Event Marketing Ties Everything Together

For Harry Baum, putting people together in a room to network is a life passion. Biz to Biz Networking sprouted up from a once-a-month networking event Harry put on in conjunction with a newspaper he once owned. Today, Harry hosts over 100 networking events and several larger Business Expos each year in the area of Florida that stretches from Miami to Boca Raton.

Biz to Biz Networking puts on 8 to 10 networking events at local restaurants each month that feature between 50 to 100 attendees who pay a small fee to attend. For the larger Business Expos, there can be upwards of 1,200 attendees admitted for free, with around 80 to 100 exhibitors at each Expo.

Challenge: Managing 100+ events a year

With that number of events to run each year, promoting the events, managing registrations, and getting proper headcounts can be a daunting task. Harry says it's an additional challenge to convince people of how valuable it is to network face to face. In an age of social networks and devices that keep people connected at all times, there's nothing like the personal touch of networking.

"What's happening now, with the Internet and all the social networks, there is so much going on out there in terms of networking," Harry says. "I started doing these events when there was no cell phone, no computers. This was back in the day of beepers and pay phones."

To ensure his events stay relevant, Harry has to target his audience and maintain a consistent level of communication to keep people up to date on upcoming events.

Solution: Leverage existing contacts

I can market a single event better by directing attendees straight to the website to register. The Email Marketing and Event Marketing tools from Constant Contact are the major business drivers for Biz to Biz Networking. "It's all because of Constant Contact," Harry says of his business. "With an invite on Constant Contact, I can just zip out emails to ask people to come to an event. It's my main source of marketing."

Harry says that with his nearly 9,000 contacts, he can turn around an event in just two days. "With the database following that I have, I can pull it off."

Typically, Harry will send out an email newsletter with a list of events for the coming week. He uses the Event Marketing tool to specifically promote just one event and drive attendance numbers.

Results: Improved headcounts

"Event Marketing is a great selling tool for us," Harry says. He adds that smaller businesses or organizations that don't have a nice website can use the Event Marketing tool to build a great event home page.

For Biz to Biz Networking, the big benefit of using the registration tool is the ability to get a more accurate headcount earlier in the process. This allows Harry to give the restaurant where one of his networking events is being held a more exact number of attendees, which makes budgeting for food charges more precise.

Even the map that can be included on an event homepage is a time saver for Harry as it cuts down on the number of people calling to find out exactly where the event is taking place. "Now I don't have to give out directions to everyone," Harry says.

Most important for Harry is the overall time saved by using Event Marketing and being able to leverage his existing email contact list. "That saves me a lot of time, and time is money," Harry says.