New Research In Action Vendor Selection Matrix™ Report - Marketing Event Management: The Top Global Vendors 2023.

Germany - June 28th 2023: The massive change in the Marketing Event Management software market.

The last 24 months has seen a plethora of new Marketing Event Management (MEM) platform providers offering software to better support virtual events; fueled by massive injections of venture capital into many of the vendors. But not all of them have noticed that the buying center they address has changed dramatically; from a project-oriented event manager to a team of much more strategic marketing executives.

The last years of business crisis increased the demand for digital tools and services for virtual customer meetings of all types: one-on-ones, team meetings, sales meetings, as well as larger marketing events. Virtual events replaced presence-based business conferences and trade shows, and customer meetings were facilitated on digital meeting platforms. With business travel now opened again, virtual is still a factor as other reasons such as cost control and sustainability considerations influence event-attendance decisions.

MEM refers to a wide range of processes involved in the management of all customer events such as lead generation events, trade shows and conferences. MEM software solutions help enhance the quality of virtual and physical events and meetings, as well as providing enhanced management visibility for the event organizers. The applications can streamline the planning, scheduling, and overall event organization.

A new Research In Action GmbH global survey of 1,500 business decision-makers examined their MEM experiences and plans for 2023, as well as asking about which software vendors are the most known and what do the businesspeople think about those vendor's products and services.

The Vendor Selection Matrix™ is a primarily survey-based methodology for vendor evaluation where 63% of the evaluation is based on a survey of enterprise business decision makers and 37% on the analyst's opinion. The analyst's input is fed by a combination of intensive interviews with software or services vendors and their clients, plus their informed, independent point-of-view as an analyst. All of this combines to make Research In Action Vendor Selection Matrix™ reports so unique. This approach is one of the key differentiators of Research In Action in market research. For this report we interviewed 1,500 marketing and business managers with budget responsibility in enterprises globally. We selected those vendors who achieved the best evaluations scores from the buyers but disregarded those with fewer than 15 evaluations. Report details can be viewed here: http://researchinaction.de/wp-content/uploads/VSM-MEM-2023-WWW.pdf.

Peter O'Neill, Research Director for Marketing Automation at Research In Action GmbH, comments:

• MEM is now more about Marketing than Events. When we asked about the top two priority investments in MEM, the buyers wanted more cost-efficient events first and foremost. However, after that comes scalability for large virtual events, video streaming capabilities and content experience as the next priorities. The latter two investment priorities reflect a significant change in the buying center for MEM software as it moves from being a project spend item to a more strategic investment. Event managers care about the event while marketers want to curate and offer their event content on an ongoing basis.
• Even after COVID, virtual is now standard in the new marketing event paradigm. Yes, in-person events are back, but they need to be more impactful and measurable than before. Digital marketers have now embedded the events calendar into their customer engagement programs; collecting market and customer insights at scale; maintaining a buyer/customer relationship over a longer period than just a buying cycle. But a hybrid event strategy will prevail, as buyers continue to be reluctant to travel, for reasons other than COVID (sustainability, cost, time). So, MEM must be a mix of on-site plus virtual attendance, but with attendees treated equally, with an event calendar of on-site and virtual events coordinated in a hub/spoke engagement strategy.
• The MEM market is under consolidation pressure. The global market for MEM software has moved from its previous boom economy, with businesses buying multiple MEM platforms to experiment with; to a consolidation state as companies now reduce their inventory of MEM vendor licenses to just a few strategic suppliers. Over half of the companies surveyed this year have more than 6 vendors they work with, counting all tools supporting virtual meetings, video conferencing, conferences and events, and trade shows. There has already been a significant consolidation of vendors in the past two years, with the proportion of firms with over 10 vendors reduced by two-thirds and the cohort with 6-10 vendors down 40%.
• Savvy marketers see Events as a feeder for a long-term on-demand video library. Realizing the long-term opportunity of the multitude of event recordings they are collecting, many marketing organizations want to create a branded content hub or corporate streaming platform. The recordings can then be leveraged into new campaigns or even just be discovered by web visitors-- something like the Netflix or BBC iPlayer metaphor for their own content. Some are recruiting content producers with studio experience to be able to atomize many of the longer videos, ensuring consistency and relevance in marketing campaigns.
• The MEM vendor landscape bewilders, vendors must tell better stories. The over-100 MEM vendors have a variety of roots. Some have just repackaged traditional offerings through new product positioning. Others are meeting platforms that are good for that but not necessarily larger events, or vice-versa. Most are challenged, however, to communicate the benefits of their technologies to business-oriented marketers. MEM vendors are used to selling to event/project managers, or within IT/Telco departments, and many struggle to present their solutions to CMOs and their management team in marketing language and values.
• Who came out on top? These are the Top 15 vendors, out of a potential list of over 100, selected by 1,500 users around the world surveyed based upon their rating of product, company, and service quality (listed alphabetically): BIZZABO, CADMIUMCD, CERTAIN, CIRCA, CVENT, HUBB, KALTURA, MEETYOO, NOTIFIED, ON24, RAINFOCUS, 6CONNEX, SPLASH, SPOTME, and ZOOM.

Vendor Selection Matrix™ Disclaimer:

The Vendor Selection Matrix™ is a primarily survey-based methodology for comparative vendor evaluation. Research In Action GmbH does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. The information contained in this research has been obtained from both enterprise as well as vendor sources believed to be reliable. Research In Action GmbH's research publications consist of the analysts' opinions and should not be considered as statements of fact. The opinions expressed are subject to change without further notice. Research In Action GmbH disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. All trademarks are recognized as the property of the respective companies.

Press Contact:

Research In Action GmbH
Peter O'Neill
Research Director
Alte Schule
56244 Hartenfels
Germany
Telephone: +49 174 3210020
E-Mail: poneill@researchinaction.eu

About Research In Action:

Research In Action GmbH is a leading independent information and communications technology research and consulting company. The company provides both forward-looking as well as practical advice to enterprise as well as vendor clients.

This release was published on openPR.