Conferences and trade shows comprise 20% for Europe, 17% for the Asia Pacific, and 10% for Central/South America of all the events taking place.
As conferences are held with the objective to share knowledge and experience among the people who share common interests, they should be promoted well to ensure that the educational offerings are reaching a wide spectrum of the people!
Have a conference approaching too? Don’t feel anxious about promoting it as we have some of the best tips for you!
You probably have a marketing plan if there is an annual conference scheduled for you to take care of.
However, sometimes an event’s success demands you to extend beyond just the regular marketing strategies.
Employing cliche and mainstream marketing ideas is commonplace so you really need to up your game and do something innovative and out of the box to stand out!
Also, audiences are inspired more by unique strategies so it’s time to incorporate some effective conference marketing ideas
I am sharing a few ideas that will hopefully help you get maximum attendees at the conference!
#1. Look for Industry influencers
Every industry tends to have influencers who have the power to shape other people’s opinion with their impact.
You need to find out who the top influencers are as far as the subject of your conference is concerned.
Most likely these experts will have a huge sphere of influence that may align with your target audience and this is where word of the mouth can work the most for trickling down to most people!
See how you can get them involved with your event substantially!
You can ask them to make a promotional video with them in it that can be shared all across social media or you can ask them to share the conference details on their feed as well!
#2. Digital Marketing
Additionally, you need to develop a powerful digital marketing strategy to target your potential attendees for the conference.
Create a brief digital ad and get it run on digital platforms like television, radio as well as social media. Create maximum buzz but as much as you can!
The most potent tool of the digital marketing arena is undoubtedly social media with 3.5 billion active users.
Create an upcoming event on Facebook and employ sponsored ads to make your post reach a wider range of people, like the one in the picture below!
Don’t forget to set the demographics and interests of the people for these ads. That way it will appear in front of the people to choose to show.
Influencer marketing at the same time can also be equally encouraging for conveying your message to a larger audience so make use of that significantly!
Influencers have a great sphere of influence and their well-timed strategic posts can do wonders for your event!
Online marketing strategies require you to also incorporate Google ads campaigns into your marketing plan. Such campaigns are known to receive higher engagement and with each $1 dollar invested you can earn double the amount.
You simply have to pay for your links to appear on the top of google generated results as people are more likely to tap the top links!
Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference is a prime example of a large scale event. It caters to the interests of developers as well as product users.
Activities include a speech from a highly sophisticated speaker as well as sessions that enlighten customers on how to get the most out of their products.
#3. Try SMS Marketing
It takes an average of 3 minutes to open SMS therefore you must explore the uncanny channel of SMS marketing.
You can launch a text message SMS campaign for informing your targeted audience about the conference.
This fastest medium of communication will spread your word at the speed of the light.
The best part is the convenience it gives in terms of promoting something so incorporate conference marketing ideas like these that are extremely effective.
SMS providers like express text provide efficient services that you must not miss out on!
Because text messages appear on people’s mobile phones, they feel more personalized than other forms of marketing, the major reason behind excessive use of SMS marketing for business promotion these days.
Presently, from millennials to elderly people, everybody is addicted to their phones, meaning you can use this opportunity to get a considerable response!
#4. Marketing through sponsors and speakers
Event sponsorship promotion is an important element of event marketing and can be one of the most effective conferences marketing ideas.
Also, you can replicate the “Humans of New York” format on social media for sharing stories and experiences from each brand that is your very sponsor for the event.
Such activities will also help prospects see how their values coincide with your event.
Sponsors can help cut your costs and boost your revenues, so just don’t undervalue their potential!
#5. Create a theme
Successful conferences have a theme that informs potential attendees of what’s happening and why it is important to know about it.
Meet with your conference planning committee to develop the main focus for your conference’s educational offerings.
It could be business development, new technologies, addressing a recent marketplace development, or other current topics that have the world talking.
Add a variety of non-related educational topics to give attendees more seminars to attend.
Just make sure that the audience ties into your main theme, if possible.
For example, a conference on women empowerment must have its theme revolving around women that instantly gives people an idea about what it is!
Such conference marketing ideas will impart a sense of connectivity with your potential attendees getting them more interested to attend!
#6. Get banners printed
While we are living in an incredibly progressive digital world, print media is still a prominent part of the marketing mix and cannot be overlooked.
Investing in print media can help businesses to extend their reach to potential customers, gain exposure, and engage their target audiences with campaigns.
Similarly, you can get vinyl banners printed and get them placed in high traffic areas for catching the maximum eyes.
