MH3 Blog

What’s It All Worth?: Measuring Return on B2B Investment

An expert in conference management, Ian MacGillvray at OOMPH! Events brings out the best in every conference he’s helped organize. Today, Ian helped guide delegates through the process of measuring ROI on B2B investment and demonstrated how they can achieve a high ROI by streamlining and automating their operations to increase efficiency while simultaneously reducing costs and cycle time. Along some with some examples of B2B sponsorship in unlikely places, Ian provided delegates with tangible lessons that will help put the OOMPH! into their B2B investments.

1. Map the full network — and connect it! (Think partner orgs, parent orgs, media partners, suppliers, etc…)Sponsor Council

  • Advisrory board meetings
  • Speaking Opportunities/co-presenting
  • At pre-events, press conferences
  • Host at other events
  • Good old fashioned introductions

2. Facilitate Sales (Branding/Exposure is not good enough)

  • Provide delegate list
  • Direct 1-1 introductions at events
  • Ask sponsors “who are the top 5 companies you’d like to meet during the event?”
  • Business Development Match-Making (but establish criteria and ensure buyers don’t feel like fish among sharks!)

3. Network in Relevant B2B Circles

4. Exclusive Hosting/Sub-event Branding

  • B2B :branding is about professional positioning
  • Hosting exclusively sponsored keynotes, panels, receptions etc
  • Intro speaking opps are very important

5.  Mine the Data/Identify Key Connections

6. Align with a B2B Media Partner

  • While a thank-you ad in the newspaper is nice, B2B publications offer more value to B2B sponsors

7. Create Unique, Custom Hosting & Entertainment Experiences

  • Hosting & entertainment is BIG business in B2B compnies
  • Great opportunity for non-business properties
  • CSF this weekend is a GREAT example (Thanks, Ian!!)

8. Pay Attention to MULTIPLE Objectives of B2B Sponsors

9. Integrate Projects/Initiatives (in addition of one-off events)

10. Integrate Online Marketing


MH3 Blog

Listen, Measure & Engage in Social Media

Social media is an important tool that companies and properties alike can use to connect with their audience, but engagement is about much more than simply being present. Dave Thomas from Radian6 took the stage today to discuss the importance of listening, measuring and participating in a social media program.

If Dave could leave delegates with only one thing to take away from his presentation today, he’d hope it would be to focus on the fundamentals. Lucky for me, I took away a little more and would love to share it with you.

“Only you understand your business,” says Dave. Everyone has an opinion about social media and it is important to figure out what works for you and your business. Social media has forever changed the way people and companies communicate. Speaking through press releases is no longer enough; people expect to communicate with human beings and as human beings.

Below are the top key learnings that resonated with me from David’s presentation and will help you “rev up” your social media ROI:

Number one: Listen. You need to know how to make it about “them,” not you.

Plan. Social media is only effective with it ties into your business objectives.

Engage. Talk to people the way they like to be talked to. Share information that they will find useful and give people something they want. Dave uses the analogy: how many people “liked” a business Facebook page because they love to read their press release? (No surprise, no hands!) Whether it’s a business blog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed, the reality is people engage because the like their content. Key learning: Tag it, excerpt it… infuse it with the “Google juice!” Think about how you can best optimize drive to your conversation

Analyze. Are your social media activities providing any value? Do you have what people want?

Integrate your findings into your strategic planning process.

Understand the value of your time. Analyze how much you spent compared to how much you sold.

Start with campaigns vs. understanding the ROI of your entire marketing department. That’s a realistic number that you can attain and plan for in a reasonable amount of time.

Make your campaigns trackable.

Be realistic.

Follow Dave on Twitter @DavidBThoms for more insights! You can also find his presentation on slide share.