Brand activations at music festivals are a great way for your sponsors to build a genuine connection with your audience. In fact, studies have shown that millennial fans perceive brands as more authentic and trustworthy when they sponsor a music festival, and are more likely to purchase and recommend a product.

Concert promoters are the primary organizers of a show or festival. Promoters often invest in their own shows, increasing their potential income. Because it is the promoter’s job to make sure that every cost for the show is accounted for and that everyone involved — from the venue staff to the music artist — gets paid, the promoter often gets paid last, after all other costs have been paid. The amount of money that is left for the promoter, though, can be substantial. The many concerts people see and enjoy, especially in the summer, are organized, scheduled and advertised by concert promoters. They decide which musical groups will attract the largest crowds, book them and promote the events through ads, press releases, social media and the Internet. Some work for concert halls or parks, while others are self-employed. Either way, these professionals usually earn above-average incomes.

In the third of our series on the theories that underpin our research into live music, Matt Brennan and Emma Webster attempt to define the promoter and how they operate, in an extract from ‘Why Concert Promoters Matter’, originally published in Scottish Music Review in 2011. The authors analyse existing accounts of live music promoters and offer their own analysis of what a promoter is and does, concluding that promoters may use one or more of three basic models of promotion within rock and pop: ‘independent’, ‘artist-affiliated’, and ‘venue’.

Marketing and Sales don’t have a great history of agreeing on things, but alignment between the two teams is critical for event success. Service-level Agreements (SLAs) are an effective way to outline agreed-upon goals and expectations between two teams. Since in-person events require a lot from both Sales and Marketing, it’s necessary to have an event-specific SLA.

Trade shows are great opportunities to track prospective business and for companies to vet their competition. While it costs thousands for exhibitors to bring an entire team to the floor, there’s a reason these costs aren’t keeping marketers at bay: Trade-show marketing as a tactic has shown resilience.

Earth Day fell on April 22 this year. As happens every year, people from around the world agreed on that day to turn off lights, reflect on ways to make our planet cleaner and take steps to reduce waste. As we in this industry know, bringing together thousands of people can create a great deal of waste and emissions. However, we can make conscious decisions every day, at every event, to make sure we are doing all that we can to make our events environmentally friendly.

For both marketing and sales, an event is only as valuable as the people in the room. That’s why a huge conference, where only a small percentage of the attendees fit your target persona, probably isn’t the best investment of time and money. Hosting a targeted field event is a great way for to engage only the right accounts and personas. But how do you want sure you get the right people to show up?

The term “event planning” makes most people think about venues, budgets, invites, RSVPs, etc. But when your event strategy is focused on creating and accelerating pipeline you need to do more than simply plan the logistics of the event. Creating an on-site engagement plan is critical to success in your Revenue Event Marketing strategy.

Data storage company EMC knows a thing or two about producing killer b-to-b events. The brand in May executed its 16^th annual user conference, EMC World, operating under a “modernize” theme and drawing a combined total of 53,000 live and virtual attendees to Las Vegas. Although the b-to-b event is revitalized every year, its festival vibe, use of cutting edge technology and strong storytelling remain a staple of the conference, keeping attendees engaged and coming back for more.

Your marketing events are only as valuable as the follow-up after the event. No matter how well your event goes, the quality of follow-up will determine success from an ROI perspective. Your customers and prospects can tell when your follow-up is automated and impersonal. What was the purpose of the 30-minute, one-on-one conversation with a hot prospect if the only follow-up is a generic and irrelevant email?