“The majority (80%) of marketers believe live events are critical to their company’s success. (Bizzabo, 2017)”
Drawing a crowd to your event is without a doubt the biggest indicator of success – no matter whether you’re hosting a lunch seminar or full day conference. Speaking straight to the heart of potential attendees and ensuring your event comes into their awareness is going to make all the difference.
Who’s your audience?
Brainstorm who you would like to prospect with your event and try to understand as much as you can about their unique personas. Questions to ask include:
- Does your audience have more than one segment?
- What are their key pain-points?
- What is the best way to reach your audience?
- What style and tone will connect best with your audience?
Why should they care?
Before you approach the content strategy, it’s important to identify the stand out factors that will make prospects register for your event. In other words – why is your event un-missable? This message needs to clearly target each segment in a way that engages and clearly shows the benefits of attending.
- PLAN EACH TOUCH POINT
Consider your invite list and the channels best to target each group. Forming the heart of your content strategy, brainstorming together with your wider team is a great way to plan for each communication point including:
Think about what ‘value-add’ each communication piece will include. Video, photographs, exclusive content are some of the useful ways you can build engagement and excitement.
- STAND OUT ACROSS GRAPHICS, PRINT & DIGITAL
You've probably noticed that the best campaigns for big events seem to just flow - from the messaging, to visuals and graphics across each touch-point. Each of these elements is intricately connected. You might like to consider branding your event to include a logo, separate landing page or website, unique colours, stylised imagery etc. It’s about differentiation and standing out – how can you entice attendees with a professional look and feel of your event?
- CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
You want to create a seamless experience for prospects. From the initial invite you should strive to make booking, ticketing and reservations painless. Luckily there are many automation and booking tools that can facilitate this process. Useful ticketing tools include Eventbrite and Eventbee. Eliminate unnecessary steps in the process and make sure that essential information is communicated. You might like to also consider sending a calendar invite. Ensuring wait lists and cancellations are effectively managed will ensure you maximise the lead potential of your event.
A great ticketing system can go a long way to helping you avoid confusion.
- CALL TO ACTION
Think carefully about the tone and language you use across your promotional material. With each communication it’s essential to communicate value. Draw on the expertise and topics of keynote speakers, emphasise the entertainment or educational value. Creativity, persuasion and a sense of urgency via a strong call to action will point readers in the right direction – to register for your event.
See also: How to write a call to action that packs a punch
- FOLLOW UP
Its good sense to consider throughout your event plan all the opportunities you can create to generate leads. From initial sign-ups and registration landing pages to breaks and networking opportunities and post-event questionnaires/feedback. Capturing this information in a sufficient manner is invaluable. Be sure you have a communication plan that involves follow-up and keep in regular contact.
Many businesses indicate that their greatest barrier to b2b lead generation success involves a lack of resources in their staff, budget, or time. If your team is coming up against these as a barrier to running a targeted event, we can help.