Love the Event Scene - Sustainability and Professionalism

Love the event scene – discovering new opportunities, seeing the latest technology and building new lasting relationships? 

But tired of going home with more trash than good memories?

It's time to kick wasteful habits to the curb and embrace the groovy world of in-person connecting.  As meeting someone face-to-face comes back into fashion in our post-pandemic world, we can make small changes to our workflows that make a big difference. 

I recently attended HubSpot INBOUND, which was amazing, but also a stark reminder of the impact events have on our planet.  You can read more about the sustainability of events impact here. Even as HubSpot was making a large effort to be sustainable – building a custom app to replace printed maps & agenda, reusing badges, and designing an integrated system for attendees to connect -without exchanging business cards, to name a few – the impact was still staggering. 

It is for this reason that I wanted to write this article.  CAN we do better?  

YES! We can (always) do just a little better.  And I believe, when we look at our business development efforts strategically, with intention we can ensure our travel and event-based efforts do just a little better.  

Many sales & marketing leaders understand the importance of showing up as a professional and are afraid being sustainable may cause them to appear “less-professional”.  (Flashback to my first sales gig in 1997 when I sent my manager my travel receipts taped to the back of an pre-used piece of paper.  She was not a fan, btw.).

Planning Your Event Strategy

Whether hosting or attending an event, advance planning can help ensure your eco-waste isn’t for naught.  Understanding what audience segment is being attracted to the event, and what exactly they are hoping to achieve at the event can help you decide if this is the right event for you. Once you decide that a bit of research to clarify who specifically will be there and planning how you can best connect with them will allow you to get the most out of your carbon-footprint travel budget.

Your CRM or data-insights provider can help you learn about your audience and seamlessly schedule appointments and share data electronically.

Optimize Your Engagement

Once you start connecting with the right people at the event – you might be tempted to grab their business cards  - perhaps you might consider if this is necessary?  Your HubSpot app would let you take a snapshot of the card and automatically capture their info into your contact database.  (This has an added benefit of ensuring it actually does get into your system rather than starting the following Monday morning with a pile of cards your admin has no idea what to do with…)

With HubSpot, you can easily say NO to paper business cards.  Just open the app, scan the card – which goes directly into your contact database, connect the contact to the workflow that’s perfectly designed for their customer segment and hand the card back!  You’ll not only save a tree, but you’ll skip the nightmare once back in the office of trying to remember what you were going to do with this card, or that and what you told that person you would send them.  Honestly, there’s nothing worse than facing that pile of cards on Monday morning after, all while catching up on everything else you missed whilst you were away!

Knowing in advance who you plan to connect with and what they might care most about, would give you a chance to ensure your email response and future workflow is all keyed up and ready to go.  Going to an event on underwater basketweaving?  GREAT! You can get your use case showing the value of spearmint leaves in learning to hold your breath for long periods of time READY to send (with a few customizations) as soon as the next champion underwater basketweaver hits your contact database.

I’m totally kidding about the basketweaving but in having your workflow ready – whether for a healthcare provider campaign, a new finanacial services training course, or anything in between – including basketweaving – you can ensure your new contacts feel heard & seen, and continue the momentum from your meeting.  

Did you also notice – you have just offered a DIGITAL GOODIE rather than another crappy pen?  A win for earth-lovers everywhere!

For the event planners, there are some additional ways your marketing automation platform can help reduce your eco-footprint.

Once you’ve identified your target audience segment, and used data insights to pinpoint the right people to invite into your booth, or private party digital invitations and registration  can help ensure you know who is coming, how much food to plan – keeping waste across the board to a minimum. 

HubSpot allows you to create custom email invitations, registration forms, and landing pages. No more stacks of paper invitations or forms. You can use automated workflows to zero in on just the right target and send personalized email invitations and reminders, increasing attendance rates without harming a single tree.

A Further Word on Digital Goodies

HubSpot's content management system (CMS) is your go-to tool for hosting digital goodies. Upload event materials, presentations, and resources for attendees to access before, during, and after the event.

Use the platform's analytics to see which resources are most popular, helping you tailor future content.

Email Marketing and Social Media Integration

HubSpot provides email marketing tools to keep attendees informed and engaged throughout the event. Send updates, schedules, and links to digital goodies directly to attendees' inboxes.

Integrate your event's social media channels to encourage discussions, share highlights, and promote digital content. Make attendees feel like they're part of an online community.

Data Analytics for Improvement

HubSpot's robust analytics and reporting features allow you to track attendee engagement. Discover what digital goodies were most appreciated and where you can improve.

Use this data to continually enhance the digital resources you offer, providing better value and a more eco-friendly experience for attendees.

Inbound Marketing: A Digital Goodies Strategy

Inbound marketing complements HubSpot and can help you create and deliver the best digital goodies for your event. Here's how it works:

Create Valuable Content

Inbound marketing is all about creating content that your audience finds valuable. Tailor your digital goodies to your attendees' needs and preferences.

Offer ebooks, whitepapers, templates, and other resources that provide insights and solve problems. Make sure attendees leave your event with actionable knowledge and free of paper they plan to leave on the desk at their hotel room.

Segment and Personalize

Leverage HubSpot's segmentation capabilities to personalize your digital goodies. Send specific resources to different attendee groups based on their interests, roles, or engagement levels.

Personalization increases the perceived value of digital goodies, making attendees more likely to engage with them.

Measure and Optimize

HubSpot's analytics will help you understand how attendees interact with your digital goodies. Track downloads, click-through rates, and other engagement metrics.

In the age of HubSpot and inbound marketing, there's no need for stacks of paper handouts at your events. With a well-crafted digital goodies strategy, you can provide attendees with valuable, easily accessible resources while reducing your environmental footprint. Embrace the power of HubSpot, inbound marketing, and the digital age to make your events not only memorable but eco-friendly too. It's a win-win for both your audience and the planet.

Written by: Heather Langendorfer, MBA of Unbound Inbound