Monday, May 12, 2008

Hear Ye, Hear Ye Marketing – Ten Tips to spread the word about your events

Ever had a party where no one showed up? You spent time decorating. You had the food catered from this nice little hole-in-the-wall up the street. You got all dressed up and when the door bell didn’t ring you were crushed.

This is much like an event a client had recently that was poorly attended. He spent time putting together and getting approval for a presentation for his financial advisor practice. He rented a conference room in an upscale boutique hotel and had scrumptious food brought in by an executive chef. He set up a PowerPoint presentation and waited.

What happened? He spent more time planning the event than promoting it. What could he have done to spread the word so that his event came off with a bang?

There are many ways you can promote your events so that they are well attended. The methods you employ will depend upon how ritzy you want your event to be and the goal for the event. Do you want new clients or just exposure?

1. Send invitations to your clients six weeks in advance and ask for a RSVP. Word your invitations to include a free invitation for your client’s best friend.

2. Have your staff follow up the mailed invitation with a phone invitation. Your response rate will be much higher if you touch your clients through mail and phone.

3. Attend networking events and announce the details of your event.

4. Send a blurb about your event to your local newspaper at least 3 weeks in advance. Your local newspaper has business and lifestyle event calendars that will list your event free of charge.

5. Use the services of online Press Release Distribution websites. Some are free and some charge an annual fee: http://www.prweb.com/ http://www.prnewswire.com/ http://www.marketwire.com/

6. Send a Press Release to your local newspaper, both before AND after your event. Use a professional or someone with experience to write the release. You want to make sure it’s newsworthy.

7. Announce the event on the home page of your website and include a link to the page on online calendars.

8. Use online event listing services such as the Business Journal in your city http://www.bizjournals.com/. This can be a GREAT way to drive traffic to your website and give you excellent exposure.

9. Utilize Yahoo’s service http://upcoming.yahoo.com/ to post an event in your city. Also use http://www.yelp.com to broadcast your event - allows comments from attendees.

10. Give Event Brite a go if you want to send email invitations and monitor the status of your RSVP’s: http://www.eventbrite.com/

Use these tips to pack the room and get the word out about your event. Spend time promoting your event and make it a success!

Grow Your Business & Prosper!
Suzanne Muusers
Business Coach for Entrepreneurs and Financial Advisors
Scottsdale Arizona
http://www.prosperitycoaching.biz/

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