B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt

The B2B Event Playbook: Building Revenue-Driving Events in 2025


Listen Later

#227: Events | In this episode, Dave hosts a live Exit Five session with Zuddl and panelists Stephanie Christensen (Event Marketing Leader) and Kristina DeBrito (Director of Strategic Events at Iterable) to break down how B2B marketers should be thinking about events in 2025. From small VIP dinners to large customer conferences, events are making a big comeback—but without a solid strategy, they can be a massive waste of budget.

Dave, Stephanie, and Kristina cover:

  • The key metrics to track to prove event ROI in 2025
  • How to get executive and stakeholder buy-in for your event strategy
  • What’s working in B2B events right now (and what’s not)
  • How to follow up post-event to drive engagement and pipeline

Timestamps

  • (00:00) - – Intro to Stephanie and Kristina
  • (03:23) - – Why events are making a big comeback in B2B marketing
  • (06:50) - – The biggest mistakes marketers make when planning events
  • (09:38) - – How to align your event strategy with business goals
  • (12:23) - – The key metrics to track for proving event ROI
  • (15:35) - – How to get buy-in from executives and key stakeholders
  • (18:48) - – What’s working right now in B2B events (and what’s not)
  • (23:04) - – The role of micro-events, VIP dinners, and executive meetups
  • (27:29) - – Sponsoring vs. hosting your own event — how to decide
  • (31:49) - – The importance of post-event follow-up and engagement
  • (35:31) - – Virtual events: lessons learned and how they fit into 2025 strategies
  • (39:24) - – Live Q&A: Expert answers to audience event strategy questions
  • (44:49) - – Final takeaways on making B2B events worth the investment

  • Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected]
    Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
    Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
    Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership

    ***

    Today's episode is brought to you by Knak.

    Email (in my humble opinion) is the still the greatest marketing channel of all-time.

    It’s the only way you can truly “own” your audience.

    But when it comes to building the emails - if you’ve ever tried building an email in an enterprise marketing automation platform, you know how painful it can be. Templates are too rigid, editing code can break things and the whole process just takes forever. 


    That’s why we love Knak here at Exit Five. Knak a no-code email platform that makes it easy to create on-brand, high-performing emails - without the bottlenecks.

    • Frustrated by clunky email builders? You need Knak.
    • Tired of ‘hoping’ the email you sent looks good across all devices? Just test in Knak first.
    • Big team making it hard to collaborate and get approvals? Definitely Knak.

    And the best part? Everything takes a fraction of the time.

    See Knak in action at knak.com/exit-five. Or just let them know you heard about Knak on Exit Five.


    ***

    Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.

    • They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.
    • Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.
    • Visit hatch.fm to learn more
    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    B2B Marketing with Dave GerhardtBy Dave Gerhardt

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    38 ratings


    More shows like B2B Marketing with Dave Gerhardt

    View all
    The Digital Marketing Podcast by Ciaran Rogers, Daniel Rowles and Louise Crossley

    The Digital Marketing Podcast

    116 Listeners

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast by Pat Flynn

    The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

    3,439 Listeners

    Social Media Marketing Podcast by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner

    Social Media Marketing Podcast

    1,445 Listeners

    The SaaS Podcast - SaaS, Startups, Growth Hacking & Entrepreneurship by Omer Khan

    The SaaS Podcast - SaaS, Startups, Growth Hacking & Entrepreneurship

    181 Listeners

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

    172 Listeners

    Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips by Eric Siu and Neil Patel

    Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

    1,255 Listeners

    Noah Kagan Presents by Noah Kagan

    Noah Kagan Presents

    907 Listeners

    The CMO Podcast by vYve & Jim Stengel

    The CMO Podcast

    347 Listeners

    Creator Science by Jay Clouse

    Creator Science

    459 Listeners

    GTM Live by Passetto

    GTM Live

    199 Listeners

    The Marketing Millennials by Daniel Murray

    The Marketing Millennials

    147 Listeners

    Marketing Made Simple by Powered by StoryBrand

    Marketing Made Simple

    287 Listeners

    Marketing Against The Grain by Hubspot Media

    Marketing Against The Grain

    352 Listeners

    Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold by GURU Media Hub

    Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson l Presented By Marigold

    715 Listeners

    AI Explored by Michael Stelzner, Social Media Examiner—AI marketing

    AI Explored

    79 Listeners