A recent survey commissioned by Cvent, a meetings, events and hospitality technology provider, has found a gap between event marketers’ confidence in building audience trust and the number of professionals actively measuring its impact.
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A recent survey commissioned by Cvent, a meetings, events and hospitality technology provider, has found a gap between event marketers’ confidence in building audience trust and the number of professionals actively measuring its impact.
Almost all (96%) event marketers said they are confident that their current marketing activity is building trust with target audiences and 81% said audience trust in their brand has increased after attending one of their organization’s in-person events.
Yet less than a third (28%) currently have a robust framework in place to measure the impact of events on trust and almost half (49%) admitted that their existing framework requires improvement.
“Event marketers are doing something remarkable. They’re building real, lasting trust with their audiences at a time when trust has never been harder to earn. But confidence without measurement is a recipe for reduced budgets and missed opportunities,” says Amy Lucia, chief marketing officer at Cvent. “The marketers who will lead the next era are the ones who can prove what events actually do for their business, connecting that investment directly to pipeline and revenue. When you can prove the numbers, C-suite and boardroom credibility follows.”
The survey of over 900 event and marketing professionals from across 12 countries also uncovered the rising pressure event marketers face in proving return on investment (ROI), with nine out of 10 respondents acknowledging their event programs face high scrutiny when it comes to demonstrating measurable return.
But rather than deterring event marketers, the vast majority are turning to events as a way of forming closer bonds with their audiences.
Indeed, the future of in-person events looks bright, as nine out of 10 (91%) respondents said events will become more central to strategies over the next 12 to 24 months compared to other marketing channels.
While confidence in event success is high, the survey also uncovered an artificial intelligence (AI) trust gap developing between event marketers and audiences. Some 85% agreed that the rise of AI-generated content has made it harder to build trust — despite 87% saying increased AI use has made them more confident in AI-generated content. While marketers themselves are becoming more comfortable with AI-generated content, many believe audiences are growing increasingly skeptical of it.
When asked why the rise of AI-generated content makes it harder to build trust with audiences, 30% said audiences question whether content is genuinely human-created and 29% reported increased skepticism about the accuracy of information.
Generic or AI-generated content (27%) was seen as the greatest risk to audience trust today, more so than a lack of human interaction at events (19%).
“AI saturation is contributing to rising audience skepticism, changing the environment in which we’ve traditionally built trust with audiences,” says Felicia Asiedu, marketing director at Cvent.
“Some 98% of respondents say that in-person and community-based events are an important part of their marketing strategy, and this will only increase amidst growing AI use, misinformation risk and media fragmentation. What matters now is bringing together the magic of events marketing with the science needed to drive better, more measurable results.”
This wariness isn’t stopping many from experimenting with AI, however. More than two-fifths (43%) of organizations are scaling their use of AI, while 37% are actively experimenting and 17% are using it cautiously. Moreover, nine in 10 said the use of AI-generated content at their organization has increased over the past 12 months. As marketers balance AI-enabled workflows with trusted marketing, 35% agree that transparency around AI use will be “critically important” to maintaining consumer trust.