EVENT TELEMARKETING: HOW WE TRIPLED OUR CLIENT’S DATABASE

OUR CLIENT REQUIRED EVENT TELEMARKETING TO PROMOTE THEIR HIGH-VALUE, CONTENT-DRIVEN EVENTS. THEY PROVIDE SOME OF THE UK’S FASTEST GROWING EVENTS IN MARKETS IN HEALTHCARE AND TECHNOLOGY. DUE TO THE NATURE OF THE EXHIBITIONS AND THE SECTORS THEY WORK IN THEY CAN SELL EXHIBITION SPACE AT A PREMIUM. HOWEVER, THEY NEED TO DRIVE HIGH ATTENDANCE NUMBERS FROM RELEVANT PROFESSIONALS IF THEY ARE TO RETAIN EXHIBITORS AND SPONSORS.

WHAT THEY NEEDED

Our client was expanding and had recently acquired a major event for the pharmacy sector. They wanted to realise the full growth potential of the event by increasing brand awareness and increasing the number of attendees. As our client had limited internal resources and the marketing process for an annual exhibition is cyclical, they needed external event telemarketing support to help them increase attendance. The attendee numbers had been static for two years and the client was heavily reliant on repeat visitors. This left them vulnerable to a potential decline in the number of participants, which could result in lower exhibitor income.

WHAT WE DID

Having the right attendee demographic was essential for our client’s sales team to successfully sell the exhibition space as this was used to demonstrate the value of the event and the quality of leads that could be generated by exhibitors.

We carried out a data modelling exercise to profile a targeted database of pharmacies across the country. As there are several large pharmacy chains and some looser franchise and buying group operations in the sector, we carried out some initial data analysis to ensure a split between market segments. Although targeting some groups was essential to generate the required volume of visitors, we also wanted to generate sufficient interest among independent pharmacies who were more likely to be in control of their budget, ensuring high quality attendees for the exhibitors.

We approached the marketing of the event holistically, driving initial pre-registration and attendance and engaging with potential attendees to explain the key benefits of going to the event – for example, the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities once there. Targeting pharmacies with multiple relevant contacts enabled us to push information out to several individuals through one call, guaranteeing three out of four attendees as opposed to one and ultimately making their marketing more valuable and cost effective.

We worked closely with our client to reduce the drop out from pre-registration to actual attendance by re-contacting those that had registered to remind them of the event date and the benefits of attending. We prioritised the data by taking into account factors such as the date they were contacted and registered, making sure to contact those that registered longer ago in time to remind them of the event and ensure their attendance. By keeping in contact with attendees we were also able to gauge why people had registered and, if there were any reservations, we were able to help combat these before flagging up issues to our client.

WHAT WE ACHIEVED

Across the course of the campaign, we tripled the number of pharmacists in the database who were happy to receive event information from our client, as well as cleansing the details of pharmacists already in the data. Not only did we provide them with a clean and up to date targeted dataset, but we also provided them with a comprehensive understanding of the data, which they could import into their CRM.

As a direct result of our combined efforts the show had a 25% increase on attendance in comparison to the previous year, with around 67% of those being new visitors who hadn’t been to the show before. From sponsors and exhibitors rebooking for the following year, they achieved a record 106% in revenue, which our client primarily put down to the quality of visitors which attended the show.

To date we have now conducted a total of 39 projects for our client and having worked with them for over six years, we continue to support them in achieving their growth plans in a constantly changing marketplace.