This week on the If You Market podcast we speak with Laurel Mintz of Elevate My Brand about the Resurgence of Experiential Marketing. It’s all about offline and out of the office marketing. Yes, events where you see real people in the flesh is back. Don’t call it a comeback, events have always been here.
With a J.D./M.B.A from Rutgers University, Laurel’s background has uniquely prepared her to run a successful agency. Inspired by the innovative consulting work she executed early in her career with prestigious brands like Le Bec Fin, Public House Restaurant Group, Bassett Furniture and Julie Hewett Cosmetics, Laurel knew she wanted to play bigger. Almost a decade later, Laurel has created an agency family serving both startups and blue chip global brands like Verizon Digital Media Group, PAW Patrol and Zendesk. Laurel’s favorite saying is FIOGID. Figure it out, get it done. And that’s exactly what’s brought the agency top talent and accolades since 2009.
Laurel sits on the Board of Directors for NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship), and the UCLA Restaurant Conference, is a mentor for The Women’s Global Leaders Initiative and a partner to Women’s Founders Network, and advises LAVA (Los Angeles Venture Association). Laurel writes a weekly Inc. Magazine column appropriately entitled “On Brand”. Her published work can be found in Entrepreneur, USA Today, The American Marketing Association and C-Suite Quarterly Magazine. Laurel and the agency have recently won the W3 Silver Award for the PAW Patrol Road Patrol Campaign, the 2017 Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award, the LABJ Women in Business Award, Comerica and LA Lakers’ Women’s Business Award, amongst others.
When she’s not wowing clients with amazing creative, you can find Laurel with her husband cuddling their 2 furry kids Miso and Tater (food obsessed much?), or testing out a new recipe in the kitchen with a good glass of wine of course.
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Contact Laurel Mintz
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/laurel-mintz-2204222
Web: www.elevatemybrand.com
Instagram: elevatemybrandla or LaurelJMintz
Blog: www.elevatemybrand.com/blog-and-press
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Transcript:
00:00
thank you for listening to the efi
00:01
market podcast i’m your host sky cassidy
00:03
carlito Helms is here with us yes hello
00:06
everybody hope you’re having a great day
00:08
she is our fantastic co-host and today
00:11
we’ll be talking about the resurgence of
00:13
experiential marketing with Laurel Mintz
00:15
Laurel is the founder of the marketing
00:18
agency elevate my brand her favorite
00:21
saying here is f io g ID which is figure
00:26
it out get it done she sits on the board
00:28
of directors for the network for
00:31
teaching entrepreneurship in the UCLA
00:33
restaurant conference she’s a mentor for
00:36
the women’s global leaders initiative
00:39
partner to women’s founders Network and
00:41
advises Los Angeles venture Association
00:44
Laura also writes a weekly ink magazine
00:46
column titled
00:48
on brand and her published work can be
00:50
found in entrepreneur USA Today the
00:53
American Marketing Association and
00:55
c-suite quarterly magazine Laurel
00:58
excited to have you on today I’m excited
01:00
to be here thanks for having me Laurel I
01:03
just have to ask you a quick question
01:04
when you see your favorite saying is
01:07
figure it out get it done and you have
01:09
an acronym do you shorten that to
01:12
fiocchis we got me today but we might I
01:16
actually like that I’ve never had anyone
01:18
ask me that question
01:19
[Laughter]
01:21
yeah my first thought was you gotta
01:24
throw the it out so just be fo GD cuz I
01:29
couldn’t I was tryin to figure out how
01:31
to read a fi EE oh yeah I’m gonna get
01:33
some letters wrong shorten it to that
01:37
right get it done get the F out of my
01:39
way get the F in the I and the O and
01:42
just get it done very nice so today’s
01:46
topic experiential marketing events both
01:49
online offline field marketing all that
01:51
kind of good stuff
01:51
do you want to jump right into it here
01:53
Laurel tell us kind of an explanation of
01:55
what experiencial marketing is sure
01:59
so experiential marketing in its most
02:01
simplest term is anything that’s
02:02
happening online you know we went so far
