How to Use your Skills as an SDR to Transition into Event Marketing
Are you a sales development representative (SDR) at a software startup company who's interested in transitioning into event and field marketing? This could be a great opportunity for you to expand your skillset and grow your career within your current organization. In this blog post, we'll discuss some ways that you can use your existing skills as an SDR to succeed in event and field marketing at a software startup company.
Here’s a hot take. If you are a sales development representative at a startup software company, you are sitting at one of the most valuable positions. Yes, it is a complete grind. From cold calling, to making videos, to constantly being on watch if someone opens your email and you need to respond, it is non-stop. You are the front line of the business. Although it is a difficult job, as an SDR you develop the foundational skills that can be translated to any department in the business. If you want to go into sales, account management, product, enablement, or marketing- you have the starting keys to do so.
The beauty of sales development is you are completely in tune with your ideal target audience. You understand the buyer journey and every pain point that goes along with it. You recognize the need for personalization and marketing to win prospects over. You can pitch every piece of the product and constantly are gathering feedback on why people are saying no to it. You become resilient and learn to turn negatives into opportunities. The list goes on. Although the burnout is real, take your sales development path to your full advantage. Navigate what you want to do next and apply your skills to that position. In this post, we will focus on how your skills can be leveraged to succeed in event marketing.
1. Prospecting Skills:
You may think you are trading in creative email writing in for event logistics planning, but not so fast. As an event or field marketer, driving registration and event attendance is one of the key metrics you will be measured on. You will work with sales to drive attendance to their events. Use your prospecting skills to your advantage by providing them with the tools to drive customers and prospects to their events. You can create cadences for pre-event outreach and post-event follow-up with an understanding of the company’s ideal target audience.
2. Knowledge of Sales Techniques:
As an SDR, you likely have a good understanding of sales techniques and strategies used to book first meetings and close deals. These skills can be helpful in event marketing as you work to create compelling offers and packages for sponsors and exhibitors, and develop strategies for driving ticket sales.
A knowledge of sales techniques can also be helpful when creating account based marketing campaigns. If you are a field marketer, you may partner with sales to create compelling targeted marketing campaigns for their top accounts. Provide suggestions on what works for getting someone in the door and nurturing them throughout the deal cycle. An example could be a messaging cadence that is personalized with gifting, landing pages, and events.
3. Relationship Building Skills
As an SDR, you likely have strong relationship-building skills and the ability to build rapport with potential customers. In event marketing, these skills can be helpful in building partnerships and collaborations with sponsors, exhibitors, and other industry stakeholders. When planning webinars, field marketing events, or user conferences you will need customer speakers and advocates. Use your relationship building skills to start building a customer community that you can call on for events.
4. Communication Skills
As an SDR, you likely have strong communication skills, including the ability to effectively pitch products or services to potential customers. These skills can be useful in event marketing as you work to plan webinars, speaking sessions, write landing pages, and create messaging templates. Take full advantage of having product knowledge and being able to give a demo and pitch. You will be able to provide a lot of context in many different event scenarios that involve creating content.
Your ability to create compelling messaging and content will be key in driving attendance and engagement at events. You'll also need to be able to collaborate with internal teams, external vendors, and event partners to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
5. Time Management Skills
This is an obvious one. SDRs are the kings and queens of time management. As an event marketer, you can be stretched very thin, especially with small-team marketers at startups. Use your time management skills to your advantage. We recommend work blocks and day blocks for event tasks.
6. Leverage Your Networking Skills
As an SDR, you are responsible for reaching out to potential customers and building relationships with them. This means that you already have strong networking skills that you can apply to event and field marketing.
At events, you'll have the opportunity to meet new people and make connections with potential customers, partners, and industry leaders. Your ability to start conversations, build rapport, and make a good impression will be invaluable in this role. You can even make suggestions on new and innovative networking tip ideas.
7. Use Your Data Analysis Skills
As an SDR, you're used to tracking your activities and analyzing data to improve your performance. This skill set can be applied to event and field marketing as well.
You'll be responsible for tracking attendance, engagement, and other metrics to evaluate the success of each event. You can also use data to identify trends and insights that will help you optimize your event strategy.
8. Embrace Your Creative Skills
Finally, event and field marketing require a great deal of creativity. As an SDR, you're used to thinking outside the box to find new ways to connect with potential customers. This same creativity will serve you well in event and field marketing.
You'll need to come up with innovative event ideas, engaging content, and unique activations that will capture the attention of attendees. Your ability to generate ideas and execute on them will be key in driving success.
The Bottom Line?
In conclusion, if you're an SDR at a software startup company who's interested in transitioning into event and field marketing, you already have many of the skills you need to succeed. By leveraging your networking, data analysis, communication, marketing, and creative skills, you can make a successful transition and help drive your company's growth.
Not Sure Where to Start?
PlanWell helps small-team marketers bring their event strategy to life. We’d love to serve as the team within your team and help elevate your event experience. To learn more about our services check out our full list. If you are interested in learning more, you can book a call here.
