Demand in the MICE market: sustainability events beats luxury

Dear Reader,

Welcome to issue 10 of #SupplierPost(s) ?? - the biweekly newsletter with information and thoughts for MICE marketing and sales in a changed market. Yours Peter

Since the beginning of the Corona Crisis in 2019, the MICE world has changed. The industry is facing fundamental and serious changes and challenges. Pandemic, war, inflation, price increases and uncertainty within Europe are making companies and associations rethink their future event planning. "Back to the roots" is the current maxim in event planning. Events are reduced to the bare essentials, "bling bling" and luxury are hardly an option for companies and associations any more. Destinations with questionable understanding of international law and human rights are increasingly questioned. An industry that has operated for years according to the maxim "higher, faster, further" and on which numerous suppliers have set themselves up is rethinking. And companies that do not follow suit are threatened with a loss of image. The number of real events will also be reduced more and more in the future and replaced by online alternatives. In many cases, these are no longer a substitute solution, but the better alternative and also more sustainable.

Because the topic of sustainability plays an important role today as never before. Anyone who ignores the topic as a brand and a company puts themselves on the sidelines. It is also for reasons of sustainability that real events are becoming online events.

Agencies already deal extensively with the planning and implementation of hybrid and online events in their daily business. Real events are becoming fewer, they are becoming more regional and if international, then more targeted. They are becoming smaller in type and scope and are focussing on what events are all about: personal communication and networking. The focus is on personal encounters and exchange. And suppliers have to react to all this. They have to cater to these wishes and create and communicate corresponding offers.

This is recognized in many places, however the usual industry media channels and opportunities are nowhere near the level they were before 2019! The pandemic has hit, and the traditional MICE media have almost all switched from print to online. However, it often fails because the online target group communities are mostly lacking for this. It is completely different to send a magazine to a postal address than to build and maintain a target group community online.

We at MICEboard have had extensive experience with this for 10 years, while most other MICE media have only had 2 years of experience. Simply communicating online is pointless if you don't have access to communities for which this content makes sense. With MICEboard, we have been building a community for German-speaking event planners who regularly organise events abroad since 2012. This is concrete, precise target group profiling and unique in its form and accuracy. Accordingly, MICEboard offers not only online (and with MICEboard trade events also offline) communication channels, but also access to a large community of event planners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland who regularly organise events abroad.

MICE Suppliers focus on sales formats from 2018 and the years before - but do buyers still want that in 2022 ?! ??

Most MICE suppliers stick to their sales activities exactly as they left off before the pandemic. They book their stand at the usual industry trade fairs, attend a selection of sales events, organise the occasional fam-trip or workshop event and - preferably - make sales calls. In 2022, we have to ask ourselves: is this really still successful in times when the online lead has long since come before any personal lead?

"Why should I go to a MICE trade fair, there's LinkedIn and I can find all the exhibitors there who are also at the trade fair. I only research online for my event planning and if I am interested, I can also make a contact online, make a video call, view an online presentation and then check whether the supplier (destination or hotel) is actually suitable for my event. But I don't travel to a trade fair or to one of those sales events where I have to run from table to table and from appointment to appointment because the organizer has forced this on me. If I want to place a lucrative enquiry, the supplier is also happy to come to my office", said an event planner in a recent conversation.?MICE suppliers should be aware of these signals! But do they? Some do and many unfortunately don't.?

What can a MICE supplier do better to serve the buyers' wishes?

Sustainability has long been a reality in many destinations and with many suppliers, such as hotels. There are plenty of offers and solutions, but the way they are communicated is not up to date. If event planners can no longer be reached with the usual trade fair and sales event formats, but also via the old MICE media channels, it is advisable to react to this. But wisely and not with aimless online postings and countless newsletters and mailings. It makes little sense to increase the volume in push marketing. It makes more sense to shift into pull marketing gear.

Let's imagine the following: all suppliers in the MICE industry do not send newsletters and mailings to their - more or less good - databases. In other words, an active discontinuation of the usual PUSH marketing of the MICE suppliers. What would happen if this flow of information were to be cut off from the demanders - i.e. the buyers??