02:05
to the lack of digital that now people
02:08
are brands are recognizing that touching
02:11
their customer in real life is critic
02:13
and that’s why we’re seeing this huge
02:16
resurgence both in terms of the actual
02:18
activations as well as in the budgets
02:22
thank God that we’re getting to actually
02:23
do the activations which is awesome
02:25
budgets always important now yeah money
02:27
is good money is good
02:29
so that’s funny we were talking about
02:31
this in in the last episode we’re
02:34
talking a bit about the I’m not sure if
02:37
it’s a don’t know a recent episode about
02:40
creating offline events and how
02:42
important that’s becoming for brands to
02:44
create events that are somehow connected
02:45
to their products it seems like this is
02:47
a bit of an extension of that into the
02:50
actual event itself and I think that’s
02:53
part of where your expertise lies right
02:55
is in is in this event experiencial
02:57
marketing type stuff yeah and it’s
02:58
really everything from intimate
03:00
networking events for c-suite executives
03:03
all the way up to large-scale executions
03:06
for you know global brands that are
03:08
doing national and global field
03:09
marketing so it’s there’s a huge range
03:11
of types of events that fall under that
03:13
category so you might have I did a
03:16
dinner with Oracle the other night and
03:18
it was maybe you know 30 executives
03:21
there and then you could have a whole
03:23
travelling show I guess you see these
03:25
companies that have the tour bus and
03:27
they have all their branding on the side
03:29
and they take it across the countries or
03:31
across the country then maybe you’d have
03:33
the individual large events type thing
03:35
yeah I think there’s kind of a blend
03:37
happening between the title of event
03:40
marketing and experiential I think most
03:43
people on the marketing side would argue
03:45
that experiencial has to be something
03:47
that’s more engaging so something that’s
03:50
encouraging the attendee to take some
03:53
sort of action around the brand or the
03:56
the product but I think it’s all kind of
03:59
blending together at this point in my
04:00
mind great so let’s jump back really
04:04
quick to you and your company and what
04:06
you do there in your history how did you
04:08
end up how did you get into this this
04:10
type of marketing and sorry I’m reaching
04:13
for it elevated my brand company where
04:15
did that all start out actually I
04:17
started out as a corporate M&A; attorney
04:19
I don’t even know if I mentioned that to
04:21
you guys but I was at a big firm in San
04:22
Francisco my dad actually ended up
04:24
getting sick I had to take over his
04:25
business which was
04:27
the basket furniture branch the large
04:29
national chain so I took over his
04:31
interest in the company for about three
04:32
years when he got healthy and stepped
04:34
back in I stepped away went after those
04:36
big law firm jobs and you know when you
04:38
just have like that a negative visceral
04:40
reaction to something where the universe
04:42
is clearly telling you that that’s not
04:44
your path anymore that happened yeah I
04:46
think I’ve seen this movie in mergers
04:47
and acquisitions where eventually it’s
04:49
just yeah that’s what happened I
04:52
realized that I was truly an
04:53
entrepreneur and that something that I
04:55
thought had kind of derailed my partner
04:57
track was actually putting me on the
04:59
path that was supposed to be on and I
05:00
have both the JD and the NBA and the
05:03
MBAs in marketing and so I just kind of
05:05
started schmoozing and connecting with
05:06
people and really that’s all great
05:08
marketing is is understanding people’s
05:10
pain points and how to solve those and
05:12
telling a really important and strong
05:14
narrative and so started onboarding
05:18
clients kind of at random and the woke
05:20
up about a year later and was oh I was
05:22
like oh my gosh if this is something I’m
05:24
gonna do I need to play a bigger game
05:25
and that’s when I did all my
05:27
incorporations and all my own branding
05:29
work and started hiring in that will be
05:31
a decade in February I cannot even
05:33
believe that well that’s fantastic so
05:36
what’s your day-to-day there at the
05:37
company are you running individual
05:39
campaigns or are you just are you
