By Patrick Schober, Founder & Creative Director, Poetica Marketing
A writer at heart and a strategist by trade, I’m passionate about creating compelling written and visual content for SEO performance and social media. I started Poetica Marketing in 2018, and I’ve since helped companies and professionals all over the world enhance their online presence while increasing sales!
Live events offer powerful lead-generating strategies for marketers. The events specialists at Poetica Marketing share 5 ways marketers can use events in their marketing tool kit.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret:
I never thought I’d run an events company.
But here we are. It’s 2025, and Poetica Marketing proudly offers a variety of marketing and events services.
We started offering events services on the down-low back in 2021, thanks entirely to client requests. But it’s since become one of the best things we’ve ever done.
It’s our superpower.
Here’s what most marketing professionals don’t realize: Live events are it. They’re exactly what we dream about when we envision the perfect campaign: A captive audience totally invested in the sponsoring brand.
But don’t take my obviously biased word for it. Here’s what industry experts and insiders say:
- 68% of B2B marketers say live events generate the most leads. (Source: Marketing Charts)
- The average event ROI is 25%-34% (though we’ll show you how to get it higher later in this blog)—and some even see a 3X return. (Source: Marketing Charts)
- 80% of event organizers say in-person conferences, summits, and conventions are critical to their success. (Source: Bizzaboo)
That all sounds great—on paper, anyway.
The problem, of course, is that planning and coordinating live events is trickier than most people realize.
That’s why I’m here. Over the next few weeks, we’ll give you a peek behind the production curtain to better understand exactly what makes live events so impactful (and how you can be as strategic as possible to start squeezing every drop of value out of them).
Why Live Events Are So Valuable to Marketers: 5 Reasons
In marketing, knowledge is power. And live events are filled with endless data points and opportunities. Here’s what you should know—and why you should consider weaving live events planning into your overall marketing strategy:
1. Live Events Give You Access to A Totally Captive Audience
As an agency, webinars are one of our favorite lead generation tactics (more on that in a moment). But the reason for that is simple: We have a totally captive audience while we’re flexing our expertise.
That makes demonstrating value incredibly easy, and we’re not competing against one of the many other highly capable agencies or marketing professionals in Pittsburgh.
Steal our techniques: Host events for direct access to your most valuable ICPs.
2. Live Events Are An Opportunity to Connect With Your Target Audience
As marketers, we’re really good at working with theory. We build out personas and ICPs, and we spend time getting to know our brand and our customers.
But if you don’t also hold a role in sales or work in an agency, you rarely get to work one-on-one with customers.
Live events buck that trend by giving you direct access to your target audience. Use this as an opportunity to conduct surveys, get feedback on products, and interact with your ICP on a personal level.
3. Live Events Create Leads
When live events are conducted properly, they become a rich source of new leads and contact information. A few things to watch out for:
- Pre-registration forms capture valuable contact details
- Sign-in sheets collect emails and phone numbers
- Business card drawings collection business information
- Geotargeting to identify mobile devices for future ad campaigns
And those are just some of the most common strategies for capturing lead information. There are plenty of other ways to generate a list of high-value leads for future campaigns.
4. Live Events Are An Opportunity to Create New, Meaningful Content
Every live event is an opportunity to push your brand, goals, and larger mission. With that in mind, you can turn a single event into:
- A PR campaign
- Short videos for social media
- Short documentaries for larger campaigns
- Photography for your website and social media
- User-generated content, especially with a branded event hashtag
- And more
This is your opportunity to flex some of that marketing creative muscle and really create something that resonates.
5. Your Events Can Generate Extra Revenue (In More Ways Than You Might Expect)
We’ve already explained how live events can generate new leads.
But your next event can actually be a source of revenue (which is especially important when you’re thinking about things like nonprofit fundraisers).
A few ways to turn your events into profit centers:
- Ticket sales
- Sponsorship packages
- Vendor booths and tables
We’ve seen it work wonders. Last summer, we threw a summer festival for a local veterinary clinic with a budget of $5,000. We brought in just over $5,000 through sponsorships and vendor tables.
And when you consider the leads they generated on top of it, the long-term value of the single event will likely max out at $10,000+ (if not more)!
Download our events eBook to learn more about low-cost, high-ROI events.
Marketers: You’re Already A Live Events Ninja
Marketers are experts in users and branding.
Even if you’ve never planned something as small as a birthday party, you already have what it takes to be a great event planner.
With your expertise in the audience and brand, you’re ready to throw events that resonate with your guests while emphasizing the key selling points of the company.
That’s a powerful one-two punch.
Ready to Add Live Events to Your Marketing Toolkit?
If you’d like to learn more, contact Poetica Marketing. We’d love to chat more about how event strategies can transform your business and campaigns.
Oh, you can also connect with us directly. Follow me on LinkedIn, or reach out to Regina Schober, our Events Specialist.