The event planners would have no choice but to do more intensive research themselves. Inevitably, they would obtain all the information they need for their event planning themselves, as long as it is available online. This would also increase the traffic on the suppliers' websites and in the online communities in which suppliers and their target customers are active. This in turn would have a positive effect on the supplier page ranking in the search engines. This would generate many more and qualitatively much better online leads, which today are always the basis for generating any business at all, because if you are not perceived online, you will not do any business offline either. In summary, this would be better for the suppliers in all respects, because they would actually generate interested enquiries.

This is nothing new, because when we book our next holiday, we do it exactly the same way. We search in Booking and Co., make a preselection, switch to Tripadvisor - because there you can see the real photos of the holidaymakers - and then continue to search for blog reports, Instagram stories and watch YouTube videos to make a final selection of what comes into question. But only those holiday resorts and hotels are even considered that have understood how to skilfully operate these numerous online channels. For performance tourism, a whole industry of YouTubers, bloggers, Instagramers and influencers has emerged, who today significantly contribute to and influence where we go on holiday. ??It is not the mailing or a face-to-face appointment of a destination or a hotel that we make a decision based on. This form of active information gathering is called PULL marketing.?

It is astonishing that in a tourism board, behind one door - namely in leisure marketing and sales - online leads from travel bloggers and Instagramers, YouTubers and influencers are relied on: Behind the other door - in MICE marketing and sales - the focus is on personal leads through sales calls, fam trips and face-to-face appointments at trade fair and sales event formats that are so unattractive that the organisers of such sales events and sales forums only get enough participants if they lure them with lavish and free hosted buyer programmes ? in 5-star hotels ?? and free beer ?? and wine ??

Even one of the leading organizer of sales forums - from the UK ???? - has rewritten its years-old slogan "we believe in the power of face-to-face meetings" to "we believe in the power of people connecting" ?? And when even this leading provider in the industry slowly comes to the realisation that face-to-face leads are becoming less and less relevant, suppliers should recognise these signs and ring all the bells ?? But as long as they don't, face-to-face speed dating remains a lucrative business model for this and other organisers of similar sales events. ?? But only for the organisers, for the participating suppliers the financial and personal effort is disproportionate to the business achieved at trade fairs and sales events ??. Of course, a lucky business punch happens now and then, but even a blind hen ??sometimes finds a grain of corn??.

With the Green Mile ?? (10.-12.06.22) in Zurich????, which is aimed at suppliers who offer sustainable products and solutions, and the MICE by melody roadshow ?? (30.08.22 Düsseldorf, 31.08.22 Frankfurt, 01.09.22 Munich), which is exclusively for international suppliers. ??MICEboard is offering two specialist events in 2022 and for international MICE suppliers only, that perfectly combine online and offline sales ??

??For both events, all participating suppliers are introduced and presented online in detail in advance. With accompanying measures in the social media, the participating suppliers generate an extraordinarily high online profile, through which they basically generate business leads - ??even from event planners who have not participated in the events. At the same time, these online marketing measures in the run-up to the events form the most important basis for event planners to decide whether they want to participate or not. Because an event planner can only make a serious decision if he knows in advance exactly which exhibitors will be at the sales event with which products and offers. This is precisely the information he does not get at all other MICE sales events and forums. There, they are only lured into participation with an attractive hosted buyer programme, but not with the really important facts: namely, detailed information about all participating suppliers!

If you would like more information on marketing and sales opportunities through the MICEboard online media channels and MICEboard events, please feel free to contact me here at LinkedIn with a DM.

#SupplierPost(s) ??

This newsletter is aimed at suppliers from the MICE industry. It aims to stimulate, criticize and confront. It does not want to embarrass anyone, but to encourage out-of-the-box thinking. To have the courage to critically question the existing and to question methods of MICE marketing and sales.

It is not about right or wrong. It's about securing the future of an industry. If you are a MICE supplier, we would be very happy to hear your opinion on the topics.