05:41
overseeing everybody what’s uh what do
05:43
you do on a regular basis
05:45
well you know I’m very lucky I have a
05:47
great team that does a lot of the
05:49
execution mostly executions so at this
05:51
point my main focus is really on the
05:54
business development side and continuing
05:55
to build relationships and expanding on
05:57
those relationships with our existing
05:59
and former clients so I’m really lucky I
06:02
get to do a lot of these kinds of
06:04
conversations I do a lot of media I do a
06:07
lot of speaking and I do a lot of a lot
06:10
of the schmoozing booze which is where I
06:12
love to be it’s all about connecting for
06:14
me right branding of your brand kind of
06:16
exactly that’s really what a CEO should
06:19
be and a founder should be doing how
06:21
much of your the work in your agency
06:24
today is spent on experiential marketing
06:27
that’s a good question I think probably
06:30
around thirty percent of our work is
06:33
experiential it’s usually a project on
06:36
its own for a brand or it’s tied in with
06:38
a large
06:39
agency of record contract um but yeah
06:42
I’d say pup maybe 30 to 40 percent like
06:44
I said people are really reaching back
06:46
into experiencial and realizing that if
06:48
they talk to their customers in a real
06:50
life or IRL they can actually get really
06:53
great feedback about how to move their
06:55
own brands forward and they can get
06:57
great videography and photography
07:00
photographic coverage that they can then
07:02
use in a digital capacity so I think
07:04
people are understanding that they can
07:06
evolve past what Justin and that used to
07:08
be yeah you can really use those hard
07:11
events and further marketing and PR
07:13
collateral I think that it’s actually
07:14
brilliant right so you’re you’re getting
07:17
all this content from the event itself
07:19
not just the the actual event
07:21
interaction but then you have all this
07:23
content you’re creating at the event
07:25
imagery all that kind of stuff to
07:26
continue to spread around social media
07:28
and whatnot exactly and if you sell it
07:31
like that or you pitch it like that to
07:32
the brand’s this kind of antiquated
07:35
perspective of that an event was kind of
07:37
a waste of money because it was just a
07:38
one in done situation can be can be
07:42
dealt with or can be you know the the
07:44
pushback can be contrasted with the idea
07:46
that we can make this content live
07:49
almost evergreen on social or through
07:51
email blasts or you know even as imagery
07:55
on the website so there’s a much wider
07:58
longevity to the kind of content you can
08:01
get at these events that’s interesting I
08:03
I started a company in the early 2000s
08:06
and and then later failed at it but it
08:09
was very experience real marketing and
08:10
this just clicked in my mind oh I
08:12
have I guess I have experience in this I
08:14
don’t think I knew the word at the time
08:15
but I used to do photography and I
08:18
started a company where we would do
08:19
event photography and then for the
08:21
sponsors of the events we we go around
08:23
shoot the event shoot the people and
08:24
then post all the images online branded
08:27
for the for the sponsors and we found
08:31
that they really liked that I just
08:33
couldn’t figure out how to make it work
08:34
myself it was pre Facebook pre a lot of
08:36
social media so that wasn’t there wasn’t
08:38
a lot of venues to push it out there but
08:41
I you know I see what you’re saying is
08:43
with this kind of experiential marketing
08:45
you you can you can take that and brand
08:47
it and have it continue to live on kind
08:49
of in a in a way that I
08:52
we should have gone with that company
08:53
and and then you you keep getting value
08:56
for it throughout time kind of now do
08:59
you mostly do b2b and b2c which one do
09:02
you do more of when you’re doing an
09:04
experiential marketing it’s pretty it’s
09:07
a pretty blended mix really a lot of our
09:10
events for clients like Zendesk and
09:14
sprinkler and even Verizon digital media
09:16
which are on the large staff tech side
09:19
those are really focused on both
09:22
internal so we did for example the big
09:24
sales kickoff for Verizon Digital
09:27
because they wanted to inspire their
09:29
team and it was this really great
09:30
