12 Imaginative Events from Intuit
Learn about Intuit’s event strategy and how you can improve your company’s in-person and digital gatherings through these great examples.
Intuit is a California-based software company that makes tools for small business owners and financial professionals. And while the company’s name may not be instantly recognizable to the masses, their products are. Intuit is the proud maker of Quickbooks, TurboTax, and Mint, just to name a few.
But stellar products aren’t the only things that Intuit makes. They also create some pretty amazing experiential marketing moments, some of which we’ll dissect in this article.
12 Imaginative Events from Intuit
1. Quickbooks Connect
Source: Quickbooks Connect
Quickbooks is one of Intuit’s flagship products and Quickbooks Connect is the company’s largest annual event. It’s geared towards business owners and is incredibly well-loved by attendees. 97% of them said they walked away from past conferences with insights they could immediately put into action and 98% claimed that attending the conference has enabled them to run their businesses better. High praise! One of the things that Quickbooks Connect does better than most conferences is secure amazing, high-caliber speakers. In just the last three years, people like Jessica Alba, Michael Phelps, Arianna Huffington, Malcolm Gladwell, and Oprah Winfrey all spoke to Quickbooks’ guests.
Key Takeaway: The speakers you secure for your events matter. They’ll help garner your conference, seminar, or training session more respect and prestige. They’ll also help you sell more tickets. That’s why we always recommend bringing in great speakers. But the term “great speakers” is relative. You don’t need to hire celebrities like Quickbooks Connect. Instead, focus on securing well-known and respected people in your company’s niche.
2. Lacerte Season Readiness Tour
Source: Intuit ProConnect
ProConnect is another division of the Intuit brand and it too hosts a well-loved annual event. It’s called the Lacerte Season Readiness Tour (named after one of ProConnect’s top products) and teaches attendees how to use the Lacerte software program. The one-day event, which is held in multiple cities around the United States, also gives attendees the opportunity to network with their peers. It’s an informative conference that caters to a specific subset of the Intuit customer base.
Key Takeaway: If your company is like most others, it serves customers in many cities besides the one it’s headquartered in. So doesn’t it make sense to host events in areas outside your own backyard? We think so! Which is why we’re big advocates for event roadshows. While it does take more resources, hosting events in different locations has plenty of benefits. Most notably, your company will be able to reach more people — people who might not have been able to attend your gatherings were they hosted farther away from them.
3. Intuit: A Giant Story
Intuit: A Giant Story was a marketing initiative that the company embarked upon in 2018. Basically, Intuit partnered with a team of animators to create a short film promoting the company and its commitment to helping small business owners. The video was then broken down into smaller clips and shown during one of the largest American events of the year: the Super Bowl.
Key Takeaway: Intuit: A Giant Story is a great example of stellar creativity and outside-the-box thinking for corporate event management. Not only was an animated short film unexpected coming from a company that creates financial software, the choice to show said short during a massive event like the Super Bowl was also noteworthy. We encourage you to get creative as well and promote your business and its events in nontraditional ways.
4. The NFL Championship Game: Sponsored By Intuit
Source: Variety
Speaking of the Super Bowl, Intuit has partnered with the NFL again, this time by becoming the first ever presenting sponsor of the AFC and NFC Championship games. If you know professional American football, you know that the Championship games are a big deal and have a large audience — 97 million people tuned in to watch both games in 2019! So Intuit’s decision to tap into that enormous viewership makes total sense.
Key Takeaway: Let’s be honest – hosting events takes a lot of time and effort. There are a thousand tiny details to straighten out and just as many big ones. At times, it may seem like scaling your event strategy is a hopeless endeavor. But that’s definitely not true. One of the easier ways to boost your company’s event game is to sponsor another company’s conference, expo, or similar gathering, just like Intuit is doing with the Super Bowl. This will allow you to get your brand in front of more people without having to plan the entire thing yourself.
5. Introduction to Quickbooks Online for Accountants
Source: Quickbooks
The Introduction to Quickbooks Online for Accountants is exactly what it sounds like: an event where accountants are introduced to Quickbooks Online and can begin learning how to use it effectively. Specific goals of the event include getting attendees acquainted with the software, teaching them how to work with client files, and showing them how to perform key sales and expense tasks. These one-day training events happen at different locations around the United States throughout the year.
Key Takeaway: If you’re looking for corporate event ideas, a hands-on training is usually a pretty good bet. One of the best ways to satisfy and keep current customers is to provide them with the information they need to adequately use the products your company produces. So book a venue, prepare your curriculum, and invite a few guests. If things really take off, you can begin to plan multiple events in various locations, just like intuit.
6. Girl Geek Dinner: Intuit
Source: Girl Geek X
Geek Girl Dinner: Intuit is a partnership between Geek Girl X, a community of “geeky” women who network and learn together in order to move their careers forward, and Intuit. The event, (which will take place in October 2019 in Mountain View, California) will feature a keynote address from Intuit’s CTO, Marianna Tessel, delicious food, networking opportunities, and technical demos for all attendees.
Key Takeaway: The Geek Girl Dinner: Intuit event shows that Intuit understands the importance of catering to specific demographics. Yes, your B2C and B2B event marketing strategies should include big, generalized get-togethers that all of your target audiences can attend. But it should also contain smaller gatherings that are targeted at specific people. This will make minority groups feel heard and understood and bond them to your company on a deep level.
