You have to get the word out about your event, and chances are you should have started your marketing campaign a few weeks ago. Don’t fret! This article will give you the inspiration to get your marketing right on track.
Identify Themes Right Away
Use your last event for guidance. What themes came up that your attendees feel need to be addressed next? Even if the themes evolve through the planning process, having something to start with will help keep the message relevant.
Identify Keynote Speakers Soon
The sooner you can identify keynote speakers and the topics of their talks, the sooner you trumpet how awesome your event will be. Market early, and market often.
Motivational Deadlines
Deadlines are necessary for proper planning to establish how many people are coming, but more attendees means more revenue. You can increase your attendance by leaps and bounds If you plan your early registration deadline as a motivational deadline. After the first deadline passes, you can announce an extension that will help you capture all of the people who were on the fence about signing up but who let the deadline slip past. This technique works especially well for events that have a submission component, such as a paper or an abstract.
Exhibitors and Sponsors
A whole article will be devoted to building exhibits and sponsorships (so stay tuned!), but in the context of promotion, you have to let your prospective attendees know who’s coming, and who’s endorsed your event. Not only can these endorsements help catalyze prospective attendees, the exposure is good for the vendors and they’ll thank you for it.
Promote, Promote, Promote
You can’t win at promotion if you don’t promote. Early and frequent outreach to your membership and potential attendees is crucial. If you’re not emailing them at least once a week, you’re not doing it enough. Make sure your subject lines carry as much information as possible, and make sure you’re not just repeating yourself. You identified your themes and your keynote speakers early. You know who your exhibitors and sponsors are. You have several deadlines to promote. There is plenty of material available to keep things fresh on a weekly basis. That said, don’t be afraid to repeat key parts of your message from time to time. Your material evolves as the event planning proceeds, so even a repeated deadline reminder can carry a paragraph about why a certain speaker is important to your industry, even if you’ve already told your audience that she’s coming.
How do YOU win at meeting promotion? Let us know in the comments section below.