campaign that we have skated executed
09:31
for them but then we’re also doing
09:33
National Field Marketing for those kinds
09:35
of brands where they’re talking directly
09:36
to their c-suite level customers and
09:38
using it as a as a you know
09:41
touch point to close business so it’s um
09:45
I would say for the tech brands
09:47
I would say it’s mostly b2b and then for
09:51
the consumer packaged goods CPG brands
09:53
you know our skincare lines our plush
09:56
toys categories running like that that’s
09:58
more end consumer focus and that’s all
10:01
thing infinitely more measurable in
10:02
terms of of metrics in terms of success
10:06
in KPIs yeah
10:08
definitely has those metrics um you know
10:12
the sky when you had your foray into it
10:14
was it mostly beauty
10:15
uh yes I would say it was I can’t think
10:18
of a single b2b company that we were
10:21
working with but I was very amateur at
10:23
the little time it was it was quite a
10:24
while ago and you know really it didn’t
10:27
work out because I didn’t know what I
10:28
was doing and I didn’t go after and how
10:30
to monitor what is me is that my failure
10:34
as an example on the b2b because you
10:39
said you know b2c is way more trackable
10:42
and measurable and that’s really has
10:44
been the case in many of the podcasts
10:46
that we’ve done how do you figure out
10:48
the metrics or how you’re going to
10:51
measure the ROI of your event for a b2b
10:54
company or a b2b event it’s a great
10:57
question and I would say one of the
11:00
first things we do is we sit down with
11:01
the client and we talk about what is
11:02
what does success look like for them
11:04
like what are those Q performance
11:06
metrics that they’re actually looking at
11:08
and what is the baseline that we’re
11:10
starting from I think a lot of brands
11:11
and we’ve totally done this ourselves
11:13
when we were more of a nascent agency
11:15
was that we get really excited about
11:16
executing and you forget to create those
11:18
baselines so that no one really knows if
11:20
something was successful they’re like oh
11:22
is a great visual campaign we got some
11:24
great content but what was the end
11:25
result right so one of the first things
11:27
in terms of defining those metrics is
11:29
literally just having that conversation
11:31
you know what has been done historically
11:32
in this space what has worked what
11:34
hasn’t
11:35
what has the conversion bin for example
11:37
on a Zendesk event if you invited 50
11:40
people to a private private event
11:42
how many of those historically turned
11:44
into customers so that we can then try
11:46
and over what time right because
11:47
timeline longevity of client of the
11:49
sales cycle is also really important to
11:51
understand so you have to cry out face
11:53
line and move forward from there so
11:55
whether it’s it’s got to be attendees
11:57
conversion within a six to twelve month
11:59
period the scale and size of the piece
12:02
of business that close I mean there’s a
12:04
number of different types of metrics and
12:06
then of course if we’re taking content
12:08
from those events and playing with those
12:09
online that’s really a lot more
12:11
trackable as well so engagement on
12:12
social channels open rates on
12:14
newsletters hits to web things like that
12:17
right I get it I suppose just looking at
12:19
my experience with the Oracle event I
12:22
went to just recently I got a call from
12:23
them today saying hey we’d like to set
12:25
up a call with you guys to talk about
12:27
our cloud service and I said great and
12:30
we scheduled a call for next week and so
12:33
I guess when you’re having the b2b
12:34
events you’re probably you know you’re
12:35
collecting the information on the people
12:37
there it isn’t so much a street fair
12:39
probably where people are just wondering
12:41
but you have to have some sort of
12:43
call-to-action there that collects their
12:44
info so you can then follow up and
12:46
that’s I suppose how you attract would
12:48
be through your CRM and kind of the fact
12:50
that you mark it as a lead from that
12:52
event kind of a thing yeah and they need
12:54
to be tracking that on their end right
12:55
like new calls that come in leads and
12:58
conversions they have to be tracking on
13:01
the client side it’s one of the hardest
13:02
conversations and b2b because they don’t
