Event marketing -- that is, marketing that takes place at meetings and events -- makes up 24 percent of the average healthcare company’s marketing budget, which is slightly less than the 26 percent that the average corporation allots for it, according to EventView 2006: Healthcare/Pharmaceutical Report, a new survey of event marketing trends in the healthcare industry by George P. Johnson Co.

The report marks the first time the firm has analyzed trends in any one sector of its worldwide EventView survey, which polled 900 marketers across a variety of industries. The results will be presented by George P. Johnson executives and discussed by a panel of pharmaceutical meeting professionals at the Third Annual Pharmaceutical Meeting Planners Forum.

Co-organized by Medical Meetings magazine and the Center for Business Intelligence, the conference is scheduled for March 26 to 27, 2007, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

The survey also reveals that healthcare marketers have less confidence than marketers in other industries that event marketing will generate the best return on investment. According to the worldwide survey, 24 percent of marketers say that event marketing delivers the highest ROI, outpacing all other channels in effectiveness. Web marketing is next at 18 percent, followed by sales promotions (15 percent), public relations (14 percent), direct mail (10 percent), and print advertising (9 percent). But in the healthcare survey, just 17 percent of marketers said that event marketing delivers the highest ROI, placing it second behind sales promotions (18 percent). Direct mail (14 percent), public relations (14 percent), and print advertising (12 percent) are next.

Further, 12 percent of healthcare marketing executives see it as a “lead” marketing tactic (compared to 14 percent in the worldwide survey), while 36 percent see it as a “vital component” of a marketing plan (compared to 33 percent in the worldwide survey).

Among other findings, 73 percent of healthcare marketers say they conduct event measurement, compared to 71 percent of marketers in the worldwide survey, released last fall. Further, 29 percent say on-site surveys are the most popular measurement tool, while 25 percent cite sales reports as the most popular, 24 percent say post-event surveys, 20 percent use traffic counts, and 5 percent say audits rank first in popularity. Also, 12 percent of the budget is invested in measurement tools and practices, up from 8 percent the year before. Interestingly, 75 percent of those who expect their budget to increase say they have done some form of event measurement, while only 24 percent of those who do not measure expect a budget increase.

For an in-depth analysis of the report, read the March/April issue of Medical Meetings.