How to Improve Your Event Marketing Segmentation Skills
The term "market segmentation" can be defined simply as the process of identifying target market groups that may be available for the event marketers' products and services. These segments may already be included within the current targets of the marketing plan in effect, but many may not be. Those that are not often provide the fertile fields of growth and revitalization of the event itself.
Throughout this text, you have been alerted to the self-defeating tendency of repetition, whether it involves program design, promotional tools, speakers, event features, or marketing lists. The clear trend in event marketing is toward a shining of the light into new areas filled with innovative design opportunities and, even more important, consumers who are currently not being recruited. Those consumers may be off of your "radar screen," but they also may be operating much closer to you than you think.
Markets continually change, as do their tastes, interests, fads, and priorities. For example, many companies have faced flagging sales because they did not see the trends in their markets evolving. In every economic downturn, observers will see the sad cycle of those corporations that became too comfortable in the sanctity of their profitability and failed to stay ahead of the consumer curve and the incessant changes in desire and demand of their markets. When that happens, inventories rise as customer demand shifts to new and more attractive product offerings by competitors, discounts are offered to move products, and per unit profits fall. The message that the corporate event marketer conveys must reflect the challenges of overcoming this regression—and righting the ship—and the strategic plans of management for accomplishing this.
This is no less true for the association event marketer. Association memberships should reflect the industries and professions that they represent. Be alerted that there is no guarantee that they do, without an effective marketing plan to continually analyze changes in market segments and the direct influence they have on event participation. A striking example of this is the growth of megastores in the retail industry, dramatically (and often woefully) changing the landscape of the memberships that support the associations representing them. In the hardware industry, thousands of small family-owned stores have disappeared as huge retail outlets have opened either in malls or as stand-alone retailers throughout the United States. The same can be seen in the drug retail industry, the printing industry, the office supply industry, among many others.
Bear in mind that, as years go by, certain types of consumers and their values fade as new ones emerge. These "psychographic" profiles, used to identify buyer values and priorities, will often influence the decision whether or not to buy, attend, and participate.
For example, the World War II and Baby Boomer generations have been identified by their value of long-lasting relationships, institutional and personal loyalty, permanent relationships, and patience. A chat over the nuts and bolts in the hardware store may not have been efficient or time effective, but was long a valued and venerable phenomenon of the community psyche throughout the nation and its towns.
Now emerging in the marketplace are the maturing Generation Xers and evolving Generation Next markets. They present characteristics that are markedly different. Raised in the instant-response environment of faxes, e-mails, and online messaging, they expect instant results. They, in large measure, don't want to "wait in line." They scoff at "snail mail." In general, they are multitaskers eager to accomplish several objectives at once, not given to good people skills, and in relationships with casual acquaintances. And they tend to be highly impatient and somewhat skeptical. They exhibit a desire to make each minute count at work and play. The marketer must be aware that they do not trust a newspaper article or promotional piece simply because they see something in print "so it must be true." The challenge to convince this market is great.
Thus, the one-stop shopping syndrome permeates our marketplaces to a growing degree. Whether it is shopping at a megastore or attending an educational or social event, the time must be well spent and beneficial. "What will I learn?" "Who will I meet?" "How will I benefit?" For the marketer, these are key issues to address in promotion. And the keyword is "I."
Event marketers have the same issues with which to deal. Are attendance trends at the annual Veteran's Day parade up, down, or stagnant? Are sponsorships in demand or declining? Which community precincts are conspicuous by their representation? Which are not? The marketing executive responsible for the annual community awards and recognition gala must be equally investigative. Is attendance growing? Are essentially the same people coming each year? If so, are they growing older, retiring, becoming less influential than in years before? Are our newer markets being overlooked, both as attendees and as honorees?
Many marketers have found, too late and to their dismay, that by catering to old standbys and ignoring emerging markets they were "ringing the tree" (an old saying that, when you cut a small ring around the base of a tree's bark, nutrients will be blocked from the roots and in time the tree will wither and die). Many events have faded away because new markets were not segmented, identified, and embraced to supply continuing nutrition and support.
As a marketer, you should not pursue new markets until you have identified and analyzed the markets you currently attract and the trends that create the ebb and flow of the buyers and attendees you seek. Using the qualitative and quantitative research techniques already described in this text, market segmentation begins with identifying, qualifying, and prioritizing the consumers you serve. In others words, "who is coming to your party?"
In addition to the standard demographics such as age, gender, annual income, years of event attendance, and many others described in Chapter 2, more definitive and probing questions are being used as marketers improve their segmentation skills. Figure 8-5 represents questions used in a research instrument searching for greater audience definition. The instrument can be both qualitative and quantitative in design.
