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FOMO-Inducing Event Promo Strategies You Need to Know
287 Plays8 months ago
Do your palms start to sweat at the thought of planning your next event? Overwhelmed by the challenge of getting as many of the right attendees as possible to show up?
In this episode, Susan and Jess reveal their favorite secrets to getting “butts in seats” and turning your event into a FOMO-inducing success story. We’re exploring the intricacies of event marketing — specifically the lead up to the event — from setting goals and themes to creating FOMO and using paid strategies.
In this Episode:
- Setting clear goals and a theme for your event
- Tips for attracting sign ups and attendees
- How to best use paid ads in your event promotion
Recommended
Transcript
Leveraging FOMO in Event Marketing
00:00:00
Speaker
All the things we're about to talk about are going to inspire some sort of FOMO. like That is the goal. like Get people to think, if I don't go to this event, i'm like I'm going to be missing out on so much information. I'm going to be behind.
The Revival of Event Marketing Post-COVID
00:00:20
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome to a new episode of That's Marketing, Baby. I am here with my amazing co-host, Jess Cook. Oh, hi. Hello. We decided to switch it up a bit. And even though we're still going to be talking about marketing, one of the things that we realized we haven't talked much about, and they're making a comeback post COVID, ah is events. We have not talked about event marketing at all. We've never touched on it. and Since we're in summer and it's going to be you know ramping up into conference type seasons and all that stuff once summer's over, we thought it was rather timely to have this discussion to talk about how I think a lot of places focus on events from a coordination perspective like venues and finding speakers and all that stuff. but
00:01:07
Speaker
No one really talks a whole lot about how to actually market the event and like how do you get that she's in seats, right? So we thought this would be a great topic, something a little different than what we talked about before. So that is what we were going to touch on today. Yes.
Challenges in Event Marketing
00:01:21
Speaker
And I have to say, like, I have worked on events um and a couple different companies now, both in-person and virtual. And I find them to be one of the most stressful parts of marketing because they're and I think the driver of that is the fact that there is a
00:01:37
Speaker
There is a date that cannot get moved because once it's out there, once it is you know on a website or you have a venue booked, it's happening on that day. and like Each day you get closer, you know you are either that much closer to like total failure or success. and so you know i think The the kind of end all be all is like, did we get the right people there? And and that is that is like the job of the marketer, right? like One is to to make sure the content is
Setting Goals and Themes for Events
00:02:09
Speaker
right. and And two, which is the part we're going to talk about today, is like getting the people there to see the content, to you know take away whatever it is that you're trying to impart on them. I think the other thing too, kind of to your point about why they're stressful,
00:02:24
Speaker
is if you think about the stuff that you and I usually talk about in marketing, it's stuff you can't really do with an event. like You can't repurpose the things you make for an event yeah if the event doesn't happen or if the event sucks. You don't want to relive it, right? So you're not going to keep using that stuff. And then I think the other thing is too, there is a there's an upfront cost associated with it that you can't really pivot. So if you start running a content strategy or amplifying and if it's not working, half our podcasts are about how to pivot, how to fix things. We're gonna know if it's working or not working or what to do with it if it's not working. So we've given you a lot of tools for that, but you can't really, you can't pivot an event. It's booked, the venues booked, deposits are made, it is locked in.
00:03:10
Speaker
So I think that's the other piece is it's not as malleable as other parts of marketing tend to be where it's like, you could recut it, you could pivot, it's like, no, it is this date at this venue, this thing is happening, right? And I think even more so in person because with webinars, it's like, if no one shows up, no one really knows except for the organizers, right?
