Brands are built at conferences. Pipeline is hit at fringe events. So many bizs blow their entire event budget on the conference itself. But that's not where you make the quantifiable return. The real opportunity is dinners/experiences around them. Conferences bring the key people into 1 place. But the floors are overrun with too many people. You can’t establish relationships in mega speed dating mode. So if you’re sponsoring the big conference… Throw 2-4 fringe events around the conference. That's really where you're gonna get the balance. The booth builds your brand + gets your name out there. But you invite your customers, pipeline, target account to the fringe events. Working with partners to promote the event to shared ICPs. That's how you really make money from big events. #saas
I'll go further and say that when it comes to fringe events.. a 15 person highly curated event > 40-50 person happy hour
Lou Mintzer
2w
Please kill me if I ever sponsor an open bar at a conference fringe event. 😂
Laura Nelson
2w
Speaking of conferences...where will you be next Jeremy Horowitz'?
My favourite events around conferences hands down are the pre/after parties and private, invite only events. Spot on. The content is usually - meh at a conference. Meaning, I can see it all online anyway. But the chance to have dinner and/or drinks with friends, colleagues, prospects etc is actually priceless. If I was a big tech vendor, I wouldn't bother sponsoring conferences but I WOULD put on the most killer private events around the conference I could manage.
Matt Ezyk
1w
Totally agree - I posted about this earlier this year. I think the best way to do this is to host a breakfast event. There's so much competition at happy hour and dinner but very little in the morning before the event.
Adam Pearce
2w
I suppose I have a vested interest here, but fringe works better. We've seen these consistently outperform being 'in' the event with the one's we organised at eCom Collab Club™️
Taking a network out of conference is where the money is found, that’s where we build know, like, and trust.
Noah Little
2w
Can you elaborate on fringe events. I do agree that there is a "dinner fatigue"
Yeah good take. I agree. And if you're early stage, piggy back off a bigger partner for the brand exposure at the conference and invest in the fringe events yourself.
📈 Helping 7 Figure E-Comm Brands Scale 👇 Find out if your digital ads could be doing better.
2wYou think this would work for an ad agency? Asking for a friend… 😂