Digital Trends for the Event Marketing Industry

We have already discussed at length how important live events are for your business. They are basically a necessity. In fact, according to a study, 84% of leaderships believe in-person events are a critical component of their company’s success. According to the same study, 55% of organizations spend more than 21% of marketing budgets on events.  

Event planning trends constantly change, and keeping up with them is a must for businesses and marketers who want to stay on top of their game. Since digital marketing techniques all change at a fast pace, we must follow along and use them to be even more successful.  

2019 brings some more exciting ways to promote an event. Here are the popular digital trends for the event marketing industry.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the fastest-growing types of marketing. In 2015, The Washington Post wrote about the Cisco study which claimed that in 5 years from then, 80% of the Internet will be video. And guess what, it seems they were right.  

According to the study, videos will dominate the Internet by 2019 and so far, it has proved to be right. Due to their short attention span, people will rather watch a video than read an article, especially if it’s a short 2-3 minute video which explains all the basic things they need to know. If you also consider the fact that YouTube is the second largest search engine, it’s clear why you need to step up your game.  

That is why brands have embraced this new trend and are posting videos from live events on a daily basis. If you have not used this method so far, you are one of the few and you should change that immediately. If you add a video to your email, you will increase the click-through rate by 200-300%. What’s more, about 90% of consumers have reported that product videos help them make purchasing decisions.  

Video marketing is the future whether we like it or not, so exploring this opportunity to its fullest potential is a must for brands who want to stay visible.

Voice Search

Voice search is becoming the norm for busy people everywhere. We no longer have the time to type everything and hence voice search comes as a very handy feature. Therefore, savvy marketers must find a way to use this in the event marketing industry. According to the Event Manager Blog, even back in 2016, about 20% of searches were voice searches.  

A study has shown that 55% of consumers who own a smart speaker use them to search for products. Additionally, 42% of them use their voice to complete the purchase. This means you cannot afford to overlook this increasingly popular trend.  

So what do marketers do? They create content that is more likely to capture voice searches. Data Science suggests you need to think about what your customers might speak rather than type when making an inquiry. That means writing content in a more conversational style which aligns with voice search.  

It is estimated that by 2020, half of all search queries will be voice-based. Considering the fact this technology is only going to grow, you have no other solution than to get in front of this trend.

Mobile Event Apps

It is estimated that 75% of event professionals who don’t use event apps intend to adopt them. This growing trend is the reason the number of event apps has grown significantly lately. It has also been shown that app-powered events generate 42% more social media impressions.   

Furthermore, 91% of event planners say that adopting a mobile event app has provided a positive ROI. If this is not enough to convince you to start using event apps (if you haven’t started already), then continue reading.  

The purpose of event mobile apps is to help attendees to get the most out of face-to-face events. Not only do event apps reduce printing costs and make navigating the schedule more easily, but they also help attendees interact and network.   

It all contributes to the overall attendees’ satisfaction.   As an event planner, you can use branded apps to connect and engage with attendees before, during, and after the event. There are a great number of options that allow you to get in touch with your audience via these apps.  

In the digital age that we live in, constant changes require us to be vigilant and stay in front of the new trends in the event marketing industry. To stay on top of the rapidly changing technologies and trends, marketers use magazines, blogs, social media, attend conferences, etc.   

If you haven’t already implemented the aforementioned digital trends in your marketing strategy, then we suggest you hurry up and catch up with countless brands that already use them. If you are on the other hand still at a loss, try consulting a pro event planner like Kevin Rowe Events, and bring your business up to date.