There are a lot of great tools available to the event marketer when trying to integrate touch-points and gather data. I was recently reading about Splash which looks like a fantastic event and data-management software tool. You’ve also got the old standards like Eventbrite and the comprehensive (and amazing) dashboards from MainEvent.
Splash, Eventbrite, MainEvent, and any others are tools. They are only tools.
At the end of your program, you’re going to find yourself with a mountain of event measurement data and a blank PowerPoint document. You’ll be on a deadline and under the gun to deliver a report that proves to the client brand team and/ or sponsors that their money spent delivered real value.
If you feel confident that you can do this on your own, then you don’t need to outsource.
However, if you do need a hand, here is how we utilize these tools and earn our keep:
- We work with you and the brand team’s insights department to develop a clear set of measurable objectives and outcomes.
- We make sure success is defined early on, so there is no doubt as to the value you delivered. This may or may not include modeling ROI (depends on what folks need to see).
- We document how these outcomes will be achieved through an integration of the existing (e.g., Splash, EventBrite, MainEvent, etc.) and additional data collection techniques. Additional data collection techniques might include field staff recap reporting metrics, onsite or post-event consumer survey, secondary TDLinx or RetailLink analysis, or other approaches. This is delivered in the form of a Methodology Brief document that outlines an analysis and reporting plan that everyone can feel confident about.
- We support, monitor and, when necessary, manage data collection, so you’re assured you get the data needed to deliver on the measurement strategy. We make sure those tools work for you.
- We analyze the data, write the report(s), and deliver them via briefings to you and, if appropriate, your client team to help them understand what worked, what should be changed next time, and what the overall return was for the brand.
If appropriate we’ll do the same thing for the Sponsors, so you have clear case studies when securing next year’s support.
Now, here’s the hard sell…
Thinking that Splash, EventBrite, or MainEvent will give you insights is like purchasing a hammer and thinking you can build a house. There is a lot that goes into making sure you have the right plan, that it aligns with a measurement and reporting strategy that everyone will buy into, that your tools like Splash are provisioned in such a way that they give you the data you need, and that you can report on this data in a way that everyone feels is insightful.
This is what we do. We design, deploy, and delivery on event measurement solutions.
We don’t sell software. We use the software you’ve purchased to make sure it works right, for you, and for your clients.
We’ve found that no one has only worked with us once. Seventy percent of our work last year came from programs we had measured and reported on in 2013. We get incredible repeat business because we deliver increaseable value.
And here’s the fall back plan…
If you can’t sell in the additional budget and it won’t fit in your current allocation, run with what you have without us. If you find yourself struggling at any point, give us a call, and we’ll do what we can to help with your event measurement whenever you need us.
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