Marketing efficiency is always a good thing. I mean, who has an unlimited marketing budget? Well, maybe some companies do, but for the most part, being able to get far more value out of a marketing investment than projected is cause to celebrate.
For example, events. � In the digital marketing world, the number of online and real world events has exploded. Despite many options to choose from, it can get costly to send staff to multiple events per year and even more if you sponsor or exhibit.
But this post is more about what one might do holistically to leverage multiple communication channels to promote an event and how an event can serve multiple marketing and business objectives.
For the purpose of this example, I’ll use parts of a promotional program following a standard model of:
Audience > Objectives > Tactics > Tools > Measurement
Audience:
Influential PersonaMedia PersonaCustomer Persona 1Customer Persona 2Objectives:
Establish credibility in the industry and associated communityBuild buzz about the event & inspire viral sharingLeverage the event for media coverage regionally, on blogs and industry pulicationsAttract signups/attendees for the eventGenerate content at the first event to use with subsequent event marketing & PRStrategy:Create content that will demonstrate insights (keyword specific) and promote the event on sites the company controls, contributed articles to industry web sites and pitchingCreate awareness of event through pitching other bloggers and marketing contacts to announce the eventBuild enough interest within the target audience to motivate signups by promoting the event using social media tactics27 Online Marketing and PR Tactics:Create a landing page for the event on the company website or blog with embedded overview video (series of videos like 10 tips on � could work too)Publish a series of interviews on the company blog with key individuals that have influence on the target topic. Promote the event at the end of the interviewsPitch and contribute articles about key topics related to the event with important industry publications (online and offline)Promote the event to online event sites Zvents, Upcoming and event calendars (online, email or print)Write & distribute news releases (1, 2, 3) each taking a different anglePitch stories to general marketing publicationsPitch story to regional publications where the event will be heldPublish a series of videos, 1 for each key topic or problem solved. Post to YouTube and distribute via TubeMogul to other video sharing sites. Alternate titles and tags.Offer guest blog post to small business bloggers, especially those in the region where the event will be heldPopulate the social media profiles that have been registered with keyword optimized content, linking to an event landing pageCreate a series of promotional emails and landing pages for the event directed towards an in-house list (like an email newsletter)Pre write a promo/guest post that other bloggers can easily use – customize it.Send follow up emails with themed creativeCreate a cool badge that other blogs can add to their site in exchange for a link from the Social Media Smarts “friends” page.Get testimonials for staff that will be speaking – text, audio and/or video formatsGenerate link bait ideas such as: Custom Google search engine just for target industry blogs, List of relevant tools, List of the best target industry topical resources (based on a poll of readers), Post a question on LinkedIn and publish resultsAsk friends to promote – give them a write up, image/logo and a place to point toOffer people options other than signing up for the event: RSS, Twitter, White paper, webinar – for those that are not yet ready to do the workshop, to keep in contact with themCreate content that justifies the cost of the workshop – under promise and over deliverAs a fulfillment piece, offer a white paper on social media marketing and a guide for winning budget or to justify cost for attending the seminar. Brand it, make it coolCreate a social media smarts score for blogs. Rank blogs based on their use of social media and then score them. Give a dynamic badge they could put on their blog.Crowdsource from social networks content for the presentation and recognize contributors online and at the eventContest for marketing partners to help promote event, recognition and/or material rewardsPromote attendance goals and show progressPromote limited seating/limited offer (exclusive, fear of loss) to motivate sign-upsPromote speaking slot via twitter and geolocation tools like FourSquare during eventSponsor or create a Twitter chat leading up the event to discuss topics of relevance and that address pain points of target audience. Make sure chats are archived and that promotions for the event exist on the archive.Tools:Company BlogColumn on industry siteColumn on partner blogGuest post on friendly industry web sitePress releasesGuest blog postsContributed articles: industry publicationsEvent listing sites: Upcoming, Zvents, etcViral/link bait content, contestsVideo sharing sites: YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, Facebook and Tubemogul distributionImage sharing sites: Flickr, ZoomrSocial Networking: LinkedIn, FacebookTwitter accounts and networkSocial news and bookmarking sitesSocial event listing sites, plancast, Facebook, LinkedIn, etcEvent calendars for publications and/or pitch pubs on SMS as a noteworthy eventGeolocation sites Foursquare, GowallaMeasurement:Social monitoring of keywords and topics related to company brand and eventTraffic to landing pagesPage views of landing pagesSignupsPre-conversions: white paper, RSS, Twitter and social network connections, reports, webinars, newsletterViews of social media promoted off site (Tweets, Facebook likes, Comments, etc)Content Capture and Marketing From the Event/Attendees:Give attendees tools to promote the eventRecognize attendees for attendingOffer post-event communications/networkingCapture video interviews with satisfied attendeesGive attendees a USB storage drive with presentation and useful tools pre-loaded.Give attendees an incentive to get others to sign up at subsequent eventsCould I list more than this? Could you do more? Of course. Is it efficient? No. This is a list of ideas. I can’t imagine doing them all for a single or short series of events. � There’s nothing wrong with those tactics for promoting events, but the focus here is mostly on editorial or content based promotion.What creative tactics have you used to be more efficient with event and speaking gig promotions?� Have you ever found yourself at the end of an event wishing you’d done more or done things differently to promote?
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