The budget. You must establish a clear budget, decide the ticket price, anticipated attendee numbers and costs, including the marketing, venue hire, food and beverage and audio visual (AV) costs.
Managing event registrations. There are a number of cost-effective registration management systems around. We recommend Eventbrite or Arlo. An online registration process will streamline the management process for your admin team while making it easier for your clients to register from digital marketing.
Heralding your event. This is how you'll get bums on seats. Start with the front page of your website and link to the programme and registration page. Also update the cover pages / images in your social media pages. You can also add a small image to your email signature (hyperlinked to the online registration).
Commencing marketing activities. To generate gravity from your marketing you must undertake a range of methods, ideally over a six-week time frame. It's unlikely a single marketing activity will ensure a sell-out event. Most people will decide to book after exposure to several messages about the event. Cover a range of methods to ensure you engage the different types of clients:
- Email invites (with event programme, presenter bio and synopsis, links to booking platform)
- Flyers (snail mail is so original)
- Engage referral partners
- Social media
Following up your leads. Sometimes people need a little bit of persuasion to commit to an event. A personalised email or phone call to those who've enquired is often all it takes. The best thing about digital marketing is that your email campaign software and registration software should be able to tell you who has clicked on the link to register or partially completed the online registration process.
The Collateral. You'll need to produce a stock of collateral prior to marketing the event, such as the programme, a flyer (if appropriate), your first and subsequent email invites and graphic elements for social media. You'll also need to consider what collateral is required on the day:
- Client workbook with printed presentation slides and space for note taking
- Your firm's storybook
- Service Cards for the services you're promoting (if you don't have Services Cards you should)
- The all important Evaluation Form (with a call to action)