Monday, March 2, 2009
Question for Justin
Justin, I know you mentioned that planning an event takes a lot of work, and it's expensive as well. I mentioned this in Sara's blog, but I just wanted to put it out there, (just in case you didn't read it because you say you aren't a fan of blogging) but has River Communications ever think of throwing an event, but reaching out to Sponsors or Donors to help pay for the events expense, or at least partial expenses?
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7 comments:
I like where your head's at -- but the ultimate issue the quality of the event and the audience it draws.
The fees for events are based on the projected attendance as well as the quality of the attendees. As in advertising, the concept is called "cost per impression." So, if I am charged $1,000 to sponsor a conference of 100 people, then my cost per impression is $100. I'm glossing over a bit, but that's the idea.
In M3's case, we have a little known topic for a niche audience that doesn't even know they have problem. Basically we have a cure for disease you don't know you have. Tough to get people there -- that's why a webinar format, which is cheaper and has a long shelf life may be the way for us to go.
An event would be expensive, and the audience is not aware of their 'disease.' But, what if River Communications researched events where this ideal niche would be, and found a way for M3 representatives to attend these events and hopefully plant information about what they have to offer(aka 'the cure')?
We've done some of that and John speaks at about a dozen events each year.
Keep in mind also this is essentially a 4 person company with a 2 man pr/marketing team.
How about hiring interns to arrange an event such as this? That way, you won't have to pay them all but something like that looks great on a resume. I know students, particularly at Marist are always looking for internship experience and arranging an event like this would be great for the students to take part in. It would be a good trade off where both sides benefit. The idea of bringing in public relations majors as interns would not only work with planning an event, such as this, but really anything requiring research and help within the company.
I think connecting Daisy's idea with Amber's could be beneficial. Finding sponsors and donors is a great way to host an event, and interns are a good way to find sponsors. At my internship, a lot of my time is dedicated to comparing our sponsors and donors with similar organizations, and finding any gaps of sponsors that we do not have, and work on contacting them. It is beneficial for both me and the company, as I am gaining experience in my communication and pitching skills with other organizations, and my organization is gaining more sponsors. In the end, the money from the sponsors and donors can be used towards an event to gain awareness about M3.
I support Amber on this one, especially since I brought up this idea in a couple of other comments in other posts. One of the things we've talked about during our AARP case is bringing the idea of using free resources to do research and analyze information - a great way to do this is using college students through internships. Many research and communication tactics could easily be done for free if this idea was considered.
Another thing we could possibly add as part of the research portion of this case has to do with what Emily said. If we observe other companies who have the same target market as M3, then we can improve our own advertising efforts by taking a closer look at the sponsors and doners they are affiliated with. That way, we can create a kind of rough draft list of where our niche market is, how to find them, what other businesses they are commonly associated with, and what we need to do to make them want to be part of our M3 event. I think this would definitely be a good starting point if we were to decide that this event is a positive and plausible approach.
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