#8 The 7 Most Profitable Facebook Custom Audiences for Events

Are you looking to develop or land more sponsorship deals for your event?

In this episode, event sponsorship expert Troy Schooley from P3R joins us and answers the most frequently asked sponsorship questions from event directors.

Learn how to find sponsors in the current market, what to say to them to land a deal, what they typically expect and how to price your sponsorship for success.

Listen to full show and View shownotes here: https://eventgrow.co/sponsorship1

Are you wondering how to effectively market an event on facebook? Maybe you're curious as to which groups of people on Facebook you should target to get the best return on your advertising spend?

IN THIS EPISODE, we break down the 7 Facebook custom audiences that we’ve found to consistently deliver the best return on ad spend for an event.

We let you know why these audiences are profitable and how you can create them within your Facebook ad platform. 

Tanner Bell is the co-founder and President of Ragnar, the world’s premier series of overnight running relay races.  Tanner Bell has grown his series to host over 140, 000 runners who participate annually in 18 road relay races and 19 trail relay races worldwide.

Listen to the full episode here:https://www.eventgrow.com/show/ep7tannerbell/

Biggest Takeaways:

Staying true to your brand tenants (know your brand)

• Over-deliver at your events. Surprise and delight
• Intimately understand your customer and constantly create feedback loops
• Be transparent and communicate often

Listen to the full episode here:https://www.eventgrow.com/show/ep7tannerbell/

J.T. Service leads a growing assortment of endurance sports focused companies, including Soul Focus Sports, Represent Running Series and Silverback Pacific. J.T. and his team specialize in event production for numerous clients like the San Francisco Giants, HOKA ONE ONE shoes, Cumulus Media, JP Morgan Chase, the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, and the Hola Run.

Biggest Takeaways

• Creativity lies in the interdisciplinary of domains. Combining elements of one experience with another is what can help your event stand out amongst a crowded market.
• Invest in a social media manager so you can tell your brand story in a way that is unique and authentic
• Know when to shut down a failing experience or event and shift your energy to the next opportunity.

Listen to the full interview here: http://bit.ly/2uaMimv

John Connors is the VP of event development for Bigsley Event House. Bigsley created The Color Run in 2011, which has hosted events for more than 5 million people in over 20 countries.  Bigsley Event House has introduced a number of other events such as Soul Pose Yoga, the Dam Train Race, and Pumpkin Nights.

Biggest Takeaways

1. Focus on the value that your event delivers and allow the customer to give you constant feedback to improve the value delivered.
2. Constantly challenge your team to think about how relevant you are to your consumer. Be Relentlessly Relevant!
3. Continuously question whether or not you really know your customer and what they want.

Carly Graham is the VP of marketing and oversees sponsorship for the Night Nation Run, the world’s first running music festival. In 2017 Night Nation did over 30 North American Events and was also in Australia and South Africa. Carly sits down to talk about her marketing schedule, creating great content and what she thinks event marketers should do to get results. Full Interview Here: http://bit.ly/2G08Kkl

Biggest Event Marketing Takeaways

1. Every city and event must be approached differently, as the market factors and the local audience determine how you market.
2. Content is king. It’s the reason Carly has been able to grow the night nation run to over 30 events. Get as many relevant images and videos that you can so that you have options during the year when marketing.
3. You understand your brand better than anyone, but you need to surround yourself with other smart marketers that can help you build your skills grow your event. Don't just do it alone.

Resources & Tools Mentioned

Night Nation Run

RunSignup

Facebook Business Manager

Jon Loomer

Ryan Deiss

Traffic and Conversion Summit

Content and Commerce Summit

Social Media Marketing World

In this episode, I catch up with Matt West from DMSE sports. Matt is the senior vice president of operations at DMSE Sports and handles everything from staffing and operations to vendor and government relations.  Matt has a decorated career in the events world, serving in positions such as the finish line manager for the Boston Marathon and the Antarctic marathon.

