photo credit: Chris Radcliff
Conducting live training events is an important part of many businesses. Yet filling seminars is often a daunting process. Here’s how smart event planners sell hundreds of attendees into their live events.
EMAIL MARKETING — The fastest and cheapest method for marketing live events is via email. You can acquire email addresses to mail either by: (1) collecting them at your website when visitors sign up for a free e-zine, special report or newsletter you offer, or (2) through convincing other list owners to endorse you to their customers. Emails should direct readers to a webpage that compels them to register for the event.
YOUR EVENT’S WEBSITE — If you have secure registration and credit card processing at your website, prospects can read about your event any time of day or night – then register without needing to call you during business hours. Create a “registration page” using Event Management 360 just for your event, then include all kinds of descriptive copy about the benefits of the event, why the prospect should respect your speakers as experts, testimonials of other events or from people who attended the same event last year, bullet points of what the prospect will learn, a listing of the materials they’ll receive, how to register, what the price is, details that show the price is a great value, and so on.
PRINTED BROCHURES — These are expensive to print and mail, but if you do speaking engagements, trade shows or other events, you can distribute them on-site. These can also be mailed as part of a direct-mail package. One type of brochure that is worth printing is an elaborate high-end looking business “portfolio” describing your program or live event — particularly if you are marketing a very expensive program to business owners.
FREE SPECIAL REPORT OR OTHER INFO-SALES DEVICE — An info-sales device can be anything from a special report to an article to a short ebook written in third-party style — as if a journalist had written it. You can distribute it at your website or in other people’s e-zines — particularly if you are going to be offering the same event two or three times a year. On the Internet, these special reports tend to circulate for a long time, so be sure you have something to offer prospects months from now (such as the recordings of your live event).
JOINT VENTURES — Whenever marketing live events, you should never rely on marketing solely to your own list. Other business owners will promote your event to their list is: (1) you pay a commission whenever a sale is made to one of their customers, and (2) if your event is a free workshop they can promote as a service to their customers and subscribers.
DIRECT MAIL — One of the best methods for marketing expensive live trainings and long-term programs is direct mail. The ideal direct-mail package includes a personalized letter to your customer plus a separate 8- or 12-page program announcement. Alternatively, an endorser can send their own customers a letter that talks about you, explains how they’ve personally benefited from your expertise, why they are recommending your live event and why they are recommending that people read the enclosed announcement.
CORPORATE PREVIEWS — A number of seminar promoters regularly contact large corporations with thousands of employees and offer to hold a free one-hour preview — signing up employees afterward for a local seminar. These might be “lunch-and-learn” programs held in the company cafeteria or perhaps a two-hour evening program held in a large conference room.
MARKETING-ORIENTED TELESEMINARS — Use email to promote a free teleseminar where you preview what will take place at your live seminar. Include guests on your teleseminar — either other experts who will be speaking at your event or people who’ve attended the same event in the past and can be interviewed about how their life has changed as a result. Provide quality information of value so the entire tele-seminar isn’t just one big commercial for your event. If you have a small group of listeners — such as 75 people or less — you can open the lines for questions at the end of the conference call. At the very end of the call, make sure listeners know that you have staff members standing by at your office to help folks register for the live event.
DISPLAY ADVERTISING — Display advertising is expensive, but useful for promoting local public seminars. Similarly, if you are targeting a specific industry or business subject, you should certainly advertise in that industry’s trade magazines. Try to buy advertising space on “remnant,” which is advertising space left over at the end of the month when all of the other advertising has already been placed and paid for. You should get pricing that’s up to 75% off the rates quoted on the magazine’s rate card.
OUTBOUND TELEMARKETING — If you have a relationship with a particular list of names, such as your own customers, you can get sales people to call these customers about your program or live event.
PRESS RELATIONS — By far the most cost effective method, press releases and radio-TV appearances are a great way to promote events — either within a specific industry or geographic territory. You should send a press release to all trade journals, trade association newsletters and other industry periodicals, particularly if you are selling in a specific business category. Websites such as PRWeb and PRNewswire will broadcast your press release to thousands of journalists, webmasters and others. Tying the subject of your seminar to a current event or trend is the key to successfully getting into print.
