place at Earls Court 2, 25-26 June.
The show is a re-packaging of the aborted London Venue Expo event due to run last June but postponed by its new organisers Easyfairs UK due to a lack of exhibitor interest. (See Exhibition Update May/June 2007, ORGANISER POSTPONES www.eou.org.uk).
The new improved event will feature around 60 exhibitors and a range of free seminars for event organisers on such aspects as cutting corporate hospitality costs, strategic catering, live marketing and sustainable events.
Tel: 0208 622 4465
www.easyfairs.com/londonlaunchlive
o In our first edition of Conference Venue Marketplace we stated that the Australian company which had bought the RSVP exhibitions was called “Staging Construction Group”. This should have read “Staging Connections Group” – our apologies. (See RSVP SHOWS A SAFE FINANCIAL BET?).
o Since the piece was published the company’s chief financial officer and company secretary Jeffrey Sam Krug has resigned, effective March 7 2008, with no reason being given.
The SEO publishes six e-mail newsletters aimed at event organisers in six different sectors of the events market and these are also available free to marketing staff at venues who want to keep up with what’s happening in the events sector.
These are: EVENT ORGANISERS UPDATE, INTERNATIONAL EVENT ORGANISERS UPDATE, CORPORATE HOSPITALITY AND PARTY UPDATE, ASSOCIATION UPDATE, EXHIBITION UPDATE AND TRAINING EVENT UPDATE.
All are available free at www.eou.org.uk where archived copies can be viewed and free subscriptions taken out. A limited amount of classified advertising is available for conference venues to book under the Announcements section.
www.eou.org.uk
Prospecting for Leads is a half day in-house training session for stand staff on getting the most leads from an exhibition. It covers such aspects as attracting visitors, psychology and body language, opening conversations, asking the right questions, selling benefits, closing conversations and following up. It can be held anywhere in the UK for a cost of £250, plus £10 per delegate, plus travel, accommodation and VAT and is staged by the National Exhibitors Association (NEA). Call 01767 316255, Fax: 01767 316430 or e-mail to info@seoevent.co.uk for a no-commitment discussion.
The Society of Event Organisers (SEO) runs regular training courses for event organisers, usually at quiet times for events and is always interested in discussing hosting opportunities with venues in the UK and Europe.
Currently residential offers are being considered for Central London, Amsterdam and Brussels for 2008 and UK Home Counties and Northern locations for 2009.
Call the SEO on 01767 316255 for details and visit www.seoevent.co.uk for course details.
is a unique, four-day non-residential course, with a unique qualification for those who attend and pass the 1½ hour examination.
It is staged by the Society of Event Organisers (SEO) and sponsored by RGA UK Ltd, a specialist event industry direct marketing company, and the material is presented at all times from the event organisers (your customers) point of view with some eye-opening feedback from organisers on how they like, and definitely don’t like to be marketed to. In addition, and also uniquely, the material is all presented by marketing practitioners, sharing practical and proven tips for success, also incorporating what not to do.
THE CERTIFICATE IN CONFERENCE VENUE MARKETING is delivered to delegates as an instructive and enjoyable mix of presentation, interaction, discussion and exercises.
It will also feature significant time for the important delegate to delegate networking that invariably results in a mutually beneficial and invaluable exchange of tips, ideas and experiences in the specialised world of venue marketing.
The CCVM will be of most use and benefit to the following groups:
o Those already working in venue marketing, with one or two year’s experience, and wanting to share the experiences of others.
o Those working in senior general venue management needing a firm grasp of conference venue marketing.
o Those already working in venue sales looking for a move to marketing, or being moved to a marketing position.
o Sales and/or marketing staff at venue finding agencies, event management companies, and business travel agencies.
o Marketing and sales consultants working for conference venues, hotels and hotel groups.
o Marketing and sales staff at tourist boards and convention bureaux needing a firmer grasp of conference venue marketing.
The first Certificate in Conference Venue Marketing for 2008 is being held at 16, Park Crescent, London W1B 1AH (nearest tube stations at Regents Park and Great Portland Street) Tuesday August 26, 2008 to Friday August 29, 2008, to coincide with a traditionally quiet time for most UK conference venues.
The fee, on a non-residential basis is £1,200 plus VAT per delegate with a reduction to £950 plus VAT per delegate if two or more delegates attend from the same organisation.
The Certificate in Conference Venue Marketing is a unique opportunity to acquire the valuable experiences of other practitioners. For many conference venues the profit on one extra booking in a year will more than pay for the fee.
The programme follows. To book places please complete the booking form (this can be downloaded) and fax or post a copy to the SEO.
Note: The CCVM will be an annual event, always held on the last week in August. In 2009 this will be August 24-27.
The big picture – nature of the market(s) – types of organiser – the big spenders – getting achievable marketing objectives for your particular venue – the best winning strategies – SWOT and what’s really important to organisers – what must go in the conference pack – where branding fits - pricing for maximum success – affinity marketing – networking with competitors – some zero-cost marketing – dirty tricks marketing (to avoid, not emulate) – the marketing bullseye, and the marketing plan.
Advertising – magazines and newspapers, some golden rules – directory advertising – TV advertising – internet advertising .
The scope of PR – what impresses organisers and what just curls their toes – some possible partnerships – evaluating the press – selecting the press and building a press list – approaching the press – press events – conceiving press stories, to impress the press – using story hooks, real news, surveys, advice, controversy – writing a press release, ten good and bad things to do – use of quotes – use of photos – delivering to the media – other ways to work with the media – how to alienate the media – what to do if you get bad press.
E-mail marketing, the lowest cost option – sourcing and evaluating lists – permission marketing – opt-in and opt-out, the law on marketing e-mails – spam filters and what trips them – an editorial option.
Direct mail, some basic truths – what the objective should always be – the offer, the creativity and the list – formulating the best offers – creativity, some good tricks and bad traps – printing for direct mail – copywriting – building a database – types of lists available and how to evaluate – testing, testing – mailing to individual or job title – use and abuse of personalisation – maximising and measuring return – law on lists – Telemarketing, now it gets personal – the phone/mail/phone strategy – getting through - the best and worst approaches – some winning ways – and yes, it can be fun.
Exhibitions, the face to face medium – working out best strategy – choosing good exhibitions, not just the obvious ones – some criteria for evaluating – picking a high-traffic site – designing a stand that pulls in the right visitors – promoting the stand – managing the stand – training stand staff to work the audience and capture leads – following up.
Special events at your venue – conceiving and organising open days, educational events and receptions – running show-rounds for interested potential customers - where all the above comes together.
Examination.
To book delegate(s) on the SEO Certificate in Conference Venue Marketing (CCVM) course please download and complete the booking form: www.eou.org.uk
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