Converting Events from Boondoggles to Drivers

Without the proper discipline around events, your budget can be quickly sucked up with nothing to show for it. With data, marketers and business leaders can make informed decisions around whether and which events to support.

The Challenge

A SaaS managed services provider (MSP) had a tradition of tradeshows and a salesforce that wanted to fly to conferences but lacked data to demonstrate whether these sponsorships had driven any opportunities. They were willing to make a greater investment in marketing but needed to invest in the right channels — if they could identify them.

The Solution

Historic badge scan data was first imported from spreadsheets into the marketing automation platform, and then mapped as successes into corresponding events. Next reports were built and run to match historic connections at tradeshows and conferences to opportunities at accounts, quantifying the overlap between accounts and touches. Finally, the cost per opportunity and deal acceleration timeline were calculated and compared to other channels (which had undergone their own data exercises). The result? Sponsorships were an effective channel and worth a budgetary increase.