Newsletter • October 2020 Engaging Communities • Project Management • Skills Development We’re still in very challenging times. Fortunately, the members of our ‘community of community leaders’ are a resourceful and innovative bunch. We’ve grabbed hold of a host of digital tools to engage with our communities and keep them talking to one another to solve problems in every industry – in virtual spaces. It has also been an inspiring time. We have some real heroes achieving incredible things. I will never forget the many emails arriving in my inbox in the middle of the night from event organisers working tirelessly to deliver their virtual events. I will also never forget how bravely and smartly some businesses have pivoted to focusing on revenue streams they can rely on while live events are not possible. In this month’s newsletter we highlight some important areas where marketers make a critical contribution – from building hybrid communities, to generating leads for sponsorship sales teams and owning the project management that enables the monetisation of the products and services we build for our communities. Enjoy! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER INSIGHTS Helen Coetzee | 30/09/2020 MPG’s advice and predictions: 2021 – the year of Hybrid Communities 2021 will be another unique year for the world of B2B events, media and professional associations. We warn against taking a product-centric approach at the expense of focusing on the needs of our community. As community leaders we’ve been enabled with an array of tools to serve our communities – from virtual, in person and hybrid events, to digitally delivered business intelligence. We need to use these in the right way to help our communities work together in the fightback against Covid-19. Read more here > MPG’s advice and predictions: 2021 – the year of Hybrid Communities Read More Helen Coetzee | 25/09/2020 10 tips for growing revenue from sponsors and clients MPG’s latest Insights webinar focused on how marketers should play a key part in identifying and drawing in new revenue from sponsors – especially for virtual events. Marketers should be generating and nurturing leads to help your sales people focus their efforts on those most likely to buy. The content package of webinar replay, slides, full Q&A write up and poll results are all available now for anyone to download (for free!) – get yours here > 10 tips for growing revenue from sponsors and clients Read More READ MORE INSIGHTS WEBINAR LATEST WEBINAR: Building B2B Communities: an Industry Trend Accelerated by Covid-19 Our latest webinar explored how leading B2B community builders have aimed to best serve their communities over the past 6 months – and how they hope to continue engaging, monetising and scaling their communities going forward. Webinar guest speakers: Anna Knight VP, Licensing Informa Markets Adam Parry Founder & Director Event Tech Live & Editor, Event Industry News Ashley Friedlein CEO & Founder Guild FIND OUT MORE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPOTLIGHT Whether focused on events, subscriptions or memberships, a high-performance marketing function relies on strong project management. Without effective project management, you miss key campaign opportunities and limit the return on investment from your marketing function. Well-supported, rigorous and disciplined project management can make all the difference to your marketing performance. Enabling marketers as project managers helps them gain the support and input they need from other team members to deliver effective campaigns, hit deadlines and manage workloads effectively. Here are some key elements that contribute to good project management in marketing: Planning – a marketing manager should always work to a solid campaign plan, with key deadlines and tasks visible to all stakeholders. The plan should show the full picture of all channels being deployed, specific timings, key milestones or significant dates – and should always be up to date. Project elements should be broken down into individual project tasks, always with clear deadlines. Communication – a marketer’s strong communication skills should help bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, drive projects forward and hold individuals accountable for essential contributions to marketing success. Keeping track of progress and make it visible – regular reports and briefings for stakeholders are an effective way to ensure everyone understands the priorities and progress in achieving marketing goals, while ensuring all contributors to marketing efforts are aligned. Project management system – when used well, project management tech can be a game-changer! It enables highly efficient and effective marketing planning, delivery and analysis. Clickup, Trello, Smartsheet and Asana are some examples that MPG has seen used well in marketing teams. To find out more about how MPG’s team of expert marketers use strong project management as a key contributor to the success of the outsourced marketing delivered by MPG, get in touch. Join our next Academy masterclass for a deep dive into MPG’s tried and tested methodology to create and optimise a high-performance marketing funnel to attract a strong and steady flow of relevant leads for your sales team. Identify your ideal subscribers: develop personas and map your target market Analyse your value proposition: from the perspective of your ideal subscriber – define your unique selling points and benefits Communicate effectively: develop a powerful messaging strategy and multi-channel, integrated marketing campaign plan Build your marketing and sales funnel: high performance tactics to create awareness, engage prospects and generate good quality leads for sales Measure ROI & improve: track results, analyse and adjust for best outcomes FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER VOICES An MPG community member’s feedback on a recent Academy training course: “I recently attended MPG Academy’s Digital Marketing Intensive course focused on the marketing of B2B virtual events. I found it very valuable – a great way to update the marketing knowledge and skills that are so important right now. I would certainly recommend this course to anyone who is hoping to attract a good audience to their virtual events!” Gurveer Vasir, Marketing Manager, Waterfront Conference Company We have a big year coming up of ongoing, rapid change. Marketing has such an important role to play in the Covid-19 fightback as we continue transforming our organisations and marketing functions – and start growing again. Please get in touch if you would find it helpful to talk through your marketing plans for 2021.
