what cmos really think about the value of events

What CMOs really think about the value of eventsJohn Ellett | CEO of nFusion & Contributor of Forbes CMO Network (@jellett)

Mindset of CMOs

CMOs remain under the gun to deliver measurable results.

15 Mind-Blowing Stats About Marketing ROI – CMO.com

Objective

C-Suite not convinced by marketing without measurement…

80% 80% 78% 74%

80% of C-levels say they don’t really

trust the work done by marketers

80% say marketers are to

disconnected from the financial

realities

78% believe marketers lose

sight of generating quantifiable

customer demand

74% want marketers to

become 100% ROI focused

The importance of analytics will increase substantially in

the next two years.

2015 State of Analytics - Salesforce

Where do events fit into the CMO’s agenda for growth?

In-person events has been rated the most effective marketing tactic for the last six years.

1

58%

58%

59%

60%

61%

62%

63%

65%

66%

75%In-person Events

Webinars/Webcasts

Case Studies

White Papers

Videos

Research Reports

eNewsletters

Blogs

Infograhics

Online Presentations

Proprie

tary E

vents

Trades

hows

Digital

Eve

nts

C-leve

l Targ

eted E

vents

Roads

hows

Other

59%54% 51%

40%

21%

5%

Proprietary Events & Tradeshows rank as the events most beneficial to their business.

“The value of events from my perspective? If done right, (they’re) one of the best ways to engage and connect with customers!”

- Richard Honiball, CMO, NEXCON

70% of CMOs sayevents are very or extremely valuable in facilitating revenue growth for their business.

70%

The CMO Club/Cvent Study

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

24%Of marketing department budget is spent on events

4,000-7,000Man-hours invested

What’s at Stake for Event Marketers?

75% of CMOs believe face to face events are very important or critical in accelerating the sales cycle.75%

“Relationships matter. Face-to-face events are great for engaging for the first time or re-engaging to strengthen relationships. When getting the right people together for productive business conversations, opportunities emerge.”

- Scott Anderson, CMO, Sitecore

50% of CMOs need to see more proof of the contribution being made to their revenue goals by their events programs.

50%

60% of CMOs say ROI is very important or critical when it comes to allocating budget to their events organization.60%

“Truly classify events for what they are. Some are corporate branding only, others branding and thought leadership, some are lead generation specific, some are regional partner events.”

- Greg Fitzgerald, CMO, Cylance

75% of CMOs say that understanding the overall effectiveness and provingROI are their most pressing challenges with theirevents programs.

75%

3 Tips to help your CMO invest in events

Connect Your Event KPIs with Your CMO’s KPIs

Revenue contribution

New leads generated

Value of pipeline created

Deal acceleration

Brand reputation

Net Promoter Score

Align event strategy and measurements with key stakeholders

Define “success” in quantifiable terms

Assure stakeholders are involved the definition

Create pre-, during and post-event activities to achieve success

Assure stakeholder are committed and enabled to “close the loop”

“The primary determinants of success are

A. Work with sales in advance of the event to drive effective meetings 

B. Work with sales after the event to drive effective follow-up.”

- Mike Lees, CMO, Metalogix

Make sure you are measuring what matters

Leads collected

1:1 meetings

Account influence

Content effectiveness

Closed business

Increased loyalty

Thank YouJohn Ellett | nFusion