Marketing Articles
Website:
This is the most critical platform for conference business. Whether it is a launch event or a successful annual conference; this is the face of your product, and it is essential to have as much information as you can about the event. Average pages views are usually on the homepage (what the conference is about and why attend), speaker’s page, and last year speakers and attendees.
Adding additional information about the industry like upcoming trends, related articles or blogs, social media links, and testimonials from last year is the best way to enhance your
Search engine optimisation:
Ensure that your website has page tags and SEO. With search engine optimisation one can rank their website higher in Google search.
2) Direct Marketing: Keep it simple – Simple is excellent. The key to a successful email campaign is getting your aims and objectives right from the start. Know why you are sending the email and what do you hope to achieve.
Content marketing is the key;
know what your event is about and who would be interested in attending. Ensure that you are talking to the person who would open the email and provide the information that he needs to read. Simple, specific subject lines work wonders. Emails Headers should be concise, bigger, bolder and in warmer colours; this makes them eye catchy. Ensure to add your social media icons and any updated industry news obviously co-linking it to your event.
3) PPC, CPC or google ads: PPC or google AD is an excellent way to generate potential leads. Use google analytics to set up highly targeted keywords for your PPC. Choose your bid and how much you are willing to pay. Since the conference has a short life cycle, it is better to start your PPC campaign in the middle of your period. This will save you money and time. Targeting is the essence; ensure you target specific demographics, geographical areas, job titles, companies and so on.
4) Direct Mail Campaign: Recognise your objectives; Don’t use the old mantra for direct mailing “Mail to as many people as you can; someone has to be interested.” Why waste postage and paper on people who will never be interested in coming to the event. When sending out a direct mail campaign make sure that it is consistent with your website, social media campaign and PPC ads, always attach a discount code to encourage registrations. This gradually helps you in your post-event analysis report.
5) Leverage your Social Networks: Social media is the NEW BIG thing – Facebook, Twitter, or Linkedin are the websites you should be used to leverage your event. These are a good source of traffic and will automatically engage or find new delegates. I managed to get a tweet reach of 277,000 by just letting delegates, media partners and sponsors know the event hashtag and handle. We managed to engage the audience during the event with tweets and also got blogger with talk about the event.
6) Media partnership or Affiliation marketing: Right partners and associations can work wonders. They already have the database, and they can expose your event to people who you probably can’t reach.
Last but not the least, it is important to use the right mix based on your industry. Happy Events Marketing!