Samples of Qualitative and Quantitative Survey Questions
Attendee Information
■ Name, Address, Contact Numbers (Optional)
■ What is your profession?
■ What is your professional title?
■ How long have you been in the business?
■ Which of the past 10 years have you attended? (Provide check-off list)
■ Why have you attended in those years? Rate on a scale of 1-10 all that apply. Add any other reasons important to you.
1. Social Events
2. Education/Professional Development
3. Peer Networking/Interaction
4. Travel
5. Combine with Vacation
6. See New Products at the Exposition
7. Find New Markets for My Product
8. Pursue My Leadership Role in Organization
9. Pre- and Postevent Tours
10. Attraction of the Event Venue/Location
11. Celebrity Attractions/Entertainment
12. Test the Pulse of the Industry, Study Trends
13. Gather Information About New Competitors
14. Find a Better Job/Become Upwardly Mobile
15. Review New Professional Literature/Research
Figure 8-5
This example of a survey instrument includes both quantitative and qualitative items. Key to this approach is to make the questionnaire long enough to gain the information most important to the marketing effort, and short enough that the target will take the time to respond.
The list is limited only by the marketer's need to know and his or her imaginative creativity. Obviously, the length of the questionnaire will impact the time the respondent is willing to spend on the exercise. Therefore, need to know is a critical ingredient. As a marketer, you must first define what informational goals are most important to the research and construct the instrument with those goals in mind.
Many such surveys are tabulated, recorded, reviewed with passive interest, and then ignored. The scrupulous investigator, however, matches the queries and responses through "comparative analysis" to gain insight into emerging markets. For example, the question "How long have you been in the business?" is key to identifying an emerging group of buyers. Responses of one, two, or three years should be compared with subentry 14 to determine a relationship between this demographic group and the desire to improve one's job status. If the match is positive and significant, the marketing message to promote to this potential constituency is clear.
On the other hand, let us assume that the vast majority of the respondents represent long-time attendees and veterans and alarmingly few are newcomers to the playing field. This may well mean that the event has reached an age nexus that portends an eventual "passing of the guard," with no new markets being attracted to replenish the event and the organization itself.
This is a classic marketing challenge. It is not a nightmare for the marketer. Rather, it is a great opportunity. As the marketer, you will want to work with program planners to design events that will attract new participants, and then craft promotional messages and methods that will enlist the participation of a whole new market. And, as the marketer, you may have saved not only the long-term future of the organization's events, but also perhaps the future of the organization as a viable entity.
Figure 8-6 presents still more questions the marketing executive needs to answer in studying trends in new market segments. They probe more behavioral profiles and values. These issues typically require qualitative approaches and may be applied to smaller groups that can be urged to assure adequate response (such as corporate managers, franchise owners, or association elected leaders). Still, questions still may be asked of the more casual constituent, depending on need. The queries illustrated in Figure 8-6 are more
Personal/Business Profile Questions
■ How many purchases did you make last year (in dollar volume) as a result of contacts made at our exhibit?
■ When do you make your buying plans?
■ What do you buy? What may you buy in the future?
■ What dollar volume of purchases are you personally responsible for in a fiscal year?
■ What do you see as the greatest challenge to your success?
■ What do you see as your greatest educational need?
■ If you had your choice, where would you most like assistance? (Time management, office systems, administrative assistance, distributor communications, identifying customer needs.)
■ What industry publications do you read regularly?
■ What other publications do you read regularly?
■ What television programs do you watch regularly?
■ Would you be willing to serve as a "network marketer" for our event in your community? (If so, indicate name and contact information.)
Figure 8-6
A qualitative survey instrument may be used for general information about target markets not necessarily related to a specific event. In many cases, new events can be designed as a result of better understanding of new market segments.
intimate and in depth than the previous, but may reveal significant insights into new marketing approaches.
Why ask questions such as these? Who needs to know? Exhibitors will want to know the buying power of your audience. Advertisers will want to know who makes buying decisions, and what publications your attendees read, in order to strategize advertising design and placement. Key speakers and sponsors will want to know the experience level of their audiences and the positions they hold in their companies. As the marketer, you need to know your markets as intimately as possible in order to persuade your program participants, as well as attendees, to gather.
Always bear in mind that a market segment need not be a question of sheer numbers to be vital. Even more important in certain instances is the influence that this market segment brings to the table. As we have said earlier, asking personal questions and soliciting opinions of the "movers and shakers" in an industry or association instills a sense of proprietary interest among them. When those leaders feel that interest in the mission, the task of the marketer in approaching their followers will be greatly facilitated.
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