So, we’ve just about recovered from the Middlewich FAB Festival. It’s taken us a while to get our breath back, because come the Monday morning, after the FAB weekend, we were back onto our other events, including trAction Crewe, SuperheroMC Day for Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity, and the new MMU Cheshire Campus Degree Apprenticeship Open Day. And of course, all of our other client’s campaigns.

As marketers, one of our key jobs is to measure the effectiveness of the marketing that we’ve delivered, and take the learnings from each campaign to re-apply them to our next projects. After more than two decades of working within the marketing industry, it still always gives me a buzz to see what impact our ideas and execution brings, so ultimately our campaigns are never the same.

Once the adrenalin of the weekend had died down, we re-grouped to analyse the effect, and it did not take much insight to know it was an absolutely fab weekend. On the other hand, we wanted to dig deeper to determine key learnings, which will help us when promoting and managing next year’s event.

We’ve monitored and analysed the social media for feedback, shares and mentions, website analytics, ticket sales and PR coverage. And our biggest learning was the fact that there was not enough time, but when is there? It is not rocket science that the sooner you start, the better. Events in particular, where organising and marketing are very time consuming elements which need a great deal of planning, especially to draw sponsorship and get people to recall your event.

One of the factors which is time consuming and should not be underestimated, is determining your target audience, and the marketing channels through which you will reach it. Spreading your marketing budget across a few, (but not too many) channels, widens not only your reach but also your risk. If one channel isn’t performing as you expect, then the others can ensure your campaign still thrives, and this is where continuous monitoring and real-time adjustments are key in delivering an effective campaign and getting the best return on investment for our clients.

A strong concept is also vital. A new creative or brand, won’t appeal to everyone, it’s too subjective. So don’t expect everyone to love it. But if you’ve got it right, you should expect that the majority of people it’s aimed at – your target audience, will engage with it. And that’s what you want, for people to remember at and ultimately act on it.

And this is what makes marketing fab!