EVENT MARKETING

UNDERSTANDING THE ROI IMPACT

OF HOSTING EVENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Introduction 18 Lead Volume Satisfaction

4 Executive Summary 20 Event Marketing Challenges

6 The State of Event Marketing 21 The Future of Event Marketing

8 Attending & Hosting Events 22 Analyst Bottom Line

10 Goals for Hosting Events 23 Acknowledgements

12 Event Marketing Effectiveness 24 About Cvent & Demand Metric

13 Event Marketing Tools & Technologies 26 Appendix – Survey Background

15 Event Marketing Metrics & ROI

INTRODUCTION
Events are a time honored way to connect with customers, prospects and partners. They serve a myriad of functions, including
demand and lead generation, lead nurturing, customer engagement and building brand awareness.

In today’s digital environment, the manner in which events are being perceived and utilized by organizations is rapidly
changing. Events are no longer silo’ed; they are reaching across business units and having a real impact on the entire
organization.

For this reason, companies are putting greater emphasis on their event strategies and programs with a profound focus
on getting the proper return from hosting events. Event marketing programs are typically comprised of a selection of the
following types of events: tradeshows, conferences, roadshows, webinars, trainings, seminars, galas, user conferences,
networking events, field marketing and virtual events.

There’s little doubt that all event details, from logistics to marketing to management, are changing rapidly and that
marketers need to be aware of these changes as they market events.

In a study sponsored by Cvent, Demand Metric conducted a survey to find out about the current state of event marketing. The
study’s goal was to understand the interest in and success with event marketing, gaining insights from which to derive
best practices.

3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study’s participants were primarily marketers in both B2B and B2C organizations. Participants represented a wide range of
industry affiliation, company sizes and job roles. Responses were collected from those who both attend and host events.

Our analysis focused on the effectiveness and ROI of events as well as the degree of satisfaction with events.
Furthermore, we examined the strategies, tactics, tools and metrics used to produce successful events.

The analysis of this study’s data provides these key findings about the current state of event marketing:

 Participants consider events to be valuable as an attendee or as a host. Three-quarters of respondents indicated that
events are a medium (38%) or high (41%) priority or area of investment.

 The two primary goals of event marketing are customer engagement and demand/lead generation. 71% and 70% of
respondents, respectively, chose these two options as leading objectives for event programs.

 More effective events lead to higher ROI and lead volume. Events that are well attended provide value for attendees as
well as new leads for sales to drive more revenue than those that are not well attended.

 ROI is related to hosting more events. Companies that host 6 or more events annually are more likely to report getting
better ROI from their events. Best practice holds that event planning and management requires strong strategies and tools.

 The importance of marketing events to demand and lead generation is growing. 60% of those surveyed see events
becoming more important in the next year.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 The right tools make a big difference in satisfaction with lead volume generated. The primary tools that lead to greater
satisfaction with lead volume are event management software, mobile apps, mobile marketing and CRM system integration.

 Measurement matters. Those who are not using metrics to track event performance are less likely to be satisfied with the
volume of leads that marketing events produce annually.

This report details the results and insights from the analysis of the study data. For more detail on the survey participants, please
refer to the Appendix.

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THE STATE OF EVENT MARKETING
Figure 1: More than three-quarters of participants rated events as a medium or high priority.

The Importance of Events in Demand Gen

High Priority (Attend or Host Events) 41%

How important are events for Demand Generation?

This study shows that marketers consider events to be

Medium Priority (Attend or Host Events) 37% valuable as an attendee or as a host.

As Figure 1 shows, a full 41% consider events to be a

high priority area of investment and 37% consider it to
Low Priority (Attend Events Only) 22% be a medium priority.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161

6
THE STATE OF EVENT MARKETING
The value of events becomes clearer when participants discuss how events fit into their overall strategy for demand generation.
Participants were asked to rank a given set of initiatives and the results of this inquiry provided the following list in rank order:

1. Marketing Events (conferences, 5. Search Engine Optimization 9. Direct Mail

tradeshows, webinars and virtual (SEO)
events) 10. Telemarketing
6. Social Media
2. Website Experience 11. Content Syndication
7. Online Advertising
3. Email Marketing 12. Other
8. PR/Earned Media
4. Content Marketing

In this survey, events were the top priority, followed by website experience, email marketing and content marketing.

Participants were also given the option to write-in demand generation efforts not listed that are priorities for their organizations.
Write-in responses included the following: “app download, brand perception”, “internet aggregators”, “account-based marketing”,
“paid search, paid social” and “word of mouth marketing”.

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ATTENDING & HOSTING EVENTS
Figure 2: 98% of organizations are attending events regularly.

