By Megan Johnstone-Mackie, PR and Marketing Manager, allpoints
Every time I sit down and connect with event founders to chat about growth, social media completely hogs the agenda but rarely does email marketing get mentioned. We always end up lightly debating algorithm shifts, video trends, and how on earth to stretch a three-day brand activation into a fortnight of LinkedIn posts. I entirely get it, social is visual and immediate but, whilst everyone is busy fighting for organic reach, one of the most effective channels we have is sitting quietly in the corner: Email.
A glossy reel feels great to post, I won’t deny that, but the social platform controls who sees it. When you build an email list, you actually own the audience. No algorithm update can suddenly pull the rug out from under you and block access to the very people who explicitly asked to hear from your agency.

Why the Inbox Wins
Brands rarely hire event agencies on a whim. A brand manager might not need an exhibition stand today, but when a massive project lands on their desk in six months, the agency sitting quietly in their inbox is naturally the one they ring first. If you think email is a bit outdated, I’d urge you to look at the numbers. Litmus data reckons email delivers an average return of around $36 for every dollar spent. The secret is that the best returns always come from relationship-building newsletters, rather than relentless sales pitches.
The DMA’s 2025 report backs this up entirely. They found a 98% delivery rate and unique click rates creeping up to 2.3%. MailerLite also saw average open rates of over 43% this year, alongside a tiny 0.22% unsubscribe rate. Yes, modern privacy settings mean we need to take open rates with a pinch of salt these days. Even so, the core truth is undeniable: an email lands right in front of a decision-maker whilst they’re sitting at their desk working.
What on Earth Do We Write About?

The biggest roadblock I see is that most agencies think they have absolutely nothing to say unless they’ve just wrapped a massive, shiny project. You don’t need a fresh set of hero photos to send a brilliant email.
Honestly, explaining the gritty details of a job is usually far more valuable to a prospective client than showing off the final polish. Try mixing up your content like this:
Sync with their calendar: Drop them practical advice right when they start planning. A checklist for Q4 activations sent in late summer is incredibly helpful and shows you understand their timeline.
Share the raw lessons: Ditch the self-congratulatory case study. Instead, talk about the three critical planning decisions that kept 10,000 attendees moving smoothly. Talk about what actually went wrong and how you fixed it.
Discuss industry shifts: Weigh in on real trends. Have an opinion on sustainable staging materials or the classic mistakes clients keep making when writing event briefs.
Put your team in the spotlight: Let your lead producer share their golden rules for production, or have your creative director explain spatial flow. Exposing the brains behind the operation builds massive trust.

Gathering the Right Crowd
For any of this to work, you need the right people reading. In fact, I would take a list of 200 highly engaged brand directors over 5,000 random contacts any day of the week.
The smartest way to gather these contacts is by offering something genuinely useful on your website. Let’s face it, nobody wakes up wanting to “download your agency brochure”, but offering a definitive 20-point checklist to complete before briefing an experiential agency? That gives a busy marketing manager a proper reason to hand over their email address.
A quick word of warning on the legal side. You absolutely must play by the rules with UK data laws. The ICO doesn’t mess around with marketing consent under PECR and general data protection rules. So, get rid of any pre-ticked boxes, be completely transparent about what they are signing up for, keep a solid record of their opt-in, and always stick an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every message. Keep it clean, simple, and compliant.
Don’t Just Vanish
When someone does opt in, don’t just send them the download and vanish into thin air. Set up a straightforward welcome sequence. Just three automated emails introducing your agency’s ethos and sharing your best insights will do the job perfectly. After that, find a rhythm you can actually stick to. A thoughtful, high-value email sent once a month will always beat a rushed weekly blast you threw together in a panic on a Friday afternoon.
Social media might catch someone’s eye for a few fleeting seconds, but the inbox gives you a private space to build genuine familiarity, month in, month out. When the next big pitch comes around, you won’t be pitching cold. You will already be the experts they know and trust.
The future of marketing may not belong solely to the brands that are seen the most, but to the brands people actually remember. Your next read, we recommend: Is Cannes Lions Worth It for Agencies and What Leaders Should Consider Before Booking 2026





































