The Foundational Role of Marketing Operations in Successful Events

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Event and field marketers that fail to involve marketing operations in their plans are planning to fail. It’s that simple. 

And we’re talking from the outset. Day dot.  

Giving them a nudge when it’s time to set up nurture streams is too late.  

You wouldn’t plan a party wearing a blindfold, nor should you execute a costly event independently. Your bottom line won’t tolerate it and your boss probably won’t look too favourably on it either when it comes time to defend the spend. 

Working in a silo is operating in the dark and puts ROI at risk before the first attendees even turn up. Marketing teams need to align to win business, utilise best practices and execute with precision. Being in sync leaves nothing to chance. 

Marketing operations safeguard the entire process. They connect the dots before, during, and after to ensure no business is left on the table and time and money aren’t wasted on false leads.  

So, when it comes to proving ROI, all the receipts are there.  

First and foremost, it’s about getting the right people through the door. Knowing what they know about your business. Where they’re at in the buyer’s journey, and what they need. When that’s clear, moving them along the funnel is a far simpler task.  

 

What is Marketing Operations Good For? 

Marketing operations can apply intent data to your Target Account List (TAL) so that the event marketer can cross-reference that with registrations. Then, in-market accounts can not only be prioritised, but pre-event outreach can be personalised to reflect topics that most appeal.   

So we’ve now selected our top picks and utilised insights to optimise attendance and drive them to the booth. In short, marketing operations has helped find the right people and the right messaging to sway them towards attendance.  They’ve also managed the entire process on the back end.   

And that’s just the start. Those same key insights will pay dividends in person, making event engagements easier, more relevant, and more precise.

Event ROI is ripening already.  

 

The Role of Marketing Operations: Get event data right and ensure bad leads don’t ruin the funnel  

Now that we’re off to such a great start, the real work begins.  

Event marketers can’t maximise the impact of lead scanners or event lead management software without marketing operations involvement.  

Firstly, they set up the campaigns on all the platforms that keep leads moving down the funnel. Without them, leads lead nowhere.  

Then, they scrutinise event data with the help of Integrate’s Demand Acceleration Platform to ensure it doesn’t pollute the conversion process. Bad data creates endless hours of clean-up and enrichment, impacting speed to lead times and killing conversion rates. 

By allowing DAP, CRM, and marketing automation platforms to talk to one another, marketing operations help event marketers guarantee data integrity, validation, standardisation and compliance. And all of this is automated from the moment a lead is captured through Integrate’s Event Lead Management app.  

Compliance is a priority for European marketers and is often dealt with manually. But without automation, comes human error, and that’s a gamble that can cost millions in fines. 

So now that you have your clean and compliant data, marketing operations can also ensure contextual data, the gold dust that can ripen relations and close deals doesn’t go to waste. By creating custom fields in your ELM app that sync to your CRM and MAP systems, these insights are stored at the contact level so they can be utilised later.  

So, thanks to marketing operations we’ve got the right people at the event. Conversion chances at the booth have been boosted - because we’ve done our homework - and all the leads are neatly lined up in the CRM/MAP for nurture.  

Routing done right  

Again, it's about personalisation, with the right nurture for the right account. Incubation needs to be guided and marketing operations can break down data into journey segments to inform targeting via email, content syndication, display, or all three.   

While an early-stage account needs educating, that’s completely the wrong approach for an account ready to buy. That account is familiar with your solution, it just needs a final nudge to convert. When marketing operations are involved from the outset, lead statuses are updated as they pass along the funnel, safeguarding against mishandling, and calls from multiple sales reps. 

Defend the spend - the more data the better 

This is where marketing operations are invaluable. By setting up campaigns from the outset they enable event marketers to track the entire process. They can provide an arsenal of data to justify the expense - well beyond direct revenue - from new ICP leads the event uncovered to how many demos were done off the back of booth visits. 

And by cross-referencing data, marketing operations can even show how the event influenced opportunities and accounts to move further along the funnel. So the bottom line just got a lot longer, as every lead along the way can be counted.   

So, in summary. Marketing operations help provide better leads at the event. Better insights to sway accounts at the booth. Better data off the back end. Less clean-up and compliance issues. More precise targeting to turn leads into revenue. And all the data you need to secure the budget for your next event.  

Goodbye, silos. Hello, revenue.   

Learn more about the importance marketing operations play in your event strategy by downloading our guide: 8 Ways Marketing Operations Can Maximise Event ROI