Annual Event Attendance

While the majority of participants identified events as a
50% medium to high priority for demand generation, this study
endeavored to gauge the depth of their importance.
40%
41% In order to identify the level of importance of events, this
study asked participants how many events they attend
30% annually. The data for which is presented in Figure 2.
31%
Almost three-fourths (72%) of organizations are
20% attending between 1 to 10 events per year. The
remainder of companies are participating in over 10 events
10% 14% annually with only 2% not attending any events at all.
12%
2% It is clear that marketing events of all types are
0% maintaining a high level of importance for most
None 1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 25 More than 25
organizations, which aligns with the placement of
marketing events as the demand generation initiative
with the highest priority from the previous section of
Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161 this report.

8
ATTENDING & HOSTING EVENTS
Figure 3: More than half of companies are hosting between 1 and 5 events annually.

# of Events Hosted Annually Participating in events is an important way to develop long-

80% term relationships with other vendors, customers and
prospects interested in the same focus area. Likewise,
hosting events enables organizations to target specific
audiences and to encourage customer engagement.
60% 65%
This study sought to understand how often companies are
hosting their own events to support demand generation.
40% The results of this inquiry are presented in Figure 3.

More than half (65%) of companies participating in this

20% study host between 1 and 5 events. Only 7% of
companies are hosting more than 25 events per year.
14% 14% 5%
2%
From this survey data, it can be inferred that the
0%
1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 25 26 to 50 50+ majority of organizations are most likely hosting one or
two large events per year or on quarterly basis to
maintain current client relationships and generate new
Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161
contacts for the sales cycle.

9
GOALS FOR HOSTING EVENTS
Figure 4: Customer engagement and demand/lead generation were the most commonly selected
goals for an event marketing program.
In order to guide spending for events, marketers must be
Primary Goals for Hosting Events clear on their purpose for building an event marketing
program. Participants were given a list of goals for hosting
Other Goals 6% events and asked to select all that apply (Figure 4).
Product Launch 18% When asked to describe their primary goals for hosting
Customer Upsell 27% events, 71% of the participants named customer
engagement as the primary goal, followed closely by
Lead Nurturing 36%
demand/lead generation at 70%.
Build Loyalty 37%
Product Education & Training 43% Our analysis indicates a relationship between event
goal and satisfaction with lead volume. Those whose
Build Brand Awareness 54% goal is lead nurturing or product education & training are
Demand/Lead Generation 70% more likely to be satisfied with the volume of leads their
events produce annually. On the other hand, those focused
Customer Engagement 71% on building brand awareness are less likely to be satisfied
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% with the volume of leads that events produce annually.

The conclusion we draw is that lead generation and brand

Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161
building events have different event requirements that need
to be managed differently for success. One size or
type of event does not fit all goals.
10
GOALS FOR HOSTING EVENTS
Figure 5: Companies seek to attract attendees that have decision-making power & buying authority.

Target Attendees for Events

Administrator 9%
Other 10% Organizations are also establishing goals in terms of target
audiences. Participants were asked to identify the job roles
Developer/Technical 15% they target and the results are presented in Figure 5.
User 29% When it comes to the goal for the type of attendees
Product/Service Buyer 41% companies want to attract to their events, the top attendee
draws are Director (62%), Executive (61%), Manager (57%)
Manager 56% and Product/Service Buyer (41%).
Executive (C-suite) 61%
As expected, this data verifies the commonly held
Director 62% belief that companies are looking to attract attendees
with decision-making power and buying authority.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161

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EVENT MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
Figure 6: 68% of participants believe events are an effective or very effective channel for meeting
marketing goals.

Event Marketing Effectiveness

80%
It is important to establish goals for an event marketing
strategy; however, it is equally important to understand how
effective marketers perceive events to be as an initiative.
60% 64%
Figure 6 portrays how marketers perceive the effectiveness
of event marketing programs.
40%
The analysis of this data clearly shows that companies
consider events to be an effective channel for demand
20% 25% generation with 68% reporting events to be effective or
very effective for meeting their marketing goals.
7%
4%
0% Only 7% of participants responded that marketing events
0%
Very Effective Effective Neutral Inffective Very Ineffective are ineffective at helping their organizations achieve
marketing and demand generation goals.

Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161

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EVENT MARKETING TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Figure 7: Email marketing is the most commonly used event marketing tool/technology.

In order to become somewhat or very effective at planning

Usage of Event Marketing Tools & Technologies
and implementing events in a digitally-driven environment,
marketers must be aware of the newest and most
Other Tools 8%
sophisticated tools and technologies.
Mobile Apps 8%
When asked which tools are used for event marketing,
Event Management Software 17%
the overwhelming choice was email marketing. Over
Mobile Marketing 19% one-third of participants also chose CRM, Excel and
Manual Processes 20% Marketing Automation (MA) as tools in use for events.

