Event management concepts and practices

¶ … Marketing and Publicity for Events

The key to successful event delivery, marketing and publicity lies in the ability of an event manager to strategically manage an event from a public relations perspective. Many event managers tend to focus on tactical management skills with regard to event planning, however the key to successful marketing and publicity lies more in strategic planning. This is increasingly important as the future of marketing and publicity changes in the face of technological advances that allow marketing and publicity to reach a greater number of people than in the past.

Publicity and marketing has now become a force that impacts the global market. Thus a strategic outlook is necessary. Event planners and publicity agents working in any country must look at not just the tactical aspects of marketing but also focus on strategic ones.

Strategic event marketing and publicity allows a manager the greatest possible flexibility when planning an event, to accommodate for budgetary restrictions, the target audience and deadlines. Strategic event management and its effects on event marketing and publicity are described in greater detail below. The trend in Australia and other countries is to utilize technology and current trends to strategically manage publicity campaigns so that they impact the greatest number of people and reach out to target audiences locally and globally.

Successful event planning, marketing, publicity and management rests on the ability of the planning manager to market and promote using technological advances and a strategic planning approach (Harrison, 1997:16). Public relations is a critical aspect of event planning and marketing (Austin & Pinkelton, 2000:3).

For an event to go off without a hitch public relations specialists work on sophisticated planning and problem solving tactics each and every day. Generally public relations event managers need to think strategically rather than tactically so that they are armed to handle spur of the moment affairs. In addition a strategic approach to event planning will allow an event manager to gauge the target audience's opinions, attitudes and needs regarding a specific event (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:3). Generally without marketing and publicity a successful event will not happen, because the target audience will not be well informed of the event and understand why it is important for them to attend an event.

Core Elements of Marketing and Planning Events

Six primary activities or core tasks may be associated with the event marketing and publicity process. The core activities the event manager will have to consider are as follows: (1) conceptualization, (2) monitoring, (3) planning, (4) organization and coordination, (5) administration and (6) evaluation (Austin & Pinkelton, 2000:14). The success of an event or marketing campaign lies in the ability of an event planner and public relations specialists to effectively engage in each of these central core tasks during the marketing process.

Conceptualization is the first step of the event marketing and publicity process, where the event manager must work on defining the problem or identifying the tasks that need to be accomplished in order to get an event up and running and publicized to the target audience. During this phase ideas for the event may be brainstormed by chief executives and other influential members of the team. Methods for marketing the event to the general public or specific audience will be discussed at this phase of the event planning process.

During the next phase or monitoring phase the strategically thinking event planner will focus on the particular opportunities a particular event will bring and will work on anticipating and evaluating any unique challenges that might arise from planning a specific event. The opportunities an event will provide the public will be well defined and utilized in a successful marketing and publicity campaign. The monitoring phase might involve surveying the public or target audience in order to determine which key aspects of an event consumers are most interested in participating in. The key for publicists and marketing representatives with regard to monitoring is assessing what the target audience generally perceives to be a need the event might be able to fulfill for them (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:16).

The next step is the part of the event management process that is most often associated with event planning, namely planning itself. The planning and programming stage is where all of the finite details of an event are managed. This is also the stage where the plan for marketing and publicizing an event is developed. This is where the public relations representative will work with members hosting the event, vendors and other individuals participating in the event to develop a schedule for publicizing particulars of event activities and 'goings on' to assure the target audience is informed of the benefits a particular event will bring. The goal of the planning stage is to assure that measurable and well defined goals are set and achieved. The goals should end up fulfilling the needs of the target audience the event in question is intended for.

Organization and coordination is another critical element of the event marketing and promotions process. During this stage public relations representatives and event planning committee members will take action to facilitate the event publicizing and marketing programs to the target audience (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:14). The organization phase involves implementation of effective strategies geared toward accomplishing program and event goals specifically with regard to budget and deadlines (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:14).

Administration is a key aspect of event marketing management that might be overlooked. Administration involves communicating between various event planners and participants and taking action again to assure that program goals are met and deadlines are kept with specific attention paid to releasing marketing and publications information about a particular event. Administration is another aspect of organization and coordination; the two work hand in hand and one cannot succeed without the other.

Evaluation is another critical step in the final process of event marketing management that many management specialists are tempted to (but should not) overlook. Evaluation requires that the event manager evaluate the marketing and publicity program developed specifically for a particular event and demonstrate accountability for the success of affairs occurring during the course of the event as well as credibility (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:14). During this portion of the event planning process a strategically oriented event marketing manager will decide on the best course of action to take, whether any changes to advertising or the publicity campaign need to be made and on future programming guidelines for possible events occurring in the future.

Besides acting from a strategic perspective, event marketing managers and publicity representatives must work from a scientific approach to assure that credibility is maintained and mobility within management is achieved (Broom & Dozier, 1990:32; Grozier & Donig 1995). This approach allows a cause and effect system to develop with regard to event management where managers will determine what actions need to take place to facilitate the desired outcome. This includes close analysis of the marketing and publicity campaign designed to promote a specific event.

The emphasis with this approach is generally goals oriented which allows event managers to view the bottom line and determine ahead of time what needs to be accomplished, so efforts can be focused toward event planning as a whole rather than on specific tactical elements of the event planning process. Planning and researching an event are important stages in this approach to event marketing management. Planning should entail what publicity efforts have worked in the past to promote similar events and what changes might be made based on the target audiences make up or changing needs.

One time of effects-oriented event marketing, publicizing and planning process commonly used by event managers to achieve goal oriented event planning is referred to as management by objectives (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:12). This is a more common event marketing management technique utilized by modern corporations where in essence event planning resembles the steps one would take to write "an easy to follow recipe" (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:12).

This type of event management approach requires that the event manager make strategic decisions about what they want to accomplish, how many people they want to serve during the process, who they expect to attend and when they will attend (Austin & Pinkleton, 2000:12). Generally this requires flexibility, and the terms under which an event is planned may be altered at times depending on access to information and the budget an event manager is working under. Flexibility and control are key aspects of this approach.

Current and Future Trends in Marketing and Publicity

Current and recent trends in marketing and publicity with regard to event management have revolved around incorporation of technology as a vital element of a strategic marketing program (Harrison, 1997:16).

Future developments in Australia also involve exploration of the use of technology as a means of publicizing events (Hillary, 1997:23). In addition to the utilization of technology, as mentioned previous more and more publicity and public relations specialists are viewing marketing from a strategic rather than tactical perspective, analyzing the 'big picture' with regard to marketing and determining how campaigns will affect the target audiences the events are structured and designed for.

Generally the number and range of events in all countries including those in Australia are growing, and events are increasingly viewed as entertainment and big business (Hillary, 1997:2). Events of the future are more and more seen as a way to compete for the public's leisure time among other things, and a way for event sponsors and organizers to reach target markets through enjoyable activities (Hillary, 1997:3).

Generally current and future trends center on preparation that includes a 'feasibility' check which assesses among other things (1) whether the event is a good idea, (2) whether the event managers and marketing agents have the right marketing skills available to do the job, (3) whether the marketing and publicity is targeted in the right communities, (4) whether adequate knowledge of the community is available and (5) how media support and funds will be acquired (Hillary, 1997:4).

Current trends also include sufficient planning for time, including a creation of a timetable of actions that will need to be taken before, during and after an event (Hillary, 1997:4). Among the things a marketing a publicist will examine with regard to this is other events that will be occurring around the same time as the event as well as potential advertising conflicts.