How do you use email marketing for event promotion? Don’t make the mistake of thinking that email marketing is ineffective. Using email to reach potential event attendees is still one of the most effective ways to reach your audience.
Why?
Even though new technologies come out all the time, and Social Media and Social Marketing are all the rage, the fact remains that these are NEW technologies compared to the relatively ancient form of communication known as email. And it is still effective, if you do it right.
So, how do you do it right? You need to use an ESP (Email Service Provider) to get your email delivered, because these companies have special ‘white list’ approval by the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc.
Without this ‘white listing’, a lot of email doesn’t get delivered or gets flagged as SPAM, so sending email from your own domain instead of using an ESP is going to reduce the percentage of email that gets into your recipients’ inbox.
Which ESP should you use? There are different tiers of providers, from very cheap to very expensive, and which one you choose depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
If you have an in-house email list of customers or people that have already ‘opted-in’ to receive email from you, then you can choose a low-priced provider. In my experience, Aweber is the best of the best on the low end. Even though you are emailing to your ‘in-house’ list, you still need to use an ESP because of the white listing issue. SPAM filters still work no matter where you got the email address from.
On the other hand, if you are renting a list to prospect from, you need to use an ESP that specializes in that. Alternatively, a lot of companies that rent out lists will email for you, but they are list providers, not ESPs, so you will still have a lot of undeliverable email unless they are experienced at getting email delivered like and ESP is.
I am not going to even mention sending email to unsolicited email accounts. This is SPAM, pure and simple, and should NEVER be done. Those offers you get for 100 million email addresses should be ignored. Either you use an in-house list, or you pay to rent a list (or pay to advertise to someone else’s list).
You now need to craft a message, whether plain text or HTML, and get it sent. You should have a process in place that sends a click on the link in your email message to a specific page to register for the event or to a sales page to convince the prospect they SHOULD register for the event.
If you are renting a list, you probably won’t be able to send your email message more than once unless you pay again, so you want to drive these people to a page on your site where they can opt-in to your own inhouse list for you to be able to contact them again without paying more than once.
Which method you choose depends on which type of list you are emailing to - existing ‘customers’ on your in-house list should be an easier ’sale’ than cold prospects from a rented list.
And it doesn’t stop with only one message. ESPs can deliver an automated sequence of emails, 1 per day, or any schedule you choose. This autoresponder sequence should be loaded up in advance so a series of emails goes out to promote your event.
Now, what your email contents should be, or what your marketing message should be is a whole other subject. But the central points are:
1) Use an ESP to get your email delivered
2) Don’t just send one email - load up an autoresponder sequence of messages (if possible). If you are renting a list, this may mean you only get one shot at sending an email, but you can have these people go to a page where they opt-in to your own internal ‘in-house’ list so you can reach them again on your own without needing to rent the name again.
3) Have a hyperlink in the email that goes to a page to sell the event or for people to register for the event.
For a low-cost, full-featured ESP that allows for unlimited email lists, unlimited email blasts, unlimited autoresponders, as well as great reports and advanced feature like Split-Testing, etc., you can’t go wrong with Aweber.
On the high end are companies like Silverpop. Most people won’t need to take things to this level unless you are trying to sell out an arena or other huge venue.
Of course there is much more to email marketing for event promotion than the above, but the above should get you started.
If you’ve ever tried to do event promotion with social media, you’ve probably figured out there aren’t any shortcuts. But for those about to embark on this path, Stephanie Booth has written about her experiences in utilizing social media like Twitter, Facebook and other social networks and sites to promote her event.
The biggest takeaway from the above post is how much WORK it really is to do all of the one-on-one communication that keeps things personal.
Apparently, (and she’s speaking from first-hand experience), there is a diminishing return on the effort needed to benefit from what social networks have to offer versus the quicker method of bulk emailing or actually PAYING for advertising!
It turns out all of the blogging, instant messaging, forum posting, and social networking to promote an event is a full-time job and you should be prepared for the amount of effort required before you think social media is a magic bullet for event promotion.
I stumbled across this article by Donna DeClemente about a company called House Party that simply floored me by what could be considered one of the most powerful viral marketing ideas ever (seriously).
Basically, a House Party helps a company that wants to:
Direct sales and new customer acquisitions
Drive traffic to retail locations – brick and mortar as well as online
Create an intimate, immersive product trial experience where consumers can interact with a product in a hands-on, in-context way that can’t be achieved via media campaigns or showroom sales opportunities
Activate a viral, engaging product sampling and new product introduction session offering numerous purchase opportunities. (Can you see a huge need for promotional products to hand out at these events?)
Build an instant, highly engaged fan base for about-to-be-released media properties (e.g., television shows; music; movies; books; magazines)
Enhance and grow the fan base of existing media properties (e.g., television programs for season premieres, season finales, or other significant programming milestones)
Build excitement for event-driven programming (sporting events; award shows)
Develop a new or enhanced fan base for music releases
Dramatically improve ticket sales or unit sales for new theatrical or DVD release
One of the coolest things about this concept is the way it utilizes social marketing and social networking both before, during, and after the event.
Not only are the Host’s friends, family members, co-workers and other social contact invited to and engaged in the event, but as the event is happening, House Party provides the tools and technologies to update the event’s page during and after the event.
So, a single House Party event, happening 1000+ homes and attended by many times that number of people at the event is also followed online by many times that number and discussed and talked up for days or weeks (or longer) afterwards
How does it work? Well, go to this page to get the full scoop!
Among the more successful Social Networking sites is LinkedIn, which is like a professionals’ version of Facebook (more business oriented, less social). Among the categories listed on their site is a major section titled Conferences and Event Planning, which includes Conference Planning, Conference Venues, and Event Marketing and Promotions.
