Case Study: Blackberry Events

Strategic Event Marketing Support for the Inspiring Leadership Conference

The Brief

Blackberry Events required strategic marketing support for the Inspiring Leadership Conference, a major two-day event held at the ICC Birmingham bringing together headteachers and senior education leaders from across the UK.

Following the impact of Covid and changing market conditions, attendee numbers had reduced from the conference’s optimal

target of 1,500 delegates. The business needed a more structured and measurable marketing approach to increase awareness,

improve engagement and drive bookings.

The objective was to create and enact a comprehensive communications strategy using email marketing, social media and

targeted digital advertising to complement existing PR activity while also highlighting new value-added content and reasons to

attend the event.

The Solution

I worked closely alongside the Blackberry Events team to develop and implement a fully integrated marketing communications strategy focused on increasing event visibility, engagement and conversions.

Support included:

• Developing and delivering a 12-month pre and post-event marketing strategy

• Creating and managing email marketing campaigns

• Developing and scheduling social media content across multiple channels

• Supporting paid social media advertising campaigns where appropriate

• Managing social media communities, engagement and enquiries

• Conducting keyword and hashtag research to improve reach and targeting

• Aligning social media and email campaigns with the launch of the new website

• Supporting analytics setup and tracking through Google and social platforms

• Monitoring campaign performance and reporting on conversions, engagement and bookings

• Working collaboratively with the internal Blackberry Events team to maintain consistent communications and delivery

The strategy focused not only on awareness, but also on measurable conversion tracking, ensuring marketing activity could be clearly linked to bookings, audience engagement and event growth.

The Outcome

The project helped Blackberry Events implement a far more strategic, measurable and digitally focused marketing approach for the Inspiring Leadership Conference.

Key outcomes included:

• More structured and consistent marketing communications

• Improved visibility across social media and email channels

• Better audience targeting and campaign tracking

• Increased engagement with educational leaders and conference audiences

• Stronger integration between website, email and social campaigns

• More measurable reporting and performance insights

• Enhanced promotion of new value-added elements of the conference

By combining strategic planning with hands-on implementation, I helped create a more proactive and commercially focused event marketing approach designed to support long-term growth and increased delegate engagement.

Client Feedback

“Jayne quickly became a valued extension of the Blackberry Events team and brought both energy and structure to our event marketing activity.

Her strategic thinking, organisation and ability to turn ideas into practical campaigns made a real difference to the way we approached communications for the Inspiring Leadership Conference.

Jayne was proactive, reliable and easy to work with throughout, and always kept us updated on performance, ideas and opportunities. She genuinely felt like part of the team rather than an external consultant, and her support and expertise were hugely appreciated during a very important period for the business.

Thank you, Jayne, for all your hard work, support and commitment.”

— Georgie Butler, Director, Blackberry Events