Are you in the process of planning a business conference? If so, you’ll want to make sure that you put a lot of thought into your marketing strategy. Marketing is key when it comes to selling out your event.
Hosting a business conference is tough work. You have to consider so many different factors, from finding the right venue to booking speakers. But one of the most important aspects of planning a successful conference is marketing. Unfortunately, many conference organizers don’t put enough time and effort into their marketing strategy. As a result, they end up with an event that doesn’t live up to its potential.
If you want to make sure that your conference is a success, you need to create a comprehensive marketing plan. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the best conference marketing strategies that you can use to sell out your event.
Find your target audience
One of the most important aspects of marketing your conference is choosing the right target audience. You need to identify who your ideal attendees are and what they’re interested in. Once you’ve done that, you can create targeted marketing campaigns that appeal to them.
For example, let’s say that you’re hosting a conference for small business owners. Your target audience might be people who are self-employed or who work for a small company. You would then want to create marketing materials, including conference flyers, that speak to their needs and interests.
Let your business card do the talking
Apart from putting up posters and flyers online and in high-traffic areas, you should also make sure to distribute your business cards. You can leave them at local businesses or hand them out to people you meet. Business cards are an effective way to promote your conference because they’re easy for people to carry around and contain all the important information about your event.
It’s pretty easy to craft the perfect business card. All you need to do is use an online graphic design tool like PosterMyWall, which provides a nifty business card creator with hundreds of templates to choose from. As a rule of thumb, your business card should include your scope of services, your name, contact information, and your company logo.
Make use of social media
In today’s digital age, it’s essential to use social media when marketing your conference. But before that, you need to see which social media platforms your target audience uses. For instance, if your conference is about hunting the right talent, running a campaign on LinkedIn makes the most sense because that’s where most recruiters and job seekers are present.
In general, we recommend going for Facebook because it’s the largest social media platform millions of people use daily. Once you’ve selected your platform, you must create engaging content and post it regularly. To reach a wider audience, you should also use relevant hashtags, Facebook shared image templates, and Instagram post templates.
You can also run targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram, which will help you reach your target audience more effectively. You can also use social media to create a buzz about your conference by holding contests and giving away free tickets. Just make sure you post relevant Instagram stories to get the word across.
Email marketing can get you more visitors
Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing strategies out there. It allows you to reach a large number of people with minimal effort. Plus, it’s relatively inexpensive and easy to set up.
When using email marketing to promote your conference, make sure to segment your list so that you’re only sending relevant information to people who are interested in your event. You can segment your list by job title, company size, or location.
Once you’ve segmented your list, you can start creating email campaigns. To ensure people open and read your emails, use an engaging subject line and include a strong call to action. For example, you could say, “Save the date for the XYZ Conference.”
A final piece of advice
Social media is a powerful marketing tool if you know how to use it to your advantage. While the above marketing strategies work like a charm, we strongly recommend you open up a live feed on your Facebook or Instagram business page throughout the conference. This will give your audience a behind-the-scenes look and make them feel more connected to your brand.
It will also help your potential audience who couldn’t make it to your conference understand what they missed out on. Next time, you’ll see them in future seminars and conferences. Lastly, don’t forget to use the power of word-of-mouth marketing. Ask your attendees to share their experiences with their friends and colleagues. A little goes a long way in promoting your conference!