Listen to hear Matt's tips for new race organizers and where he see's the running industry going in this year. Full Interview here: http://bit.ly/2FWH0x6

Biggest Takeaways

1. Make time to attend and see other events that are considered innovators and leaders. If you cannot attend, follow them on Instagram or Facebook and see what they’re doing from afar - as you can learn a lot from their approach.
2. Events are becoming more and more experiential in nature so we as event directors and marketers need to think about how we are providing an exceptional experience at every step of the customer journey.
3. Focus on relationship building within the event industry. Always introduce yourself and build your network as these connections turn into valuable relationships that fuel growth.  

Resources & Tools Mentioned

DMSE sports: a full-service rave and event-management organization

Running USA

New Balance Falmouth Road Race

The DMSE Classic

The Pittsburgh Marathon

BibRave: Race review site

Basecamp: Project management platform

New York Roadrunners: NYC Community Running Organization

Soul Focus, LLC: a sports management group specializing in event management

312 running crew: A running crew based in Chicago, IL

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Want to nominate someone for the show? Send us a message at marketing@eventgrow.com

Ryan is the marketing manager with Conqur Endurance Group, organizers of world-class endurance experiences like the Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon. Ryan talks about his approach to event marketing and shares what it takes to create unique, world-class experiences for runners.

Resources & Tools Mentioned

• Conqur Endurance Group - a global endurance brand that channels the vibrancy of Los Angeles into experiences for individuals and communities to exceed extraordinary limits.
• Sales Force and Marketing Cloud – Email marketing tools
• imAthlete – Online Race Registration
• Canva – Easy to use design templates
• Adobe Spark – Mobile graphics design app
• Social Media Marketing World – Ryan’s conference of choice for 2018
• Google Analytics - Analyze website and marketing data

Biggest Takeaways

• Always leverage the data you have to make the best marketing decisions. Use a CRM to help you understand more about your customers
• Always think about how you can differentiate and stand out from your competition. Leverage technology to get an edge
• Get outside of your world and attend other events to get inspiration for yours

Time Stamped Show Notes

• [01:35] – Ryan previously organized public relations for the Los Angeles Angels and also handled the advertising for the Los Angeles Clippers.
• [02:10] – What does it take to create unique, world-class experiences for Athletes?
• [03:08] – The Biggest challenge to marketing events in southern California is competition.
• [04:25] – Athletes have high standards as customers and it is important to keep up with those expectations.
• [04:56] – Effective marketing campaigns and some of Ryan’s most successful techniques
• [05:43] – Using innovation to stand out from the crowd. Ryan embraced Snapchat Geofilters in coordination with the release of the new technology to maximize his event’s exposure.
• [07:36] – What are Snapchat Geofilters and how they can be used to engage your audience.
• [10:07] – Worst marketing campaign and what he learned. Ryan shares his experience trying and failing to engage athletes on social media with a hashtag contest.
• [12:27] – The challenges for messaging to diverse marathon participants
• [12:59] – Ryan’s tip to new event managers: Trust the data!
• [14:15] – The not-so-obvious data that makes your event successful: what t-shirt sizes can tell you about your event participants.
• [15:00] – Ryan’s suggestions for marketing platforms that work: Email, Facebook, and training apps.
• [15:45] – Using tools like Sales Forces and Marketing Cloud to get the most out of Email.
• [15:23] – The opportunities that Facebook can open
• [17:20] – Training apps can be used to “Hyper-target” your clientele.
• [18:32] – Using Facebook ads in combination with Facebook Messenger
• [20:15] – Ryan’s picks for the leading and innovative companies to watch
• The NFL – At the forefront of Social Media and marketing technology
• Music Festivals – Taking the experience to a new level with fantastic marketing campaigns.
• [21:38] – How Conqur Endurance partnered with a creative app designer to create an original experience
• [22:24] – Ryan is looking forward to attending Social Media Marketing World and Coachella for inspiration.
• [23:17] – What are Ryan’s go-to marketing tools?
• Data tools: Google Analytics, imAthlete
• Creative tools: Canva, Photoshop, Adobe Spark
• [24:50] – The events that Ryan is looking forward to in 2018
• [26:34] – Tap into WHY your athletes are racing!
• [27:34] – Ryan shares his contact information

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