Event work splits cleanly into filling the room, running it well enough that people remember it, and converting the list afterwards. Most budgets are spent on the middle one and most value is lost in the third. Knowing which of the three you are buying is the difference between a supplier who fills seats and one who builds a stand.
Filling the room is a campaign, not an invitation
Registrations come from paid media, email to lists you already own, partner audiences and the speakers' own reach, and each has a different lead time. A supplier should give you a registration target, the channels behind it, and the date by which each has to start. Ask what proportion of registrations they expect from your own list, because if the answer is most of them you are paying an agency to email your customers.
Running the room is production, and it is a different supplier
Staging, audiovisual, catering, signage and staffing are a production commission, priced per event and usually subcontracted. Nothing is wrong with a marketing agency managing it, but you should see the subcontractor quotes and know the management fee. Ask who is on site, who holds the run sheet, and what happens if a speaker cancels the morning of.
Follow-up decides the return
The list is the asset and it decays in days. Agree before the event what happens to each registrant category: attended, registered and did not attend, and requested a conversation. Agree who sends what, within how long, and what the sales team receives. An event with no follow-up plan is a cost centre with a photographer.
Measure the pipeline, not the attendance
Attendance is a production metric. The business numbers are qualified conversations started, opportunities created and cost per opportunity against your other channels. Those require the registration data to reach the CRM with its source intact, which is a plumbing job to do before the invitations go out rather than after.
Questions people ask about event marketing services
Should a first event be outsourced?
The production usually should, because the failure modes are expensive and specific. The invitation campaign and the follow-up are usually better kept close, since both depend on your own list and your own sales team.
How far ahead does promotion need to start?
For a half-day industry event, six to eight weeks is typical, with the bulk of registrations arriving in the final fortnight. Longer for anything requiring travel.
What does event marketing cost?
Production is quoted per event and varies by venue and scale. The marketing side is usually a project fee plus media spend, and the media spend is the part to interrogate.
Are webinars the same commission?
The registration and follow-up work is nearly identical. The production is far cheaper and the no-show rate is far higher, which changes the registration target rather than the method.