Margaret Core shared her success with marketing her BIO 2008 Convention using LinkedIn, saying “We have more than 500 new email contacts because of the Linked In page we created for our convention.”
OK, I’m going to reveal something here that I don’t think anyone else has thought of yet - how to do event marketing using Entrecards.
What’s Entrecard, you ask? Basically, it is a reciprocal advertising network made up of bloggers that install the Entrecard widget on their blog, and other bloggers earn credits by dropping their ‘card’ onto the Entrecard widget, like a business card is dropped off at an office.
Every time someone ‘drops’ their Entrecard onto another blogger’s Entrecard widget, credit is earned which can then be used to buy advertising on someone’s blog - your ad (which is your Entrecard graphic) appears in the Entrecard widget on the blog you selected to advertise on.
There’s a little more to it than just that, but of course you are asking yourself “How do I use this to market my event?”
Good question…here’s the answer:
1) Create a blog for your event (this is Event Marketing 101 - there is no better way to quickly create a website, get indexed by Google FAST, keep interested parties up to date on what is happening with your event, and get free marketing and publicity for your event).
There are lots of ways to get a blog up and running quickly as your ‘Event Website’ - you can use Blogger.com, Wordpress, Moveable Type, or any number of other hosted blogging platforms that provide simple, easy to use templates and tools to throw a blog together at internet speed.
2) Start posting about your Event - be sure to answer the Who, What, Where, When, Why questions thoroughly. Clearly describe what your event is about, who should attend, what will be happening there, guest speakers (if any) and their credentials - everything.
3) Open an Entrecard account, and create your Entrecard ‘card’ which will function as the ad promoting your event, so make it pretty and effectcive with a ‘Call to Action‘ (you know, ‘Click Here’ or ‘Party ’til you Drop’ - whatever). Direct marketing principals apply here, so make sure your ‘card’ functions like a banner/tile ad in terms of getting clicked. How to create compelling ads is beyond the scope of this post, so I’ll address that in the fuuture - check back here to learn more.
4) Install the Entrecard Widget into your blog - be sure to place it high up for visibility - if people are going to want to advertise on your blog, they are going to want their ad SEEN.
5) Start dropping your ‘card’ off at other blogs. The more you drop, the more credits you earn, and the more credits you earn the more your ‘card’ can be shown on other bloggers’ sites.
6) Once you’ve earned enough credits, find relevant blogs in the Entrecard system to advertise on - the key here is RELEVANCE - if your Event is in San Francisco, advertising on a blog that caters to Singapore is probably not a good idea. If your Event is for Gen. Y people, advertising on ‘Life after 60′ blogs also sounds like a bad choice, no?
There is lots more to this technique than just what I’ve written above - for example, you could also join in the community on Entrecard.com to generate interest. Be a good ‘citizen’ and converse with like-minded bloggers to build relationships that will help you in ways I couldn’t even begin to enumerate.
Also, be sure to post often on your blog, and encourage those that drop by your Event Blog to tell others about your event. If your event is truly something people would want to attend, it isn’t shameless promoting to get those that are enthusiastic about it to talk it up for you. That’s what Social Marketing is all about!
There are many other ways to do event marketing with Web 2.0 and Social Media sites, but this is one way that will promote your event to the people that would be interested in attending. With a little effort, your event promotion with Entrecards should result in a roaringly successful event.
They say there is nothing new under the sun, but entrepeneurs sure do find ways to mash up old ideas in new ways, and starting a business via crowdsourcing certainly qualifies.
Usually, when trying to launch a new business, or get a new product off the ground, the typical hunt for venture capital or institutional investors takes time, patience, perserverance and a LOT of work.
It’s refreshing to hear about a new business model termed ‘crowdsourcing’ which taps the power of social networks in a way big corporations could only dream about.
Upstarts: Launch Your Own Apparel Company for $50 - The apparel brand, which is still in the design phase, is using a creative business model, known by a variety of names like crowdsourcing, crowdfounding, and community managed, that raises small amounts of money from a large group of …
Read the above article for the full scoop, but the practical upshot of this business model is to get large quantities of people to contribute small amounts of money for input and managerial control of a new product line or business.
Crowdsourcing is also used for mass collaboration projects like Wikipedia or simply designing a new graphic or logo, but raising capital using crowdsourcing may be the ticket for a budding entrepeneur to get started using ‘other peoples money.’
Simon Ford has a great article on how to use the latest social media trend of microblogging to market your event.
Basically, microblogging involves posting updates in real-time, either text, photos or video, using services like Twitter, or the ’status update’ features of social sites like Facebook. Using these types of services means the information is more readily accessible because people can both post and see these updates on their cellphones.
There are some great ideas in that article, like how to incorporate microblogging with Google Maps or putting a watch on Twitter updates to find people that may be interested in your event. Visit the above link to get the full story.
Everyone is getting on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, which includes using social media and social marketing to promote events. Websites like Facebook and MySpace get more traffic than Google on any given day, and that is fertile ground for promoting an event since events are social activities anyway.
So the question is: How do you utilize social media to do event promotion and event marketing? Read the following article:
Not every event can benefit from what social media has to offer, but the above article will get you started in tapping into the communities of people that would be interested in your event. Social media sites like HubPages and Squidoo can also be used to create an event information page with interactive Web 2.0 goodness that provides a social, collaborative atmosphere leading up to your event and getting feedback after your event.
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OK, I’m going to reveal something here that I don’t think anyone else has thought of yet - how to do event marketing using Entrecards.