13:04
want to be held as accountable as you
13:06
want to hold them accountable but then
13:07
they want to hold you as accountable as
13:08
humanly possible so it’s got to be you
13:11
know a cohesive conversation where
13:13
everyone’s on the same path are you
13:15
talking about like an inbound call from
13:18
and maybe the person was adding a
13:20
and the the person on the company side
13:23
asking hey where’d you hear about us
13:24
from type of exactly and it sounds so
13:26
simple but I mean we have clients that
13:28
are in the private equity side service
13:31
like on big accounting firms and
13:33
agencies and it’s just shocking to me
13:36
how few of them actually asked that
13:38
question and it’s the easiest question
13:39
that can prove you know are put in
13:42
basically yeah it sounds simple but try
13:45
asking your inbound people to do it and
13:47
see how often it happens yeah it’s
13:51
simple to put in the in the playbook but
13:53
difficult to get them to carry out yeah
13:55
they always seem to forget that one yeah
13:57
so a starting-off question just a basic
14:01
experiential marketing question is there
14:04
a particular type of company looking at
14:06
b2b here that that should be using
14:09
experiencial marketing or shouldn’t be
14:11
using experience your marketing like
14:12
when when should people be looking at
14:13
their company and saying oh this is
14:15
something we need to be doing well
14:17
obviously as an agency I feel all brands
14:19
have value in creating events but it
14:23
depends on again what those end results
14:25
are that you’re looking for so if you
14:27
are you know a large soft tech company
14:30
and you’re looking to convert large
14:32
brands to the platform I’m referencing
14:34
again the same brands I just mentioned
14:36
then touching those customers and making
14:38
them feel really important because you
14:39
know that your competitors are doing
14:40
that is really really critical
14:43
starting out brands I would say it’s
14:46
important to do experiential events so
14:49
that you can get feedback on your on
14:50
your products and services from your
14:52
clients and you can have a real
14:53
conversation so I think events can be
14:56
really helpful in terms of conversion
14:58
for business and for revenue but it’s
15:01
also important in early stages so that
15:03
you can get real-time feedback so that
15:05
you can iterate on your product or
15:07
service and make sure that you’re
15:08
developing it the way that your end
15:10
consumer wants to consume it so I don’t
15:13
think there’s any perfect stage of
15:15
business obviously you have to have
15:16
enough budget to play with to do that
15:19
but you can do small events that are
15:21
cocktails scale for a couple thousand
15:23
dollars and still get really great
15:24
content and really great feedback so I
15:27
really believe and I walk this talk
15:29
myself we do events for our agency that
15:32
events of
15:33
any scalar size have value as long as
15:35
you create you create a platform that
15:39
allows you to learn constantly right so
15:42
you’re not just getting the sales like a
15:44
real-time focus group exactly constant
15:47
market research gathering exactly one of
15:50
the things I jotted down while you were
15:51
talking was a high product value maybe
15:53
not high but it occurs to me if you’re
15:56
going to pay for an event you have to be
15:59
able to get an ROI you know whether it’s
16:01
from information whatever it is if your
16:03
product is you know a five dollar widget
16:05
it it might not be something you know
16:07
certain types of events might be very
16:09
difficult to experience your marketing
16:10
to to make profitable for you or make
16:12
sensible kind of yeah I mean it’s it’s
16:15
really dependent on the the vertical
16:17
that you’re in the product that you’re
16:18
creating the service you’re offering
16:20
there are so many different factors that
16:24
go into that conversation so I think
16:27
before you spend a lot of money it’s
16:28
important to have a conversation with an
16:30
agency just to see where you fall in the
16:33
lifecycle to determine whether it that’s
16:35
a good use of budget at that time yeah
16:37
and then I think if you look back at
16:39
episode 27 here of the if you market
16:41
podcast it this is that the deaths the
16:45
episode that really connects I think
