topic Marketing Events VS Custom Object in Tips, Tricks & Best Practices

Marketing Events VS Custom Object

JMayhew7 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:30:10 GMT

We need to begin to track ROI on in-person events more thoroughly than we are at present. At my last organization, we created a custom object called 'Events' and used that to track event attendance, new business associated with the event, etc. We used association labels to categorize different contacts (Registered, Attended, Booth Scan, Hot Lead, etc.)

However since then HubSpot has debuted their 'Marketing Event' Tool. It seems as though the recommended best practice is to use the marketing events tool, in combination with a campaign, to track events and their ROI. I have to say I am a bit skeptical of it. It seems somewhat limited. You can only associated Contacts are aither 'Registered', 'Attended', or 'Did not Attend.' I used to qualify trade show contacts with a lot more granularity (Attendee, Booth Scan, Attended Breakout Session, Requested Demo, etc, etc.) This helped us to prioritize who to contacts as well as the success of the event in greater detail. (after all, an 'attendee' doesn't mean that they visited you specifically at an event.)
I'm curious to hear what sort of results people have met with and would be grateful for any advice offered.

Re: Marketing Events VS Custom Object

JWingate2 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:39:23 GMT

Hi @JMayhew7 ,

I understand your sketicism with the Marketing Event tool, I as well feel as though it could use a little more love, but that is the beauty of HubSpot as I fully expect it to continue to get features and more capabilities. The intent of this tool is to be the "Event Object" you were using.

As I agreed earlier, I agree that it does not fully do everything you have done with your other Custom Object, but there is some great built in functionality with "Marketing Events" that you would have to custom build in your "Custom Object" such as connecting a webinar tool to the object and auto associating, updating registrations and attendance (as you mentioned above).

I would say, if you need to full funtionality today, you are no wrong to create a custom object, but if you wait for these features to come, I think marketing Events could grow into what you would want it.

I wonder if a Product Manager would be interested in your thoughts on what the Marketing Event tool is missing.

@SamTassey tagging because I know sometimes this is possible. @JMayhew7 What I would do is post a wish list of features you would like to see in the Product Ideas as well.

Re: Marketing Events VS Custom Object

JMayhew7 — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:07:31 GMT

Thanks for your response. I did take the initiative and mentioned this one product ideas page.

Since the tagging of contacts is limited to 'registered', 'attended', or 'cancelled' you have a workaround for noting the hotness of any given lead generated from an event?

Re: Marketing Events VS Custom Object

SamTassey — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:25:50 GMT

Hey @JWingate2,

Thanks for your insights here, I do truly appreciate it!

You may occasionally see our Product Managers engaging in threads to stay informed or gather individual feedback, so great observation! That said, you're absolutely right that the best place for feature requests and known limitations is our Ideas Forum.

Posts there are reviewed directly and regularly by our product team, making it the most effective way to surface your ideas, increase the likelihood of them becoming a future feature, and stay informed on any related developments!

I hope you've found this thread helpful thus far, @JMayhew7!

Sam, Community Manager

Re: Marketing Events VS Custom Object

Shane-Poyar — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:50:41 GMT

Hi @JMayhew7You're not alone here. I am also going through the same dilemma (marketing events v. custom object). Here are my some of requirements:

Clear association between an event (ie. conference offline event) and contacts, companies & deals that we met at the event.
- This includes being able to track a user that we've met at multiple events.
Attribution reporting - which events are generating pipeline v. just generating leads.
- Tracking activity siloed by event name, type, etc.
Logging context that sits on the contact record captured at that event. (I played around with potentially just utilizing custom events as a workaround solution or at the very least relicating what type of detail id want sitting on a contact record after meeting someone at an event. Attached a photo of what that looks like here:
- From testing what's possible utilizing marketing events object, this is the only thing that would sit on the contact activity timeline:

To get everything I want, I'm leaning towards creating the custom object. If anyone feels they have experienced the full value of the marketing events object, would love to hear from you!