In this edition of the #EventHacker series, HourlyNerd's Todd Stewart discusses exhibiting at the PGA Tournament, hosting private cocktail hours, and his team's distinctive event attire. For more event hacks from top marketers, check out all of our posts in this series with the tag #EventHacker.
Todd Stewart: Marketing Manager, HourlyNerd
#EventHacker: Todd Stewart
Title: Marketing Manager, HourlyNerd
Best event ever attended: INBOUND & FutureM
Bio: Todd Stewart is the Marketing Manager of HourlyNerd, an online consulting service that connects startups with MBA-graduate industry experts (or “Nerds”). Todd helps manage HourlyNerd’s events that contribute to HourlyNerd’s demand generation and brand expansion.
Todd's Event Hacks:
1.Think beyond industry conferences.
For mid-market B2B companies, sponsoring and exhibiting industry conferences is the go-to event strategy for demand generation and brand promotion efforts. Todd follows this strategy and credits HourlyNerd’s event success to it. However, Todd has also looked beyond the sponsorship norm and has pursued innovative sponsorship opportunities. One of these innovative sponsorship strategies is to exhibit at high-level sporting competitions to attract attendees in creative ways.
This year, HourlyNerd exhibited at the PGA Tournament, knowing the event would attract a large audience of the high-level business professionals. Because the attendees weren’t necessarily there to learn more about HourlyNerd -- or any software business solution at all for that matter -- Todd’s team decided to take a hands-off marketing approach. HourlyNerd distributed huge quantities of boldly-branded sports-centric collateral and giveaways that would provide value to the PGA fans in attendance, including bright neon orange HourlyNerd sunglasses. Soon, they had a strong majority of the PGA audience wearing the sunglasses and promoting their brand throughout the tournament. For a new and unique company like HourlyNerd, this tactic helped them get established and reach a large audience of relevant business professionals.
2. Maximize sponsorships with your own mini-events.
HourlyNerd regularly sponsors sporting events and conferences as part of their marketing strategy. While the events themselves are a great way to get in front of prospects, they’ve also found that hosting their own mini-events around the conference’s schedule to be an effective way to get longer one-on-one time with key prospects and customers.
Private dinners and cocktail receptions have been an effective way for HourlyNerd to ensure that their sales reps are making the right connections to seed and accelerate pipeline opportunities at the conferences their team sponsors. HourlyNerd is able to capitalize on the main reason why their prospects are gathered in one central location and make every sponsorship work harder for them by incorporating their own mini-events around the big show.
3. You have to give to get - the “norm of reciprocity.”
A common tactic that many marketers take at events they sponsor is to raffle off a prize in exchange for the attendee’s contact information. HourlyNerd found this approach to be off putting -- especially at some of the sporting events they sponsored where this kind of practice is not as common. For example, Todd's team found that attendees responded better to their ask for contact information if they first gave attendees free sunglasses and then mentioned the opportunity to enter into a raffle in exchange for their contact information. Giving something to the attendees first lowered the barrier of asking them for their contact info in return.
4. Let your nerd flag fly!
Company branding doesn’t stop with booth graphics and giveaways -- it needs to be a part of the team’s attire as well. At every sponsored event, HourlyNerd employees wear brightly colored t-shirts that say “Get Nerdy” underneath a business suit. This helps differentiate them from attendees and is an extension of their brand.
One other way they help their brand stand out is by securing speaking opportunities at every conference they sponsor (and yes they wear their “Get Nerdy” shirts on stage!). Speaking opportunities are an excellent way for HourlyNerd to reach a broader audience outside of their booth while showcasing the ways they can help businesses get smarter.
In conclusion, Todd suggests you employ these four Event Hacks:
- Creative Sponsorships: Think about your target market- what do they like? Where do they go? Use that information to explore creative and successful sponsorship opportunities.
- Mini-Events At Your Sponsored Conferences: Maximize your presence at your sponsored conferences by hosting intimate dinners or cocktail receptions around the schedule of the event in order to have longer, more meaningful conversations with key prospects and customers.
- Norm of Reciprocity: Gather attendees’ contact information more easily at conferences by offering them something first. You have to give to get!
- Look the Part: Visually brand your booth and your representatives’ attire in order to easily bridge the connection for attendees of your team and your brand.
Check out more event hacks from innovative marketers here: #EventHacker Series.
