What does an event marketing manager do?

Event marketing responsibilities across the year

Event marketing responsibilities run in a cycle: pick the events, prepare them, run them on the day and follow up afterwards. Most of the calendar is set well in advance, because sponsorship slots, venues and speaking places book up early.

The mix varies by company. A business selling to large accounts may favour small dinners and roundtables for a dozen senior buyers, while one with many smaller customers leans on trade shows, partner events and webinars.

• Build the event calendar and budget with marketing and sales leaders.
• Book stands, venues, speakers and suppliers, and manage the logistics.
• Invite target accounts and existing customers before the event.
• Brief the people staffing the stand on who to look for and what to ask.
• Collect contacts and notes, then hand them to sales with a follow-up plan.

How an event marketing manager differs from a field marketing manager

An event marketing manager owns the events programme, while a field marketing manager owns marketing for a region or a set of accounts and uses events as one of several tools. Field marketers sit closer to a sales team, planning local dinners, account campaigns and partner activity around that team's targets.

In smaller companies one person often holds both titles. In larger ones, the event marketing manager runs the flagship conference and major shows, and field marketers borrow the playbook for smaller local gatherings.

How attendee and booth contacts reach sales

Attendee and booth contacts reach sales through a handover the event marketing manager designs before the event, not after it. Staff note each conversation as they go, scans are cleaned and matched to existing accounts, and every contact is tiered, for example by whether they asked for a meeting, showed interest or only collected a giveaway.

Sellers then follow up on the hottest tier first, with a message that refers to the actual conversation. A generic thank-you sent to every scan wastes the one advantage an event gives: the buyer has already met you.

Treat consent with care. Under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR, contacting business attendees often relies on legitimate interest, which is assessed and recorded before anyone is contacted, and every message offers an easy opt-out. In the UK, PECR adds rules for marketing email, so it matters what attendees agreed to when they shared their details. This is general information, not legal advice.

Who an event marketing manager reports to

An event marketing manager usually reports to a head of demand generation, a marketing director or the chief marketing officer. They work closely with sales leaders, who decide who staffs the stand, and with finance, because a sponsorship, a stand and the travel to staff it can add up to a large share of the year's spend.

What it means if you sell to an event marketing manager

If you sell to an event marketing manager, time your approach to their calendar. Suppliers of stands, venues, badge scanning, event platforms and gifts are chosen months ahead, and the busiest weeks before a show are the worst time to reach them.

Their main worry is proving that events produce pipeline, so show how your product helps collect better contact data or speeds the follow-up. Buying groups are usually small: the event manager, their marketing leader and sometimes procurement for larger contracts.