Marketing Automation 36% This data indicates the growing importance of MA as

Excel 44% an Enterprise-wide platform that has spread beyond its
email marketing roots to encompass a greater role in
CRM 44% the full range of marketing activities.
Email Marketing 87%
Demand Metric believes this has occurred in line with the
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% maturing of MA solutions, tighter integration of MA with
CRM systems and the ability of MA systems to profile and
personalize customer engagement. These attributes make
Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161 MA a strong tool for event marketing.

13
EVENT MARKETING TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
When we compared the tools used to enable overall event effectiveness, the analysis showed two tools are clearly
related to greater event effectiveness: email marketing and CRM integration. This does not indicate that other tools are not
effective, just that these two tools were particularly effective in enabling a successful event marketing program.

What is clear, however, is that there is a growing importance for CRM integration with all marketing activities, including event
marketing. Demand Metric believes that CRM integration is driven by a desire for increased customer engagement,
which was named in this survey as the primary goal for events by 71% of participants. Better customer engagement
requires better customer profiling and personalization, which CRM systems can provide.

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EVENT MARKETING METRICS & ROI
Figure 8: Attendance, leads generated and registration were ranked as the most commonly used
metrics to measure event performance.
ROI has become a critical metric for all marketing
Usage of Event Marketing Metrics
activities and marketing events are no exception.
Other Metrics 4%
Lead Flow or Volume 7% To determine how event performance is measured, we
No Metrics in Use 9% asked participants to share their approaches and the key
Cost of New Customer Acquisition 16% metrics being used by their organizations. Participants were
Leads by Source 21% given a list of common metrics and asked to select all that
Cost Per Lead/Qualified Lead 23%
apply to their strategy. Figure 8 highlights the results.
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) 25%
Pipeline Created 30%
Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) 35% More than half of all participants are using attendance
Conversion Rates 36% (66%), leads generated (61%) and registration (56%) to
Email Open Rates 38% measure event performance. A total of 9% of participants
Revenue Generated 38% do not use any metrics to track event performance.
Registration 57%
Leads Generated 63%
Respondents who chose the “Other Metrics” option were
Attendance 66%
encouraged to include additional comments. Some write-in
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% responses given were “conference attendees (practitioners
and not other vendors) completing a survey at the booth”,
“content engagement”, “feedback post event” and
Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161 “pipeline touched”.

15
EVENT MARKETING METRICS & ROI
Figure 9: 58% of respondents indicated a vague or non-existent understanding of event ROI.
Despite the importance of ROI to event performance,
Understanding of ROI from Hosting Events most participants were not confident in their ability to
50% precisely predict the ROI of event performance. 58%
indicated a vague or non-existent understanding of their
ROI for events. Conversely, only 42% said their knowledge
40% of event ROI was “sufficiently accurate” or “very precise”.
40%
35% In order to understand the impact of events on demand
30%
gen, the value, drivers and revenue impact of events were
assessed between those who hosted fewer events and
20% those who hosted many events. This analysis shows:

18%  ROI is related to hosting more events. Companies

10% that host 6 or more events annually (Figure 3) are more
likely to report getting better ROI from these events.
7% These companies tend to be larger, have larger events
0%
Unknown Vague Understanding Sufficiently Accurate
Understanding
Very Precise
Understanding
and most likely larger budgets. They also may be using
more sophisticated tools, such as event marketing
software, which provide better tools for measurement.
Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161
Hosting more events simply provides a company with
more data for analysis. The combination of these
factors likely contributes to a higher ROI on events.
16
EVENT MARKETING METRICS & ROI
 Tactics make a difference. Organizations that host 6 or more events annually are more likely to be using telemarketing,
virtual events and webinars as tactics for marketing these events.

However, the analysis also showed that simply hosting more events or spending more money did not automatically result in
higher event marketing effectiveness. Proper planning, management and tools are necessary ingredients for effectiveness. In
particular, tools and tactics have an important correlation to satisfaction with lead volume, as discussed in the Lead
Volume Satisfaction section of this report.

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LEAD VOLUME SATISIFACTION
Figure 10: 35% of participants were satisfied or very satisfied with their lead volume from events.

Given that lead generation is such an important factor for

Satisfaction with Lead Volume from Events
event success, participants were asked how satisfied they
50% were with the volume of leads they received from their
events. A total of 35% reported being satisfied or very
satisfied with the lead volume being product by their
40% 43%
events. 43% remained neutral about event lead volume,
and 22% were dissatisfied.
30%
32%
Tools make a difference. Our analysis showed significant
relationships between the tools used and the degree of
20%
22% satisfaction with the volume of leads produced, specifically:

10%  Participants using event management software,

mobile marketing, mobile apps and/or CRM as a tool
3%
0% were more satisfied with the volume of leads their
0% marketing events produce annually.
Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied

 Participants not using tools, but managing events

manually, were less satisfied with the volume of leads
Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161
their marketing events produce annually.

