Over the years we have produced many roundtable events for clients such as Citi, ConstantContact and Kronos, just to name a few. Every time, our clients’ goals were exceeded.
If you’ve yet to include roundtables as part of your marketing plans, here is a bit of background. Typically, roundtable events are small (8-36 people), relatively inexpensive and fairly straightforward to produce – yet they deliver significant marketing and sales benefits to our clients. The format of a roundtable event is flexible and can be easily adjusted to your target audience and objective. The key element of a roundtable event is that it brings your customers and prospects together to discuss one or more important issues relevant to them in a moderated format.
If you are already convinced and want to learn the best practices in running a roundtable event, check out our blog post on how to run a result-guaranteed roundtable event.
If you want more food for thought, here are five ways your company can benefit from a roundtable event:
1. Hear what your customers are thinking and saying
Roundtables are an inclusive environment where attendees are encouraged to speak candidly. This will give you rare insights into the needs of your customers and prospects.
2. Position your firm as a connector and community builder
By hosting a roundtable, you’re providing your customers and prospects with a forum to connect with like-minded people, share ideas and information. A roundtable was a highly effective tactic we executed as part of one our client’s ‘credibility campaign’ during the fiscal crisis several years ago due to the format’s ability to position the company as a community builder.
3. A great opportunity to sell
Roundtable events are a terrific opportunity to sell, but not how you might think. A roundtable is NOT as sales event but we’ve found that they are very effective in generating sales meetings. Sales people are able to bond with customers and prospects in a “non-sales” setting where customer’s opportunities and challenges are presented front and center. This contact provides a great opportunity for your sales team to touch base with the attendees following the event. The roundtable discussion also generates questions by the participants that the sales team can provide solutions to.
A word of warning: Not approaching this the right way can be detrimental, read more about how to sell at a roundtable event.
4. Create effective content assets
The benefits of a roundtable don’t end after your attendees have left. Discussions by roundtable attendees generate content that can be used for marketing purposes well beyond the event. We suggest starting with an article about the key outcomes and repurposing it for multiple platforms. Here are some more tips to leverage roundtable content.
5. Position your company as a thought leader
Even though most of the content comes from the attendees, a roundtable event demonstrates your leadership and commitment to generating new ideas and sharing best practice. You will also be seen as a valuable source of information.
OK, so now you think a round table is right for your company. Here’s ‘The art to running a result-guaranteed roundtable‘.
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