Üritusturundus: teoreetilisi käsitlusi ja Eesti kogemusi
Date
2005
Authors
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Abstract
Description
The following work is based on the opinion that events are means of communication
of an organization. Events in the marketing mix of an organization are treated as an
integrated part of the marketing communication. In addition to the organized events
an extra category of events sponsored by organizations has been pointed out.
A consumer behavior approach and a communication theoretical approach are pointed
out as theoretical bases. On the assumption of these it is possible to affirm that the
main advantages of events are personal contacts with a target group and enhancing
relations with customers through pleasant and memorable emotions. In addition
events give the opportunity to put into practice two-way communication and to get
useful feedback about more effective operating for the organization. Unfortunately
many organizations do not exploit the possibilities of event marketing completely.
In my work I studied how Estonian patricians understand event marketing from the
point of view of both customers and managers. According to the interviews it is
possible to affirm that the market of the event marketing of Estonia is in the stage of
stabilization. There are agencies which offer professional service besides self-
employed persons and green men. In general it is possible to affirm that the agencies
offering the service are changing more professional and with their arising experience
the knowledge and exactingness of the customer is growing. A customer is expecting
the maximum result for his money. In order to guarantee customers` security and to
establish quality standards Estonians Event Marketing Union was founded in the
beginning of this year. The long term cooperation between the customer and the
offerer that is more effective and helps the both sides to develop the field.
Nevertheless there is a terminological disarrangement around the event marketing.
Different concepts are often used as synonyms and there is a lack of widely
recognized definitions. Each practician organizes the events of the suitable size for his
organization and target group. As one of the purposes of this work has been to create
systematical review about the event marketing and to give an initial burst to develop
the terminology there is definition about event marketing offered by the author of this work: „ Event marketing is the transmitting of the marketing messages based on the
values of the organization to the outer and inner target groups by organizing events to
enhance emotional contact with the organization or to create two-way
communication“.
I also concentrated on how well purposed and in which cases the events are used in
Estonia and how correctly the results of the events are measured. According to the
interviews it is possible to affirm that the practicians are in different opinions about
the purposing of the events. Some think that only only 1/3 of the events in Estonia is
capable to purpose them. The others affirm that the customers have become more
aware being able to purpose important standpoints from the point of view of the
organization and expecting to get maximum results for their money from the agencies.
The author of this work tends to support this opinion but it is important to point out
that the Estonian organizations lack the sub-purposes which makes it more
complicated to evaluate the results.
To be more effective different events are tried to integrate to the marketing and
communication strategy of the organization. This way the specific event supports the
messages sent to the target group and the final result is more positive for the
organization. It happens only in condition that the organization owns before
mentioned strategies.
The accordance between the purpose, the target group and the format of the event is
very important. There are well-known and really new formats in use. The event
marketing in Estonia is mostly used to keep and improve the relationship with the
present customer because there are cheaper possibilities to get new customers. This
opinion has been supported by the theoretical part of the work.
It is sure not rational to approach the event marketing without any sense of criticism.
In addition to the positive aspects there are some negative sides. It can be pointed out
that it is very complicated to evaluate the events and some are unsuitable for the
purposes of some organizations. Besides the organization should first analyze if
personal contact with the target group is needed. The fact should be considered that as a part of an integrated marketing communication there will appear a certain limit of
organizing events.
Some theoretics affirm about the complication of the evaluation that it is complicated
only in case if the purposes are not realistic or precise. According to the interviews I
can say that from the point of view of the evaluation the offerers payed more attention
to the feedback from the customer leaving aside the evaluation of the real purposes.
The customers usually use a combined evaluation about the results of the event, in
that case measured indicators are considered, for example selling results and the
numbers of appearing in media and also emotional feedback. Some agencies are using
official surveys. This way the agency gets a more exact evaluation about the different
aspects of its work. The customer also thinks more deeply about how the different
parts of the event were organized and what could be done better next time. As a
conclusion form the preceding it can be affirmed that the practicians of Estonia do not
use enough different evaluation methods of the event market and so very often the
effectiveness of the event marketing is under question.
Despite of all the professional use of the event marketing and this way the evaluation
and the analyze of it proves to be an effective marketing activity. The event gives the
organization the possibility to approach the target group in a different way and gives
good results separately or integrated to the other parts and elements of the marketing
plans.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd