In-person events have, without any shadow of a doubt, bounced back very strongly since the pandemic. We have seen ample evidence of many annual conferences and tradeshows – particularly those in market leadership positions – attracting large audiences. In many cases, we have seen events in the first half of 2023 attracting their largest number of attendees ever.

And with the rise of AI, we predict in-person events will become even more attractive to attendees, sponsors and exhibitors as people seek out real conversations with real people; as SEO becomes a less reliable source of web traffic and leads; and as companies look to build brand trust.

So, what are the key things leaders in events businesses should be focused on for a successful 2023 H2 and as we prepare for 2024?

Here are three things we think have always been strategically important for winning conferences and tradeshows, and going forward they’ll be more important than ever:

1. How unique and valuable your event is to your targeted attendees.
2. How well you do your marketing to attract attendees – to get the right message to the right people at the right time.
3. How well you’re doing commercial marketing to grow sponsorship and exhibitions revenue.

The most important area for focus in terms of rapid revenue and profit growth is #3: commercial marketing to grow sponsorship and exhibitions revenue. Another term for commercial marketing is ‘spex marketing’ – we see these terms being used interchangeably in our client companies.

Sponsors and exhibitors are hungry for effective and relatively quick routes to market, and events are a channel they can rely on to achieve this goal.

So, acquiring new sponsors and exhibitors is probably the ‘quickest win’ for most event organisers who have never properly focused on this area.

Over the past 6 years, MPG has developed a successful methodology to help event organisers achieve strong YOY spex revenue growth, and build momentum into their sales team to continue this growth for years to come.

Here is how we do it:

If you’re going to invest in spex marketing we suggest you do it this way too!

When working with Team MPG on spex marketing, a range of our clients who run annual conferences and exhibitions have consistently achieved the following results:

• Over 5x number of MQLs (relevant leads) for the spex sales team
• Over 3x higher conversion rate from spex lead to sale
• 25%+ growth in average order value
• Over 2x revenue from new spex clients

The revenue is there for the taking – by the companies that make the smartest investments and manage their teams well to integrate marketing and spex sales for best results. So, whether doing this inhouse or with external support, we strongly recommend you invest in spex marketing, or your competitors may outgrow you in 2024.

If you need Team MPG’s help with spex marketing to grow your revenue fast, we can:

• Create the strategy for you, and ensure you’re set up well to execute this strategy inhouse, OR
• Create the strategy and do the execution for you, either in place of or alongside in-house marketers.

What our clients have said about working with Team MPG:

“Working closely with our internal team, MPG developed a strong marketing strategy focused on achieving revenue growth for a key product in our portfolio – including recommendations for better monetising our digital products. We were very impressed by the level of strategic thinking and valuable benchmarking they put into the process. I would recommend MPG as a good marketing partner for a B2B event brand.”

Managing Director of a £20m portfolio in a large global business focused on B2B exhibitions.

“MPG did a great job developing and then executing a marketing strategy to help us grow one of our largest US events. They added a level of science, rigour and new thinking to our approach that our internal marketers are excited about, giving me confidence we’d achieve great things together. It has been a complete pleasure working with Team MPG!”

Managing Director of a medium sized, founder-led conference business.

Get in touch if you’d like to find how Team MPG can help accelerate growth of your events revenue.