7. Intuit Inc.’s Quarterly Results Conference Call
Source: Intuit Investor Relations
Each quarter, Intuit hosts a “Results Conference Call” to share with investors how the company is doing. These calls are then recorded and posted online for folks to consume at a later date if they were unable to make the live meeting.
Key Takeaway: The “Results Conference Call” by Intuit is a great example of the tech giant treating its people right. How can you follow Intuit’s lead? You could host an employee appreciation shindig! Or you could schedule a fun team-building exercise for your entire staff to enjoy. The choice is yours, but there are plenty of event types you could use to thank your team. Just know that you can never go wrong by keeping your employees happy and making sure they feel appreciated.
8. Experience Design at Intuit
Source: SF Design Week
When you think of Intuit, you probably don’t think of top-notch design. The company creates financial software, after all. But the truth is, Intuit employs nearly 200 talented designers to help ensure its products are visually pleasing. At the Experience Design at Intuit event that the company hosted in June of 2019, attendees were invited “backstage” to learn about delightful design, connect with other event-goers, and enjoy both tasty food and live entertainment.
Key Takeaway: Invite folks into your company’s world. People love “backstage tours” and “behind the scenes” content. Give it to them! You could do this via an actual in-person event in the same way that Intuit did. Or you could go the digital route and host an online meeting where the inner workings of your company are shown. Either way, put yourself in your audiences’ shoes and include interesting, informative, and entertaining content for them to consume.
9. Grow Your Business
Source: Eventbrite
Intuit is committed to helping small business owners succeed. In fact, Intuit’s ProConnect tax software, ProSeries, specifically provides tax solutions for small businesses. So it’s not surprising that they hosted an event called “Grow Your Business.” The ProConnect events team brought in Rossana Giannini JD to teach attendees “empowering tactics to get invincible advantage, make progress and take ACTION.” The best part? The entire event was free to attend.
Key Takeaway: Should your company host a free event? Before you automatically decline, know that free events can be a wonderful event marketing strategy. Yes, it costs money to book the right venue, fly in keynote speakers, hire event staff, and take care of every other detail. But with proper planning, free events can actually boost event ROI. Sponsorships can offset costs and the goodwill you receive from attendees will likely lead to additional profits for your company in the future.
10. TSheets Demos
Intuit purchased TSheets in 2018 and now every TSheet event and training session falls under the Intuit umbrella, including the TSheets Demos. A TSheets Demo is simply an online training seminar in which attendees are educated on how the TSheets product works, from time tracking to scheduling to running payroll. By the end of the 30 minute meeting, attendees have become bonafide TSheets experts and understand how to use the tool to empower their businesses.
Key Takeaway: Despite their growing popularity, you probably don’t think of digital gatherings when you picture a successful event. That’s okay, most people don’t. But we really believe that way of thinking needs to change. Live, in-person events aren’t going anywhere — nor should they. But an online get-together definitely deserves a place in your event strategy. For starters, they’re much cheaper and easier to produce. They’ll also allow you to connect with people who wouldn’t necessarily be able to attend your in-person affairs due to timing or budgetary restrictions.
11. What’s New in Quickbooks Desktop 2020
Source: Quickbooks
What’s New in Quickbooks Desktop 2020 is a webinar event that showcases the Quickbooks Desktop products and teaches attendees what the latest version has to offer. Intuit’s aim with the event is to shorten the learning curve of customers and get them up and running with the company’s latest software solutions as quickly as possible.
Key Takeaway: Remember what we said earlier? One of the best ways to satisfy your customer base is to teach them how to use your company’s products. Nobody enjoys wasting time trying to complete specific tasks or searching for certain features. That’s why we recommend hosting training events to keep your tribe apprised of any product updates. You can also use this strategy to connect with your audience on a different level or use an online event to update them regarding major happenings at your company.
12. Quickbooks Event Starter Kit
Source: Quickbooks
The last Intuit event we want to study isn’t an event at all. Rather, it’s an event starter kit that Intuit offers to folks, free of charge, to use at industry events. The kit includes a sponsorship allowance, banner, and table skirt (as shown above) in order to help people differentiate themselves on the event floor and grow their businesses. But each kit is also branded with the Quickbooks logo so the Intuit brand is being promoted at the same time.
Key Takeaway: The Quickbooks Event Starter Kit is a good reminder to let others help you promote your company. We encourage you to brainstorm ways that you can work with other brands and/or your customers in a mutually beneficial way. Maybe you offer an event kit like Intuit does. Maybe you simply join forces with another company and host a joint gathering. There are a thousand different options. You just have to find the right one for your company.
Key Takeaways: How to Host an Intuit-Level Event
Intuit hosts many successful conferences and trainings every year. Here are the main things you can learn from them in order to improve your own events:
- Creativity Wins: Intuit sells financial software which might not be the most exciting stuff in the world. But they still find ways to get creative, whether it’s by crafting animated short films or partnering with other companies. We encourage you to unleash your creativity as well.
- Embrace Technology: Intuit has fully embraced technology and regularly hosts webinars and digital events, a few of which we covered in this article. You should do the same and host your own online get-togethers as well as invest in event software to help things run smoothly.
- Find Partnerships: You don’t have to do everything by yourself. In fact, you’ll probably achieve greater success if you partner with other companies or mix with their event branding from time to time. It will reduce your workload and extend your company’s reach.