Get these banners displayed at the conference venue almost a month ahead of the event as well.
Moreover, newspaper ads and magazine advertisements can be of great help as 2.5 million people are habitual to reading newspapers and you never know which medium of marketing could introduce you to your potential attendees.
#7. Optimize the event registration website
Your event registration website can be a powerful promotional tool, provided you leverage it properly.
Optimizing the website can be one of the great conference marketing ideas. It will allow you certain benefits like keeping a track of the web traffic and will also help you improve in the areas your performance has been feeble.
You can also integrate a web analytics tool on your website for monitoring the traffic. Moreover, you can use mapping tools like HotJar for making the user experience seamless.
#8. Offer discounted tickets
Your agenda is to capture your target audience’s attention, right? You can only achieve that if you offer something stimulating enough.
How about selling discounted tickets in a limited time offer? I bet it is surely going to work as one of the most effective conference marketing ideas!
By sending out such offers in advance of the event, you’ll be reminding your audience about the annual conference they have been wanting to attend.
Attendees who had already made up the mind to attend could also use the reminder to complete their registration at the earliest!
This strategy will give you a chance to regain the audience that initially approached but declined the thought of attending the conference for some reason.
#9. Create videos to recap the experience
You can create interesting videos using this online video editor by adding small snippets from your past conferences to show the attendees what they can expect from your events.
Visual content is always believed to have a great psychological impact and it is easier to process. According to Forbes, 91% of people like visual content more than written text.
You can upload this video on your social media sites days before the actual event day. This could arouse a wave of excitement in your potential audience.
Make sure to add impactful content with appealing background music. Paying heed to such little details will leave more people wanting to attend the conference.
For example, Gainsight, a software company, came up with an intriguing video for pulse 2017 having energetic music and impromptu testimonials to convey the vibe of their event to their potential attendees!
Showing glimpses of your past events help to capture the attention of many!
#10. Engage the Attendees
39% of event professionals have consensus that ‘engaging attendees’ is the most critical factor in stirring a response in an audience amid a live event.
Use a ticket boost campaign strategy to sell maximum tickets. For example, Whenever a ticket is sold, the buyer can be privileged to share a special link via their social media or email.
The link will act as a discount code that may compel new registrants to buy the ticket.
You can even make it more interesting by offering a double-sided incentive by refunding a portion of the ticket amount to the link bearer with every new ticket purchase that happens through their promo post.
Moreover, offering a complimentary skill certification course can be a useful idea. Why not give future attendees a mini video session for a skill or subject in demand?
Get speakers and interesting sponsors to be featured in video lectures your attendees would be interested in watching and learning from!
#11. Location can boost attendance
Many potential conference attendees are influenced by the location.
Decide the venue wisely, as an attractive venue helps tremendously with your marketing efforts.
Carefully analyze the cost differences and choose the best possible while remaining in the boundaries of your budget.
Try choosing a central location that is approachable for most of the potential attendees. If your location is too far from transport platforms, people will have trouble getting there!
The right venue will affect the number of attendees coming in positively, turning your event into a win-win situation so make sure you don’t go wrong with that.
#12. Use Snapchat/Instagram geo-filters
Most people have Instagram and Snapchat accounts and the first thing they do upon reaching an event venue is putting up stories. Nearly 500 million people use Instagram stories every day.
However, if that very location has a geo filter it triggers more and more people to add stories. Since these filters are so much in vogue, you must use this opportunity to promote your event!
Getting attendees excited about showing up is easy when you make use of funny filters in the experience.
Promote your conference ahead of time by creating filters and adding them to your future event location.
Remember to include your conference title, logo, and dates!
#13. E-mail Marketing
An effective e-mail marketing strategy can also help you achieve your target!
You can use e-mail providers like Mail Chimp. Of Course, no e-mail campaign is built without prior permission from the people so you need to get people opt-in for that first.
Send out e-mails to your potential attendees informing them about the conference.
In order to convey a message that the reader will remember, make sure to be very transparent with that! Try to avoid sending vague e-mails.
If your intention is to have the reader register for the event, make that very clear in the email by sending along with the procedure for registration also.
Conclusion
Skilled event promoters don’t wait for people to come in rather they tempt them to show up through the use of intelligent marketing ideas!
Simple invitations aren’t enough to get people to attend a live event like that of a conference. Instead, use a variety of innovative marketing tools to maximize attendance.
You need to consider the expectations of your potential audience to be able to create effective conference marketing ideas!