16:47
with this subject matter it’s difficult
16:49
to market products we talked a lot in
16:52
that episode about when your product
16:53
itself isn’t very exciting or it’s
16:55
difficult to market for one reason or
16:56
another having this sort of a thing
16:58
having some sort of experience you’ll
17:00
marketing that way the marketing team
17:01
can market the event rather than
17:03
marketing you know your toilet paper or
17:05
whatever the boring product is yeah and
17:07
then people having more and more fun
17:08
with boring products than ever before I
17:10
think people understand they have to
17:11
break through the noise both in a
17:13
digital and an offline capacity so you
17:15
can make toilet paper fine you can make
17:16
anything fun toilet paper is perfect you
17:18
just have to rent a space that has trees
17:20
and you can TP them and that’s everybody
17:22
loves doing that I have a question for
17:32
Laura what is two questions what is the
17:35
most outrageous exponential marketing
17:38
campaign that you’ve done to date and
17:40
also what would you say is the one of
17:43
the most considered maybe boring or
17:46
that outrageous but got really good
17:49
results great question so the first I
17:52
think was for the paw patrol brand I
17:54
don’t know if you guys have kids but the
17:56
paw patrol brand is a Nickelodeon brand
17:58
it’s pretty prolific in the parental
18:00
universe and we were hired by very
18:03
familiar with it yeah I could sing the
18:05
song but yeah most people that have kids
18:08
know the brand so they hired us to do a
18:11
national tour for them across four
18:14
months and 22 cities US and Canada and
18:17
what we did for that campaign was we
18:20
gutted an 18-wheeler and we did this
18:22
crazy build out where parents and kids
18:24
could interact with their favorite
18:25
characters come to life they could play
18:28
the game within the context of that
18:29
18-wheeler there was face painting and
18:32
there was a non-profit partnership with
18:33
real-life animals and it went around and
18:36
toured all these different Stadium
18:38
locations and local fairs and we got
18:42
incredible results from it but the build
18:44
out on that was like a million dollars
18:46
just for the truck it was insane so it
18:49
was a very successful campaign but that
18:51
was large-scale and large in terms of
18:54
the execution it was a four-month 22
18:56
city campaign so that was a big big deal
18:59
and they were extremely happy there
19:00
their main KPI on that was conversion to
19:03
their database because they hadn’t had
19:05
any significant uptick in that in some
19:07
time and we increase their database by
19:09
32 percent in a four month time period
19:11
which was insane so very proud of that
19:13
campaign you know that is to Ching you
19:17
know in increasing your database is goal
19:20
it’s a goldmine yeah I say it exactly
19:22
that way all the time
19:23
yeah I suppose on a program that big
19:26
they’d also be seeing probably a bump in
19:28
viewership a bump in product sales all
19:32
kinds of measurable metrics it’s not
19:34
such a small event that it you know they
19:36
can’t see hey we had a we had a jump
19:38
here and we can probably attribute it to
19:39
yeah I mean the metrics on social were
19:41
huge we had a big budget for for media
19:45
buys as well so there was a ton
19:46
happening in the pion the PR side all of
19:48
which contributed to the success of that
19:50
campaign for sure and then the offline
19:52
content I’m sure they got from it oh
19:54
yeah it’s still on a lot of their sites
19:56
currently and then they answer the other
19:59
question I keep him back to the Zendesk
20:01
brand which is customer service software
20:02
which is really pretty boring when you
20:04
think about it and they asked us to do a
20:06
c-suite level networking event we
20:09
brought in a company that was a client
20:10
of ours at the time called late night
20:11
art and they do these crazy cool
20:13
immersive art experiences where they
20:15
create these beautiful Kings tables with
20:17
all these art supplies and they have
20:18
these call-outs that encourages everyone
20:21
in the room to connect through art
20:22
really unique I’m definitely not doing
20:25
it justice describing it this way but it
20:28
was an incredible connectivity event
20:30
people were there they showed up they
