What are the best ways to use events to build B2B relationships?
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Events are powerful tools for building B2B relationships, but they require careful planning and execution to achieve your goals. Whether you host, sponsor, or attend an event, you need to have a clear strategy for how to connect with your target audience, deliver value, and follow up effectively. In this article, we will share some of the best ways to use events to build B2B relationships, based on our experience and best practices.
Before you decide to invest in an event, you need to define what you want to accomplish and how you will measure your success. Do you want to generate leads, nurture prospects, increase brand awareness, or establish thought leadership? How will you track and quantify your results? Having clear objectives will help you choose the right type of event, the right format, the right audience, and the right message for your B2B relationship building efforts.
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Nico Verba ✦
I share the 7-figure marketing secrets — follow along!
Helped multiple B2B brands boost leads and cut costs by over 35% — here are key steps: • Learn from past successes • Set up effective blogging strategies • Have an internal strategy meeting first • Optimize online visibility with SEO • Strategic online advertising • Offer valuable free content and expand your email list • Craft compelling landing pages • Unify sales and marketing efforts • Segment customers based on their buying journey • Streamline processes using automation • Maintain customer engagement through emails • Prioritize customer ease at every step • Monitor and adapt weekly for results
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Burkay Gokgoz
VIP Operations Manager
Events are amazing opportunities to bring the sector professionals together. However, not all events or clients are good for each other and there will be hundreds of companies and guests attending to an event. Efficient time management, return value of the invested time and money relies on correct targeting and preparation. Know your needs, your products. Identify the relevant companies that, invite clients that are important as well as potential clients. Organize meetings, your questions in advance. Spare time to walk around to discover new trends and to meet new people to widen your network. Maintain your connection with the new network created by randomly messaging to each other for any possible future business.
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There are many types of events you can use to build B2B relationships, such as webinars, workshops, conferences, trade shows, networking sessions, or roundtables. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on your objectives, budget, and resources. For example, webinars are cost-effective and scalable, but they may not offer the same level of engagement and interaction as face-to-face events. Conferences and trade shows can expose you to a large and diverse audience, but they can also be expensive and competitive. You need to research your options and select the one that best suits your needs and expectations.
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Ricardo Heinze
Senior Marketing Manager & Director | Ex Bayer, Shell , Wal-Mart | Driving Strategic Growth & Brand Excellence
Para forjar relaciones B2B exitosas a través de eventos, es crucial seleccionar el tipo de evento adecuado que alinee con tus objetivos, presupuesto y recursos. Los eventos virtuales como seminarios web son rentables y amplían el alcance, pero pueden carecer de la interactividad de los eventos presenciales. Las conferencias y ferias comerciales, aunque más costosas, ofrecen oportunidades valiosas de networking y exposición directa a una audiencia diversa y comprometida, fortaleciendo las conexiones empresariales en un ambiente más interactivo y personal.
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Stu Lees
Follow me for strategic marketing tips, connect and be invited to expert workshops. I'm on a mission to help you bring beautiful marketing to your world 🌎
I hear so many opinions about certain types of events being 'dead'. Over the past 5 years I've been involved in in-person, webinars, live-streams and pop up events and they've all had successes. I'd encourage all marketers to test a variety of events rather than rely upon 'research' to confirm what your audience will love the most.
One of the most important ways to use events to build B2B relationships is to deliver value to your audience. Value can come in many forms, such as information, education, inspiration, entertainment, or solutions. Whatever you offer, make sure it is relevant, useful, and memorable for your audience. You want to position yourself as a trusted and credible partner, not a pushy and salesy vendor. Use storytelling, data, case studies, or testimonials to showcase your expertise and value proposition. Also, make sure you tailor your content and delivery to your audience's preferences, needs, and pain points.
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Gilbert Schwartmann
Passionate B2B Marketer - Driving Impact, fueled by ❤️
In B2B marketing, adding value almost always means providing the customer with a knowledge advantage. So make sure your expertise is heard at every event. For example, by giving a presentation or having your company's experts participate in a panel discussion. As a rule of thumb, if you don't have an opportunity to share your knowledge at an event, don't go.
