Paul Bunce Conference Aston Aston University Birmingham

1. Marketing Academic Venues Paul Bunce Conference Aston Aston University Birmingham

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

3. Business Breakdown Who are our customers? • Internal University Business 3% • External Corporate Business 97% • Repeat Business 25% • Agency Business 30% • New Direct Business 45% • Ownership • Public Sector 40% • Private Sector 52% • Associations 8% • Key Industry Sectors • Government National • Education • Health and Pharmaceutical • Government Local • Construction

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

5. Marketing Initiatives • Marketing Budget 1.3- 1.5% of Turnover • Marketing budget focused on meetings and events, and summer schools

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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!

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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 Location and Accessibility Budget and Value for Money Size and Quality of Meeting Facilities

14. It’s all about customer needs and they never stop changing, use your team to keep on top… Generation Customer needs Conversion Delivery

15. Thank you!