Let’s be blunt: marketing can make or break an event. Effective attendee marketing gets butts in seats, and the right butts, which can drive revenue, create buzz, and in all cases, makes exhibitors happy. So how do you get the word out to new and returning attendees? How do you communicate value to exhibitors? Luckily, you have a secret weapon: technology.
Let’s look at 5 ways you can promote your event digitally to get the results you’re after.
1. Email marketing.
According to Trade Show Executive’s February 2017 Attendee Acquisition Benchmarks and Trends Study, 52% of organizations attributed show growth to better email targeting. Several email providers like Informz, RealMagnet and HighRoad Solutions can get the word out to your prospective and returning attendees. Get attendees interested with teasers, top reasons to attend, and language to help them “sell” their attendance to bosses and co-workers. Use social media icons to promote I’m going, to others to create buzz and excitement. Dynamic content, such as personalize emails, content specific to a certain attendee or exhibitor type, can truly target your communications to make them super effective.
2. Social Media.
Social media is a great way to get the word out and create buzz and awareness. Tools like Hoot Suite and Tweet Deck allow you to post or tweet to one dashboard and populate out to multiple social media channels. InGo auto populates attendee data based on their social media profile to make it easy for them to post to their news feed. They can also send personal invitations to their friends on the network. Digital ads, AdWords, and re-targeting are ways to further target and promote via social media.
3. Don’t forget your exhibitors.
Exhibitors can be a powerful way to drive attendance. Empower your exhibitors to market the event for you with a tool like EXPOBrander. Any exhibitor who signs up for EXPOBrander will be given their own branded link to your event registration page which they can share in communications with prospects and on their own website. When an attendee visits an exhibiting company’s website, they can immediately register by clicking on the link. The result? Your event is promoted across many websites and exhibitor communications to prospects you otherwise would not reach.
4. A video is worth more than a thousand words.
In fact, including a video on your event landing page can increase conversion rates by 80%. And it’s not as hard as you may think. Here are some easy-to-use tools to get great videos up and running fast:
- Adobe Premiere Clip allows you to shoot and edit video on your phone. You can add titles, adjust the lighting and sync to music. Then send to Premiere on your desktop for additional editing.
- Filmic allows you to do slow-mo, time lapse and more from your phone.
- iMovie functions just like the full iMovie software. With iMovie you can add filters like vintage western, monochromatic, or futuristic blue.
- Videorama lets you add special effects all from your phone.
5. Pro video tips.
Keep your video to 1 minute or less, use music to make it exciting and interesting, promote your video using social media, email, and your website, end your video with your event logo and a link to your event registration page
Use these 5 tools to promote your event and you’re sure to see happy attendees and exhibitors!
Looking for more event solutions and advice? Contact us.
