Before Daniela built Inspired Marketing, she built events. So this conversation about B2B event marketing strategies with Brooke Afick, CEO of BizRock, is personal.
In this episode of The Inspired Marketer, Daniela sits down with Brooke to get specific about what separates events that generate pipeline from ones that burn budget and produce a pile of unqualified business cards. Brooke’s framework is built around three phases, each with a methodology that most companies either rush or skip entirely.
The conversation covers budget allocation (up to 25% of marketing spend, and Brooke makes the case for why), how to choose between flagship industry events and niche ones where your competitors won’t be, and what it actually means to run a meeting-first strategy before you even arrive on the floor.
The B2B event marketing moves most companies miss
One of the most practical insights in this episode is the concept of the “walking booth.” No budget for a stand? Go anyway. Walk the floor, attend the keynotes, show up at the after-parties. Name tags are an asset: they tell you exactly who’s in the room and whether they’re your ICP. Competitors’ booths are a scouting opportunity, because your ICP is already there, self-selecting.
Brooke also reframes what a KPI can look like at an event. Not every measure of success is numerical. “Find the one prospect we’ve been trying to reach for six months” is a legitimate event objective. So is generating podcast conversations or simply rebuilding team momentum after a difficult quarter.
The thread running through all of it: every engagement at an event needs a next step, set before you leave the conversation. That’s what turns B2B event marketing from a line item into a pipeline driver.