20:32
had no idea it was a whisper campaign it
20:34
was kind of like come unleash your inner
20:36
child and we got some of the biggest
20:39
CMOS or product officers in that room
20:42
and at the end of this experience they
20:45
were ripping the pages off of the table
20:47
and taking them home and framing them
20:48
and they were so excited about the
20:50
experience because everyone says I know
20:52
I say I can’t draw a straight line to
20:54
save my life but to connect through art
20:56
and to allow you to revert back to that
20:58
childlike Wonder was pretty incredible
21:00
it was a really boring product no
21:02
offense
21:03
typically could have been a really
21:05
boring schmooze and booze but we ended
21:07
up really making something pretty
21:08
fantastic from it and on top of that
21:10
when you talk about the you know the
21:12
content afterward it’s not just content
21:14
that that the company that Zendesk can
21:17
put online but all of these people took
21:20
that artwork home and every time they
21:21
see it now they’re gonna think about the
21:23
sponsor and possibly every time they see
21:25
bad artwork they’re gonna think about
21:26
the sponsor we engaged we were engaged
21:32
in another five event contract after
21:34
that one because of the success that’s
21:35
great that is great thank you
21:38
I liked those could you give some
21:39
general tips for people looking to do
21:41
experiential marketing maybe whether
21:43
it’s a type of events to get your feet
21:45
wet in this in this type of marketing or
21:47
if they’re already doing it some some
21:49
do’s and don’ts that kind of stuff I
21:50
think you know it’s got to come back to
21:53
planning so make sure you’ve got enough
21:54
time to execute whether it’s a large or
21:56
a small event back into at least a six
21:58
to maybe twelve month timeline depending
22:00
on the size and scale of the event I
22:01
can’t tell you how many times clients
22:03
come to us and they’re like you want to
22:05
do an event in two months for 500 people
22:07
and
22:09
I’m telling how to say no to them you
22:11
know they just don’t get that that’s not
22:14
going to be successful for them now we
22:16
call that too little too late in the PR
22:18
world yeah exactly so FIO gid not with
22:26
that so yeah I think timing is number
22:28
one budget is obviously number two so
22:30
that you can understand what is actually
22:33
able to be done within that budget
22:35
because people always have bigger more
22:37
lofty dreams than their budgets will
22:39
allow oftentimes so just being realistic
22:41
about what a $10,000 budget will do
22:43
versus a hundred thousand dollar budget
22:45
versus a million dollar budget and
22:47
working backwards into those numbers if
22:49
you don’t have a budget in mind for an
22:50
event you’re not ready to have a
22:52
conversation about an event yet that’s
22:53
and I say that across the board for
22:55
digital and experiential so I would say
22:57
those are the two main tips timing and
23:00
budget know your budget first that’s
23:03
great because then like you said you you
23:04
have to be able to help them on what
23:06
they can build out I can’t tell you how
23:07
many clients come to us and they’re like
23:09
well how much is this gonna cost and I
23:10
don’t know I’m not gonna have that
23:12
conversation you tell me what you’re
23:13
willing to spend and then I’ll tell you
23:15
what you can have in that space and
23:17
they’re like oh okay
23:18
well I love to get back to you and then
23:20
crickets and I never get back to you
23:21
it’s like do you ever ask them if they
23:23
just have a blank check oh what’s it
23:25
gonna cost I don’t know 20 million
23:27
dollars definitely joke and I also give
23:30
them a range and like well does does
23:32
fifty thousand to 70 80 thousand scare
23:34
you does a hundred thousand to two
23:36
hundred thousand scare you if you give
23:37
them a range you can kind of picture it
23:39
you can see their face when they respond
23:40
to something and when you hit that that
23:42
soft spot you can kind of understand
23:44
where they’re gonna fall how often do
23:46
you have people saying what’s your
23:47
minimum less now than we used to because
23:51
we’ve been doing that for so long but um
23:53
you know I’m really transparent about
23:55
our numbers I don’t shy away from the
23:57