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Igor Vepretski
Digital Marketing Specialist at ישראל ביתנו | CMO and Founder of Starton (Non profit org.)
delivering value is paramount when using events for B2B relationship building. Whether it's information, education, inspiration, or solutions, ensure your offering is relevant, useful, and memorable. Positioning yourself as a trusted partner, rather than a pushy vendor, is crucial. Utilize storytelling, data, case studies, or testimonials to showcase expertise and value proposition. Tailoring content and delivery to your audience's preferences, needs, and pain points enhances engagement and solidifies your credibility in the B2B space.
Another key way to use events to build B2B relationships is to connect with your audience on a personal and emotional level. People buy from people, not from companies, so you need to humanize your brand and show your personality. Use humor, empathy, or passion to create rapport and trust with your audience. Ask questions, invite feedback, or encourage participation to create dialogue and engagement. Also, use social media, email, or mobile apps to communicate with your audience before, during, and after the event. You want to create a lasting impression and a positive association with your brand.
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Stu Lees
Follow me for strategic marketing tips, connect and be invited to expert workshops. I'm on a mission to help you bring beautiful marketing to your world 🌎
Drop the slide shows, the graphs and the long and annoying introduction sections of your event and get straight to the value. Tell stories, focus on inspiration, clarity and on not holding back value.
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Igor Vepretski
Digital Marketing Specialist at ישראל ביתנו | CMO and Founder of Starton (Non profit org.)
building B2B relationships through events involves connecting on a personal and emotional level. Humanizing your brand by showcasing personality through humor, empathy, or passion creates rapport and trust. Encourage dialogue and engagement by asking questions, inviting feedback, and actively participating. Leveraging social media, email, or mobile apps for communication throughout the event lifecycle helps create a lasting positive impression. Remember, people connect with people, so establishing a personal connection contributes significantly to fostering meaningful and enduring B2B relationships.
The last but not least way to use events to build B2B relationships is to follow up effectively with your leads and prospects. You don't want to waste the opportunity and the investment you made by letting them go cold or forget about you. You need to have a system and a process for how to follow up with your contacts, depending on their stage in the buyer's journey, their level of interest, and their preferred communication channel. You need to provide value, relevance, and consistency in your follow-up messages, and avoid being too aggressive or too passive. You want to move them along the funnel and closer to a sale.
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Mike Keech JP
Driving Revenue Growth & Brand Awareness | Sponsorship Manager | Expert Strategic Partnerships, JV's & Marketing | Angel Investor
An excellent platform for networking. Encourage your team to engage with attendees, exchange business cards, and establish connections. Follow-up post-event is key.
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Markus Grutzeck
CRM Enthusiast 👉 I help companies to systematically gain new customers themselves I Software provider for CRM and call centers I Networker I Speaker I Event organizer I 💬 More in the information section...
Wir bitten die Speaker die Inhalte in einem Fachartikel bereitzustellen. Das füllt den Blog der Veranstaltungswebsite. Kann als Newsletter in den Monaten nach der Veranstaltung an die Teilnehmer ausgespielt werden. Und wir veröffentlichen das gesammelt als eBook für alle, die zum Veranstaltungszeitpunkt keine Zeit hatten: Beispiel: https://www.erfolgreicher-kundendialog.de/service/ebooks/kostenloses-ebook-erfolgreicher-kundendialog-2023
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Stu Lees
Follow me for strategic marketing tips, connect and be invited to expert workshops. I'm on a mission to help you bring beautiful marketing to your world 🌎
I personally have been running free training workshops on low-cost marketing strategies and my philosophy is to treat each person in the audience as if they paid for my time for an hour at my full rate. I deliver as much value as possible and I never fail to get asked to work with people directly after the event. The most common thing that I see in events is overselling the benefits and under-delivering value so that your audience walk away feeling ripped off.
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Igor Vepretski
Digital Marketing Specialist at ישראל ביתנו | CMO and Founder of Starton (Non profit org.)
creating exclusive post-event content or resources for your B2B audience. This could be in the form of whitepapers, infographics, or even a recap webinar. Offering valuable insights and information post-event reinforces your commitment to providing ongoing value, keeping your brand top of mind, and nurturing the relationships established during the event.
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