Tracking return on investment (ROI) at an experiential marketing event is extremely important. Analyzing analytics is the best way you and your team can determine how much your investment in the event was worth to the company. It may be the only way to convince your boss that the company should continue to invest in experiential marketing events – and increase your department’s budget for such events.

There are many ways to track ROI. Here are a few measurements Factory 360 commonly suggests to our clients.

Event attendance and participation

How many people came to your experiential marketing activation? How many of these people participated in one or more activities? How many product samples did you give away? Did people leave comments about your event or brand, and what did they tell you?

If your experiential marketing activation took place at an organized event, such as a concert or fashion show, finding out how many people attended the overall event is necessary. Even if they didn’t come by your booth, they probably got some impression of your brand when they walked by. Getting a general attendance number can also help you determine whether you want to attend that event in the future.

Sales or sign-ups

How many products or services did you sell? How many people asked for a follow-up call after the event? How many people signed up your newsletter or other publication?

Media coverage

How many traditional or new media outlets covered your event? When and where did they cover it (the nightly news vs. a morning show, the Saturday newspaper vs. the Sunday newspaper, etc.)? Does the coverages warrant some kind of follow-up with the publication/station to see if they’d be interested in a future story?

Influencers reached

Experiential marketing events are a great excuse to reach out to social media influencers, thought leaders and other types of influencers. How many influencers attended your activation due to an invitation? How many did you reach out to at the event using technology such as geofencing? How many participated in your activation or received some type of takeaway? How many shared something about their experience on their blog, social media accounts or another communication channel afterward?

Social media shares/impressions/followers

Social media is a huge part of any successful experiential marketing event because it stretches your reach far beyond the event itself. How many people shared pictures, video or comments about your event and your brand? How many retweets/shares/etc. did those posts get? What social media channels did they use – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine or others?

Factory 360 makes sure to track social media impressions over time. People may continue to share details about your experiential marketing event for days or even weeks after it actually took place.

Coupons or special offers redeemed

How many coupons or fliers with special offers were handed out? How many of them were actually redeemed? Did people who used these coupons buy additional products besides just the ones that were on special? Again, it’s important that this information is tracked over time. Not everyone will redeem your special offer right away.

What will Factory 360 do to make sure we effectively track your brand’s ROI at an event?

First of all, it’s important to determine what measurements you want to track well in advance. When you start putting together your experiential marketing plan, and coming up with your goals and outcomes, Factory 360 will create a plan for tracking ROI.

Next, Factory 360 will create a solid plan for how you’ll capture any event-specific measurements at the event. You can go back later and count the number of people who used your Twitter hashtag, but it’s harder to capture what’s happening at your activation.

Also, Factory 360 will make sure we set a time frame for capturing information. We will track the use of your hashtag in real time. Do you need to count the number of coupons redeemed over one week or two months? We’ll make sure someone is assigned to checking that information for the allotted period.

You might also consider measuring return on engagement (ROE) in addition to ROI at your event. ROE is a relatively new concept that measures how well you’re doing at building relationships with customers instead of how much money you’re making from their purchases. Modern businesses recognize that building brand loyalty and relationships with customers has a huge impact on their bottom lines, even if they don’t see the return right away.

The measurements for ROE overlap with the measurements for ROE. Here are a few common ways to determine your ROE.

Social media engagement

How many people followed your brand after your experiential marketing event instead of just sharing their experience at your activation? How many of those people engage with your brand in some way – sharing content, asking questions, responding to your questions?

Brand ambassadors

How many new or old social media followers are advocating for your products and services? How many have posted positive reviews, either to their followers or on your website? Have any defended your product or service against negative comments?

Post-event engagement

Did you see a spike in website traffic or views of your social media sites? Did more people view videos or other content on your website? How long did they spent engaging with that content – did they glance at it, or did they watch the whole thing? Was there an increase in downloads of games, recipes, white papers or other resources?

Do you need help navigating the fields of experiential marketing analytics, ROI, ROE or anything else having to do with event marketing? Factory 360 is happy to help. We have plenty of success stories we can share. We also have brands willing to advocate for us by giving references. Contact us today to learn how we can help your brand increase both its ROI and ROE at events.