To Resonate with the Client, Understand their Needs

One of the events I have worked with for many years has an executive audience. Most attendees have both an MBA and a PhD in a scientific field. They are a very serious group of attendees, almost exclusively focused on staying ahead of their competitors. Yet at this event they all become hyper-focused on obtaining a USB pen.

The event consists of presentations with the latest market analysis necessary for this industry vertical and cutting edge product developments. These presentations are loaded on a USB pen and distributed at the show. Due to the nature of the content there are often last minute changes and the pens are rarely available until mid-afternoon on the day of the event. The executive attendees know what is coming and become more excitable than kids at a birthday party.

During the event I am in the reception area and field many of the attendee questions. I always remind attendees that the content will also be uploaded to the attendee portal as soon as it is available, but everyone wants the pen. Many will talk about how many pens they have from previous years. One year, an executive pretended he had to leave early, begged me to put together an advance copy, only to return and point out to a friendly rival that he got his pen first.

The next year, I decided to incorporate the pen into our email marketing for attendee registration. When I first proposed the idea the event team was skeptical. I promised that if it didn’t resonate I wouldn’t use the content again. The resulting email was part of a larger attendee campaign. It had the subject line: It’s not about the pen. The body of the email acknowledged that CEOs are not obsessed with pens, rather it’s the content on the USB portion driving the desire. In other words, we have the best content and knowledgeable executives are lining up to get it.

That email was the best performing for opens, clicks, and conversions across a campaign with 20 other emails. Additionally, it reinforced our relationship with the major sponsor of the event who’s logo is on the pictured pen. It became a topic of discussion at the event as attendees mentioned the email and discussed how important the event content was to them. Because I was able to definitively demonstrate the success of the concept, we refined and re-used the email the next year with consistent results.

In the end, it wasn’t about the pen. It was about understanding the audience and their needs.