Who’s holding virtual events these days?
All the big dogs, the thought leaders, and the innovators — that’s who.
And so should YOU.
Once your teleseminar, webinar, blogging contest, Twitter hashtag party, or other virtual event is planned out, the fun begins!
It’s time to have fun marketing your event.
Take these tips into account and get the (marketing) ball rolling …
Top Five Tips For Marketing Your Virtual Events
1. Use compelling, benefits-driven promotional copy:
Generate excitement with benefits built into your registration page headlines. Create landing pages that include information on the location, date, time, registration instructions, and hashtags wherever you can.
It’s your promotional copy — and how it’s written — that is going to entice people to sign up!
2. Think long and hard about your audience:
Consider their jobs, their schedules, their wants and needs. Give a lot of thought to whether a weekday or weekend would be best to insure good attendance.
Design event marketing materials that create highly personalized and highly targeted messages that grab the attention of your audience. What solutions will your virtual event provide to solve your audience’s pressing problems?
3. Spread the word far and wide and leave no stones unturned:
Get your information out early to time-starved professionals before they are booked with other commitments. Use an integrated marketing approach that includes email blasts to your list, flyers, social networks, blog posts, and ads in industry publications.
Most importantly, be persistent!
Send your target audience promotional messages more than once. Test for yourself, but three times seems to be the magic number. First, well in advance. Second, two or three weeks in advance. Third, as a last-minute, “final chance” reminder.
4. Get the media on board:
There are lots of media outlets available now through which you can announce your event. Send social media press releases to industry writers, journalists, reporters, and bloggers.
Make use of public relations as a primary tool for your marketing and promotional efforts.
5. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up:
Your marketing shouldn’t end as soon as your event does. Take advantage of leads and connections made at virtual events by following up with surveys, special promotions, and personalized notes through email communications and social media venues.
The event may be over, but building those all-important relationships has just begun.