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LEAD VOLUME SATISIFACTION
 Participants who are not using metrics to track events performance are less likely to be satisfied with the volume of leads their
marketing events produce annually.

Organizations may avoid using tools because they are concerned with not generating enough leads and producing enough
revenue to cover the costs of more sophisticated event marketing technologies and software.

However, in light of this data presented in Figure 10, marketers should evaluate their event tools and consider the
investment in satisfaction-generating technologies, such as event management software, mobile marketing apps and
CRM integration.

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EVENT MARKETING CHALLENGES
Survey participants were asked about the challenges to creating successful events. The results were in line with expectations.
Here is the ranked list (from most challenging to least) of challenges presented:

1. Drawing attendees to events 8. Better brand awareness

2. Generating enough leads 9. Lowering cost per lead/qualified lead

3. Tracking & measuring impact 10. Drawing sponsors to events

4. Better attendee engagement 11. Better social media presence

5. Producing quality content 12. Finding speakers

6. Enhancing the event experience 13. Drawing exhibitors to events

7. Promoting one-on-one meetings 14. Other challenges

The top challenge for marketers hosting events was drawing attendees to the event, followed by generating enough
leads, tracking and measuring impact, better attendee engagement and producing quality content.

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THE FUTURE OF EVENT MARKETING
Figure 11: 95% of survey participants believe that event marketing efforts will remain the same or
grow in significance in the next 12-18 months.

Event Marketing Importance Over the Next Year

50%

40%
Overall, companies value events as a marketing tool.
39%
This survey shows that most companies believe that events
35%
30% will become even more important in the upcoming year.

21% of participants said that events will become much

20%
21% more important to their marketing efforts in the future;
while 39% believe events will become slightly more
10% important. Only 5% of respondents believe events will
become slightly less important.
5% 0%
0%
Much more Slightly more Stay the same Slightly less Much less
important important important important

Event Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, November 2014, n=161

21
ANALYST BOTTOM LINE
This study proves that events are a key component of the marketers’ playbook; and marketing events are critical to
effective demand generation activities.

Event effectiveness is not dependent simply on hosting more events or spending more money. One event can be as valuable to
your organization’s demand generation efforts as a dozen. What does matter is: proper planning, management and tools.

Best practice holds that event planning and management requires strong strategies, tactics and tools. Those companies that
have invested in these have reaped the rewards in increased event effectiveness and higher satisfaction with lead
volume. Thus, event marketers should evaluate their tools, in light of this data, and consider the investment in satisfaction-
generating tools like event management software, mobile marketing apps and CRM integration to increase effectiveness.

Use this benchmark study as a guide to evaluate how effective your organization is with event marketing and to take
steps to increase the value of your events for all participants.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Demand Metric is grateful to Cvent for sponsoring this benchmarking study and for those participants that took the time to
provide their input to it.

Demand Metric acknowledges the advice and assistance of Dr. Tom Brown, Noble Foundation Chair in Marketing Strategy and
Professor of Marketing in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University, in facilitating and providing counsel on
the analysis of these survey results.

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ABOUT CVENT
Cvent, Inc. (NYSE: CVT) is a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform, with more than 1,450 employees and
more than 12,600 customers worldwide. Cvent offers software solutions to event planners for online event registration, venue
selection, event management, mobile apps for events, e-mail marketing and web surveys.

Cvent provides hotels with a targeted advertising platform designed to reach event planners looking for suitable venues. Cvent
solutions optimize the entire event management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to manage hundreds of
thousands of meetings and events.

For more information, please visit www.cvent.com.

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ABOUT DEMAND METRIC
Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 50,000 marketing
professionals and consultants in 75 countries.

Offering consulting methodologies, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric
resources and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about
their work with authority and conviction and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence, boosting the
respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed.

To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: www.demandmetric.com.

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APPENDIX – SURVEY BACKGROUND
This Demand Metric Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of October 27, 2014 through November
11, 2014. During this period, 225 responses were collected, 12 of which were disqualified and 161 of which were complete
enough for inclusion in the analysis. The data was analyzed using SPSS to ensure the statistical validity of the findings. The
representativeness of these results depends on the similarity of the sample to environments in which this survey data is used for
comparison or guidance.

Summarized below is the basic categorization data collected about respondents to enable filtering and analysis of the data:

Primary Role of Respondent: Annual Sales:

 President, CEO or Owner (32%)  $1 million or less (36%)

 Marketing (49%)  $1 to $10 million (16%)
 Sales (8%)  $11 to $25 million (10%)
 Other (11%)  $26 to $100 million (21%)
 $101 to $500 million (6%)
Type of Organization:  $501 million to $1 billion (5%)
 Over $1 billion (8%)
 Mostly or entirely B2B (69%)
 Mostly or entirely B2C (17%)
 Blend of B2B/B2C (14%)

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 Benchmark Report

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