budget conversation I think it’s a
23:59
failure for a lot of agencies as they
24:01
get shy about the money but you got to
24:03
have the money to play the right way so
24:04
you better be able to have that
24:06
conversation without you know being
24:08
being fearful of it yeah that’s really
24:10
qualifying your prospect right exactly
24:13
right and then my follow-up question
24:14
when people ask the minimum how quickly
24:17
do they he’ll hear a dial tone
24:18
I’m very kind I always respond
24:21
nicely and then if they balk at the
24:25
price and I say you know what I’m happy
24:26
to answer any questions I’m always here
24:28
to help both emerging brands and
24:31
established companies really understand
24:33
how marketing can work for them and a
24:35
lot of times those brands will circle
24:37
back right yeah well I would think if
24:41
you have an emerging brand and they’re
24:42
going to do some events they’re really
24:45
going to be particular on the ROI from
24:47
it so they can expand and increase that
24:49
budget for events we think that in
24:52
today’s day and age what you’re saying
24:54
you know so many people are offline
24:56
they’re realizing the need to I mean so
24:58
many people are online they’re you know
25:00
realizing the need to connect I would
25:03
imagine that that’s really important for
25:06
them to really lay out what they need to
25:09
get out from it and what I mean all the
25:13
time and actually on our website if you
25:14
score all the way the bottom there are
25:15
two options one is like a nine steps to
25:18
marketing so that if people aren’t ready
25:20
they can at least understand those
25:21
pieces and on the left side is ready to
25:24
get started and it asks all the specific
25:26
questions that they need to answer
25:27
before they’re ready to jump in so I
25:29
would say that’s usually where we send
25:31
them elevate my brand calm so that they
25:32
can understand if they’re ready
25:34
excellent now I know you have a heart
25:35
out and you have to go in just a minute
25:37
here Laurel I have one last question for
25:38
you rise by one last question
25:42
let’s say somebody does have that they
25:43
want to get their feet wet they want to
25:45
do something minimum what would you
25:47
suggest and what kind of budget you
25:49
think they’d be looking at to to do
25:51
something just anything in experiential
25:53
marketing even if it’s hey you can do
25:55
this for free using time and energy just
25:57
to get yourself you know you know
25:59
working in that area yeah I would say
26:01
sponsorships probably the right first
26:03
step so that they can at least test the
26:05
market or the space before they spend
26:08
any major dollars so for example if
26:10
you’re trying to if you decide you’re
26:11
gonna do experiencial and do a booth at
26:13
a big trade show go walk the show first
26:15
spend the money on the ticket and make
26:16
sure that’s the right audience because
26:18
otherwise you’re gonna be spending a lot
26:19
of money and maybe not getting the kind
26:21
of return that you want so anything that
26:23
you’re thinking about doing go and watch
26:25
someone else do it first because then at
26:27
least you’ll have the right questions to
26:29
ask and you’ll have a little bit of
26:30
knowledge that you can base your
26:31
decision on all right so before you buy
26:34
a booth at Dreamforce
26:35
you know tend to send a team or at least
26:38
one person to go walk it and see what
26:39
it’s about and generate ideas other
26:42
people that have the same exact booth
26:44
set up that you were gonna do and it
26:46
would be a total waste of your money you
26:48
might be you know just noise right right
26:50
okay excellent well I think I think we
26:53
got to wind it down now Laura we want to
26:55
thank you for for coming on I’ve got a
26:57
handful of things here that I’m gonna do
26:59
shoutouts for you on everybody check out
27:01
elevate my brand calm
27:03
that’s Laurel Vincent’s company you can
27:05
look her up on LinkedIn anything else
27:08
that you want to put out for people
27:10
contact information wise no I think the
27:12
web sites the best elevate my brand la
27:14
I’m Instagram we do a lot of fun stuff I
27:16
have an awesome team and I just want to
27:18
say thank you and shout them out as well
27:20
before we shut things down thank you
27:21
guys so much it’s so nice
