How to Grow Your Partnership Business Through Live Events

Words: Jim Nichols, Founder of  Exclamation Marketing 

About a year ago, I did a podcast where I was asked to share the best strategies to grow a partnership business. The host expected a list of digital tools like email automation programs, LinkedIn posts, and other one-to-many offerings combining big reach with relatively low costs. 

I surprised him by saying I always put events first in my strategy. At least half of my business comes directly from attending and sponsoring industry events. Old school? Perhaps. Super effective? Always. I believe in multiple B2B marketing tactics – content marketing, ads delivering value exchange, referral, and polite prospecting. But events are my foundation because I find them the best way to foster trust and alignment.

As Affiverse launches Elevate, its first major live event, they thought offering tips and ideas on making the most of the opportunity would be valuable. ELEVATE is expected to deliver a sizable midmarket-to-enterprise advertiser audience, top publishers, and conference content on both affiliate and lead gen – rapidly converging business sectors. This should be a great conference for advertisers and publishers ready to act. Affiverse is also a top provider of industry education, so besides all the potential connections you can make, there’ll be a lot of discussion about optimizing results and actionability. 

Tickets to ELEVATE are available here.

If you want to grow your partnerships business, here are some event tips that might help…

Make your contact strategy fit the event

Every event has its distinctive character that you must reflect in your attendance and sponsorship strategies to get the best results. I asked the ELEVATE organizers to reveal a little about their upcoming event so I can provide examples of how to use the information to set a winning contact strategy:

• Commitment: It costs money to go to events. I am a huge believer in the rule – if you go to an event, you need to bring back business opportunities. Or you don’t go again. 
• Connections App: This event will have an app to request meetings with others. Use it. Hone your “why” to no more than two sentences and tailor it to the person. Ten personalized requests will outperform 100 canned ones. 
• Speed Dating: Speed Dating is about piquing interest, so the person wants to meet properly later. It’s not about telling your whole story. Don’t just wing it. Practice to get your story down to one to two sentences. Be polite, but don’t waste too much time on small talk. Get to the why they should talk to you more. And listen as much as you speak. And if you know who you will be speaking to before the event, learn a little about them. 
• Exhibitor Table Tops: For gosh sake, staff your table with people who know why they are there. It always amazes me how many booth/stand teams spend the day talking to their coworkers. Make eye contact. If people pause in the aisle to read your sign, give them a sec and then introduce yourself. Also, capitalize on the location of the tables at ELEVATE, as they are in the middle of the event. That means there will be traffic throughout the days. Don’t leave the table empty. 
• Meeting Areas: This event has significant dedicated space where you can sit down for a few minutes to connect. Use these as a meeting place for your scheduled meetings. When you have a place, people are far more likely to show up. 
• Q&A Sessions: Say your name and company before you ask a question. It helps the folks on stage provide a relevant answer and allows people in the audience to know who you are. Do it, and I bet some people will come up to talk after the session.

Set goals

Sponsorship and attendance are significant investments, so set goals for your desired outcomes. For example, I target 8X ROI on the total cost of attendance or sponsorship. Mine is a small company. If I incur $9,000 in cost, I target garnering $72,000 in new business from the show over the next 3-6 months. It’s also critical to have team goals. I’ve had good luck providing small goals to team members–like meeting at least three new people at a reception. It’s a low bar, or should be. 

Be authentic

I am not a fire-breathing seller. And no, “fire breather” isn’t an insult to those who are. I actually love receiving a well-crafted and assertive sales pitch–but aggressive selling is not my style. I ask people questions, listen carefully, and determine if there is a way for me to be of service. I also do lots of helping without compensation – for example, connecting a great job seeker with a good fit company. I just love helping, and it pays off over time. In other cases, I tell my connections how my company can help and let them decide if they want to talk more. If a more direct style is authentic for you, have at it. Just be you. 

I am thrilled to have made–or remade–every connection I gain at a show. Most business doesn’t come immediately, at least for me. But if you can help with a problem, tell them. Have confidence that what you offer is great. 

Push yourself/your team to meet people

While extroverts will find this tip unnecessary, introverts like me need to push themselves. One great tip: When you go to an event, look for someone standing alone and make a beeline for them. They’ll be grateful for the company, and it isn’t so intimidating for you. Some of my best friendships have come from me (or them) connecting in this way. 

Avoid “whale-watching”

Whale watching is my nickname for that prickly glare certain sellers wear as they spend an entire event zipping through aisles scanning people at chest/badge level, looking for big brand representatives to button-hole. It’s creepy. 

Have a bit of class. Tone down the intensity and make more casual connections. It’s fine to look for the right prospects, but do it with less visible hunger. A drooly chin becomes no one. 

My favorite whale-watching story happened to a senior digital leader at a top 5 American CPG/FMCG. She was at a late-night reception and went to the Ladies. While in her stall, a hand came under the wall with a media company business card. A male hand. Yep, he tried harpooning her mid-hover on the pot. Suffice it to say that the guy’s company was banned from its media plans for years.

Remember: Nothing good happens after Midnight

Many may disagree with this, but I stand by it. People in partnerships do their share of partying. That’s OK. But for the sake of your business, retiring at a reasonable hour will enable you to be fresh the next day. Have fun, but remember why you’re at the show. You’ll do much more business the next day than if you stay out until 4 AM and arrive at your morning meeting brain-dead and looking like the dog’s dinner.

There’s still time to join us in London at ELEVATE and you can meet all of these companies and more… book your ticket here!

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