In-person events have been found to be an effective B2B marketing channel across all stages of the buyer’s journey. B2B tech organizations, especially, are seeing the benefits that in-person events bring, with more than two-thirds (69%) planning to increase their events budgets this year, per a report from Bizzabo.
In a survey of 1,000 mid-to senior-level marketers across sectors, in-person events was considered the single most effective marketing channel by a 41% share of respondents from all sectors. When broken down by sector, the same percentage of B2B tech organizations find in-person events to be the most effective channel.
The effectiveness of in-person events is reflected in other research, with a survey from Demand Gen Report having found that three-quarters (76%) of the B2B marketers surveyed named in-person events as the most successful top-of-the-funnel demand generation tactics.
For the B2B tech organizations surveyed in this recent report, the only channel that even came close, as far as effectiveness, was content marketing. This was considered the most effective by a 35% share of the B2B tech sector. However, while marketing professionals have noted that content is very important in prompting the buying process, those same professionals also say that much content targeted at them is either “fluffy and jargony” or simply irrelevant.
Of the in-person event types available, a 42% share of B2B tech companies cite conferences as being the most effective in driving business outcomes. This is followed by thought leadership and networking events (18% share) and trade shows/expos (12%). Read the rest at Marketing Charts.
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