Identifying and Engaging the Right Audience
00:03:30
Speaker
So it's a little, you have a lot of shots at that. and You only get one shot at the end person. Totally. And with virtual, you have the content, you can use it again with in person. It's like it is very make or break. So now we have everyone. Are you sufficiently scared? Okay, let's do it. What we want to do today is help you get people there, whether it's virtual or in person, that that's kind of the idea. So
00:03:54
Speaker
I think first, let's talk about first and foremost, like what is the goal of the event? Because I think you can't start trying to get people there until you know who is the right person to show up. like Is this a customer event? Is it for prospects? Are we just trying to generate leads by educating people on some sort of tangential topic to you know the product or the service that we provide? So I think first you have to kind of know like, what what do we want to get out of this? Are we handing a bunch of leads off to sales? Okay, great. Now I kind of know where to begin and and what this needs to be about. And i can I can build something around that. Yeah. And I think that that's true. Also, it's it's kind of like we've talked about too, when you go into any type of campaign, whether it's content or whether it's paid, understand what it is you're trying to get out of it. And I think
00:04:45
Speaker
with something like an event, it's also important to understand what it is you're going to measure to know how successful it is. you know I think a lot of times everyone's like, oh, we got this many registrants. But if it's not if it turns out that it's not the people you wanted, you know if you're trying to go after a mid-level B2B and it's all SMBs that sign up and show up, and they're not people that would be a great fit, like if you're you know a SaaS company and if they're not a good fit, You may have had a full room, but is it really a success, right? It's kind of like getting a whole bunch of clicks and no conversions. Totally. but To put into ad nerd speak, that's kind of the inverse equivalent of that. Exactly. So step one, get your goals and your KPIs right. Yep. 100%. Okay.
Using Themes for Consistent Messaging
00:05:28
Speaker
Next, I think a theme is really helpful in just like driving not only just the content of an event, but the promotion and the messaging. And like I have to write all these talk titles now, and I need to write some sort of abstract so that people know like what is the talk about. And if you have kind of an umbrella theme, It's really going to help drive all of that, and it's going to help drive the promotion and get the right people to show up, right? So like, if I am aiming it at a specific audience, I'm going to want to theme it around something that matters to them, that is like helping them solve a problem, um ah you know, really speaks to them in their language, right? And so I think a theme can really go a long way.
00:06:18
Speaker
um both in like building the event itself, but also in the promotion both before the event and after, like when you're repurposing it all. and it's I think that makes it easier ah from a promotional aspect too, like once you have the content for distribution purposes, because whether you're paying to amplify it or if you're just kind of putting it out there, you don't want to get 16 things that look disjointed because and everyone's like, is the you you can't put the that type of pressure on like one event logo to tie all this together for people.
00:06:50
Speaker
You know, it kind of has to, it can't just be the branding piece. It has to be, you know, you can't have like one topic about, you know, technical, whatever, and then have something that's like, oh, here's how to use AI in your company's marketing. It's like, if it's just all over the place, people aren't going to really understand what it is they should feel like they're walking in into. um So I think that's, that's the other piece too is it's, it makes it easier to promote because you're being more consistent in what you're saying is going to be happening. Yeah. And it helps them understand what you stand for too, right? Like if there's a theme that like is very, um, it it telegraphs what it is that like your brand is or, you know, what, what you stand for, what your point of view is like.
00:07:31
Speaker
Oh, okay. Then I'm going to much better understand not only like the content I'm going to get out of this ah webinar event, whatever, um but also like how your brand kind of fits into this and why you have some sort of authority to even have an event on this topic, right? Yep.
Strategies for Event Promotion
00:07:49
Speaker
So speaking of authority, Let's start talking about the nitty gritty of the promotion piece because I think this is where the rubber really meets the road on the marketing side and there's a lot of ways you can tackle it. right and i think
00:08:06
Speaker
As you and I were talking through this episode, I think there are some things that are really more particular to in-person events, and some things that are really more particular to virtual events. So we'll kind of note those things as we go through them, because we might be like, this might happen at a different timeline than you know one versus another. um But let's let's talk about the you know the that getting people excited piece, because that's what we do as marketers, right? Get people to want to be there. Yeah. So I think overall, really quickly, is like all the things we're about to talk about are going to inspire some sort of FOMO. like That is the goal. like Get people to think, if I don't go to this event, i like I'm going to be missing out on so much information. I'm going to be behind. right um I think something that recently did that to me was the Exit 5 Drive event that's coming up in September.
00:08:56
Speaker
Um, and we're going to talk about this a little bit later, but they capped their tickets at 150 tickets and it sold out day one and I was like, no, I wanted to be there so badly. Um, and part of that was because of who I was seeing was like posting that they were signing up. We'll talk about that in a bit too. um They opened it back up and had another 50 tickets and I was able to snag one. And I am like so jazzed about this thing. like Just the way that they promoted it, the the way that they had people you know post about it when they actually got their ticket, like they did it right and and they really inspired that FOMO. So I think look at everything that you do with a lens of like how am I going to get someone to feel like
00:09:40
Speaker
gosh, I got to be there or else i'm I'm literally going to be behind all of the people that show up to this event.
