Paul Bunce Conference Aston Aston University Birmingham Marketing Academic Venues

 Two year round venues  30 Meeting Rooms  163 Hotel bedrooms 3-4 star standard  Summer Campus Conferences  50 + Meeting Rooms  800 bedrooms

Business Breakdown Who are our customers?  Internal University Business 3%  External Corporate Business97% Key Industry Sectors  Government National  Education  Health and Pharmaceutical  Government Local  Construction Ownership  Public Sector40%  Private Sector52%  Associations8%  Repeat Business25%  Agency Business30%  New Direct Business45%

Conference Aston revenue streams What do our target markets use us for?  Other Revenue Streams  Weddings and Functions  Bar, Restaurant and Hospitality Services Conferences and Meetings 49% Hotel Services 17% Summer Schools 23% Other 11%

Marketing Initiatives  Marketing Budget % of Turnover  Marketing budget focused on meetings and events, and summer schools

Marketing Initiatives… top three Memberships and Affiliations 1:60 ROI Website and online 1:39-1:25 ROI Exhibitions and Forum Events 1:30 ROI

Memberships, you get out, what you put in…  Additional marketing opportunities available  Access to databases  Make your budget go further  Access a national and international market  Lift restrictions of being an independent venue  Combine with other marketing activities to increase effectiveness  Cross-Industry options

Online marketing, not just the websites…  Google reigns as leading search engine  Third party partnerships – Generate traffic  Google adwords – Great for specifics, costly for generic!  Increase in tablet and smart phone devices  Google analytics growth January 2012  How do people view your website?  A website isn’t just for buyers

Exhibitions and Forums  Exhibitions over all major markets  Set specific targets!  Show objective ROI  Enquiry levels per day/show  Follow up and conversion targets  Consistently highest ROI for single activity  Team ‘Buy-in’ is essential  People buy People

Additional Marketing Initiatives A few to consider…  Conference Booking Agencies  Hotel Marketing – No ‘Direct’ spend  Third Party Commission Based Websites  Laterooms, Booking.com, Expedia  Let them do the hard work  Social Media  Low to no cost  Brand impact – Who are you?  Extension of CRM  Use it properly, no hard sell!

Make sure it’s targeted Where are our customers coming from?  Residential Conferences  National  London/Manchester/Bristol  Day Meetings and Weddings  Local – City  Local – Region  Hotel Business  National  International  Internally  Academic and Support Departments

Who books what and when? When are our customers making decisions?  Lead time analysis  By event type  By event size  Day Meetings: 2 days -12 weeks  Residential Meetings: 6 months+  Campus and Summer: 12 months+  Weddings and Functions  Key exhibitions – Timing  March/September/October  Hotels book every day  Very competitive

Key messages and finding the USPs Why are our customers choosing us?  Constant research into our customers’ decision making process  Direct bookers vs Agencies… location vs price  Customers use different venues for different reasons Budget and Value for Money Size and Quality of Meeting Facilities Location and Accessibility

Generation Marketing Activity Sales Team Event Management Feedback Conversion Delivery Customer needs It’s all about customer needs and they never stop changing, use your team to keep on top…

Thank you!