" />By its very nature, public relations is ever-changing; delivery tactics and channels evolve with the times and changing consumer preferences.
However, in an increasingly digital world where online news, social media, and digital events remain prominent, we have to ask ourselves: is the public element being forgotten about? And if so, how do businesses bring this back? Because ultimately, when done right, face-to-face events remain one of the most powerful tactics in a PR pro’s tool-kit.
With that in mind, this blog looks at the importance of in-person events (with a focus on b2b) in a PR strategy, before wrapping up with a few of our top tips on how they can be delivered impactfully.
First, why are in-person events so important?
Create authentic relationships
Public relations is all about relationships: it’s in the name. No amount of online calls, social media interactions or email exchanges can replace looking at someone in the eye and talking to them in person. In the world of PR, this could be something as simple as a coffee date with a journalist or an in-person media gifting visit, through to something more formal such as a stakeholder dinner or industry roundtable. These real-life experiences foster human connection that can’t be fast tracked as they allow for two-way communication, which simply isn’t something you get when securing coverage in a publication – no matter how amazing it is to see.
Ultimately, people are more likely to respond next time that somebody they have shared a personal conversation with, or laughed over a meal together, drops them an email. These personal relationships often translate into brand loyalty and longer-term collaborations. Take this roundtable we delivered for sustainable timber brand, Accoya, for example. By delivering an event around an industry topic of interest and meeting audiences (in this case, architects) where they were by running it as a fringe event to an architecture festival that was already happening, we were able to create relationships with several attendees that transcended the initial day. We ended up partnering with a couple of them on a long-running campaign that happened later in the year. It just goes to show the importance of a first impression and how in-person contact can lead to more fruitful relationships.
Build trust and increase authority
In person interactions naturally build trust. This can be especially true in heavily regulated sectors where it’s important to work with people you really trust and won’t let you down. We work with several clients in the construction sector, which is bound by building regulations and legislation. With a lot to comply with, having faith in the people you do business with is really important. Building connections and trust via in-person events can really help with this.
This trust can be fostered further by carving out a voice of authority in a certain area. Of course, this can be done digital and via carefully selected media placements, owned brand content and the likes, however it can be significantly reinforced with in-person contact. For example, in regulated sectors businesses might want to think about hosting an in person event centering around a topic of the moment, such as a complying with an upcoming legislation. Businesses should think carefully about the topics/issues they’re keen to own and work on building a strong voice around one or two of them – any more can be overkill and dilute the messaging, not to mention making brands appear like generalists rather than specialists. Roundtables and interview based events such as fireside chats are a great way to create a voice on a key industry topic.
Foster memorable brand experiences
At the same time as building connections and trust, face to face events offer the opportunity for brands to showcase their values, personality and story. Many of our clients tell us that they ‘only need to get in a room’ with a potential stakeholder or customer and they can really make the business and what it does shine. This is much more difficult digitally. In person events give brands and their champions a chance to really shine – it’s hard not to get behind a business when you see someone’s eyes light up when they talk about it.
It can also be great to send participants away from an event with something physical – no matter how big or small. A mix of branded merch, useful items and treats can work well. Sending attendees away with something memorable makes them remember the experience well beyond the day.
Build your content bank
Events can be a great way to capture content via multiple mediums. Of course, the content will vary massively on the type of event but could include things like write ups of discussions on the day, content turned into social media assets and graphics, videos, soundbites and more. Our top tip here is to plan out your content strategy way before the day of the event – it’s helpful to know exactly what content you want to get out of the day and how you’ll roll it out post-event. You might also want to consider sending specialists to make the best of the on-the-day content such as a social media content creator or long-form copywriter, to take the pressure off the internal team.
How to do in person events well
At Refresh, we run intimate, in-person events for clients regularly and we’re not going to gloss over it, whilst it’s rewarding seeing it all come together, it’s hard work! Here we’ve included three our top tips on delivering b2b events with impact, based on our experience over 15 years of doing this:
- Think about what existing events you could tie your event in with: we run a lot of intimate, b2b events targeting architects, housebuilders and contractors – audiences that can traditionally be difficult to get in front of. As a result, we’ll often run our events as fringe events around big, well-know events. For example, we’ve hosted roundtables and exclusive breakfast events aligned with events such as Clerkenwell Design Week, FutureBuild, London Build Expo and InstallerSHOW. We already know there will be a captive audience around so this makes it more likely that we’ll get a strong guestlist at the event
- Start your outreach earlier than you think you need and allow for dropouts: even though we run mainly intimate events (anywhere between 10 – 30 people, generally), we still give ourselves plenty of time to secure attendees. Depending on the size and scale of the event, for business events you’ll generally need to allow anything from 1-3 months to ensure you’re in peoples’ diaries. For a 10-12 person targeted roundtable, we tend to start inviting 8 weeks ahead of the event. Also, anyone involved in the events world will know the stress of drop-outs in the days leading up to the event and even on the day. Unfortunately, no matter how appealing an event is, there will also be dropouts, so always secure a few more people than you’d hoped to allow for this
- Be really clear on why people should attend – what’s in it for them? People have busier lives and giving up their time to attend an event is no small ask. So, we always find it helps to be really clear on how they will benefit from the event – whether it’s networking with peers, being part of a press or content campaign following it, or to build their own personal brand, it’s always worth letting participants know.
We hope this blog has demonstrated just how valuable in-person events can be when strategised and executed properly.
If you need support with your events, do get in touch with us an informal chat. For a flavour of our work, here are some examples of previous events we have delivered for the Chartered Institute of Heating and Plumbing Engineers, Keenan Recycling and Polypipe.
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