How to produce event marketing that actually gets noticed, read & leads to paid registration

Our brains are easily distracted.

They are rather lazy. Our minds would rather wander than pay attention. It just takes too much energy to stay focused and we exhaust quickly. We have “continuous partial attention—a semi-attentive state in which people continuously scan for opportunities, activities, and contacts,” as leadership consultant Linda Stone describes it.

So how does your event marketing cut through all the noise and distractions and garner your target market’s attention? How do you get heard amongst all the racket? What do you need to do to design effective meeting marketing strategies in today’s post pandemic world?

Here are four guiding principles that will help your event marketing strategies get noticed and read.

1. Shift your view.

   Too many meeting professionals and marketing teams write from their own perspective. They think about what would attract them.

   They say things like:
   “Join me and other like-minded professionals…”
   “Register by this date to get the early bird rate.”
   “Watch this week’s message from the conference chair.”

   Do those sound deliciously enticing? Do those make you want to click and read or watch further? Nope, they are boring, hum-drum wasted distractions. They make you want to hit the delete button fast!

   Here’s the dilemma: your target market is thinking, “So what’s in this for me?” and “Do I really matter to you or do you just see me as attendance dollars to reach your goals?”

   To get out of this trap, shift your view and think about your marketing and content from your audience’s view. Think about why your target market should click on your link or read your email. Then write your copy with them in mind. Content marketing—shown below—will also help you shift your view.

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2. Embrace helpful as your filter for your event marketing.

   So what really grabs people’s attention and makes them read or click a link? One of the top reasons is providing something helpful.

   Things that are helpful—those that make our jobs better, that makes our lives feel more meaningful or help us get ahead—have a strong magnetic pull on us. When developing your event marketing, if you bust your gut to help your target market, you’ll always have a willing and eager audience ready to hear from you.

   So run all your event marketing materials through the helpful lens and you’ll find that your target market will engage more with you. If it isn’t helpful—like marketing hype and spin—don’t post it! (Note advertising that you have 160 sessions with 300 experts is not helpful information. It’s marketing hype and your audience could care less! It actually repels them.)

3. Content Marketing is so bright, you’ve got to wear shades.

   Content marketing is the strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action, says the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). In short, instead of marketing all the features of your event and pitching your speakers, you provide information that makes your buyer more intelligent. Useful content becomes the core of your event’s marketing efforts.

   There’s a big difference between useful, relevant, helpful content and the informational trash that many organizations use to try to sell their events. We see most of those marketing and sales pitches as a nuisance and spam.

   The basic belief behind content marketing is that “…if we deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty,” says CMI. And it results in increased sales, cost savings, increased customer loyalty and content as a profit states CMI.

   So what does this look like for your meeting?

   You might drip-out some of the speakers’ content before the actual event. Use your subject matter expert speakers as thought leaders and share some of their insights in your meeting marketing. Describe the big issues your meeting will address and provide one or two take-away solutions.

4. Avoid being the pushy sales person and focus on the solutions your event provides.

   We all know the stereotype of the sleazy, pushy used car salesman. They talk endlessly about themselves and the features they provide. You want to avoid those sales tactics.

   Instead show your target market that you know and care for them. Communicate to them your understanding of their situations and the issues that keep them up and night. Talk about them not you or your organization.

   Highlight how your event meets your target markets’ needs. Showcase how your conference will help your audience reach their aspirations. Discuss the top issues your audience faces and demonstrate how your conference provides tangible solutions. Be a solutions-provider not an event features in-your-face spammer.