In order to maximize the effectiveness of your event marketing budget and create the most successful experiential marketing engagements you must be sure that you are activating at events where you will find your target consumer. Choosing a location for your field marketing activation is no place to be indifferent. With a little research and thoughtful planning you can ensure that your Brand Ambassadors are communicating face-to-face with your consumers at each and every event.
Fairs and festivals provide the most targeted and potentially segmented audiences. Year after year, larger fairs and festivals spend the time and money to capture useful demographic data such as income level, gender, race, age and education; and they gather this information in order to share it with potential event sponsors and the marketing agencies that represent them.
Other places that keep good track of demographic information on their consumers are shopping centers, sports venues, colleges/universities and area attractions. Most of these existing venues and events can provide resources to help you determine whether or not there is a good fit. Most of these venues will have a special events person in their marketing department whose goal it is to attract experiential marketing teams in order to enhance their own guests’ experiences. On a side note, it’s important that your Brand Ambassadors represent the markets and areas where you are visiting.
Everywhere you go will not have this type of demographic information readily available, so sometimes a little intuition and research is required. A city’s Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau can often provide insight into a venue’s demographics. Department stores in malls, nearby hotels and local film commissions are also great resources to ask about their local areas. Most of the time, these people are very knowledgeable and willing to share their insights with you. Let them know why you’re asking and they will probably be more willing to lend a hand. They are in the service industry, after all.
Where have you found success in gathering demographic information for an event? Let me know in the comments.