Speaker Promotions and Visibility
00:09:47
Speaker
I think you know the other piece too is, and this can be a timing part because some of it depends on which speakers are confirmed, which aren't, um but I think getting the speakers to be involved and especially if they have large followings to say they're going to be there. um And it can be hard, man. I speak at a lot of conferences, and it's hard because if they do a lot of them, it's really hard to keep up. I won't lie. It's just kind of like, run this date, and this is the verbiage they asked you used. And so, you know.
00:10:15
Speaker
If you can get them to to participate for it, that's great. A lot of times the conferences have to do a lot of that posting on their behalf. But I think if you can, at the very least, get a testimonial from the speaker about why it's a conference either they were excited to speak at or it's one they've spoken at before and here's why they're happy to do it again. um And you can create the graphics if you know and or or do a write up if you can't. But I think that that's such a big part of it because speakers tend to be the draw to get people in the door initially. Yeah, absolutely. Make it easy on your speakers. Supply them with some stuff, but ultimately give them the freedom to like say what they want to say that they know their audience is going to relate to.
Creating a Promotional Timeline
00:10:54
Speaker
I've even seen where people have their speakers all post on the same day, right? It's like a big bliss or the same week kind of spread about over a couple days. And so it just feels like this event is all up in my feed and like
00:11:07
Speaker
I love all these people, right? And I really respect all of them and I want to hear what they have to say. So um I think that's a really, really smart way to inspire some FOMO, and go about it. There's also, I think there's a lot to be said about um kind of finding milestones um before the event that makes sense to like give people an update. So you and I have kind of gotten a little list together here um about like what those are and and what you can do kind of at those milestones to like get people. sign up. So that first one is is potentially a teaser. Not everyone does this, but I've seen some some companies do this where it's like something big is coming, right? Like we're you know we're announcing something really big on this date and you're not going to want to miss it, right? So just even getting people to know that something is coming from your your company.
00:12:01
Speaker
And then very quickly followed by like, okay, here's the event. This is the event. This is the theme. This is kind of what it's all about. Some details, right? The date, the time. Is it virtual? Is it in person? And that is probably your first really good opportunity for email capture. Yeah, agreed. Because that you'll probably get the attention of people that aren't on your email list normally. So that's it's a good place to do it. And it's also always interesting, too, if you're capturing them in like a CRM to then see what they do in the future. Right. So it's like if they join on, do they eventually opted in the newsletter? Do they buy a ticket to come? Do they you know, there's all these these what happens after those kinds of things. um And it's nice because then you have those touch points to understand how they first got to you.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah. And you can even go back, like something I love to do is once, once all of these kind of milestones have passed going back and like seeing which ones really were like the, you know, there's probably two in your sequence that were like the driver of registrations and really understanding why was that? Like let let what was the content of this email that really made that happen? Yep. A hundred percent. This is also a good, can you do a backwards segue? Is that okay? Sure. We can do whatever we want. It's our podcast. That goes, I think, traditionally go forward, but I want to say go back. We can go back. So we were talking about have your speakers you know post about that they're going to be speaking. Make sure they have some sort of ah event reg link, right? like Get them their own kind of unique UTM of some kind so that you can kind of see like track which
Gauging Interest with Paid Ads
00:13:34
Speaker
speakers really got you the the biggest bang for your buck in that email capture, too. yeah The speakers have kind of been the
00:13:43
Speaker
theme that we've had you know in the first few steps. I think the other kind of big reveal is the agenda. And I see events handle this differently. Some will have the
00:13:58
Speaker
they'll unveil the full agenda at once. And a lot of times, I feel like I see that more if it's like a one-day event with a single track. you know I kind of feel like they lock that down a little bit more. The ones with multiple tracks, you know that's a lot more coordination, speakers fall out, some fall in, sometimes people haven't confirmed yet. like It's a lot more of kind of a rolling registration. um And in my experience, a lot of the a lot of the conferences I speak at are multi-track. So a lot of times what'll happen is they'll reach out to previous speakers that were highly rated first. And sometimes they're kind of waiting to hear back, like who can come who can't? They know it's not safe to fill. So there's like just a lot of juggling and plate spinning that has to happen. So usually with the multitrack ones, um I'll see them like drip out that information. you know So they'll kind of do like the first release of confirmed but agenda items. And they'll kind of say, like here's the you know here are the topics, here are confirmed topics. right And they'll be like, check back for more. So they'll kind of like continuously update
00:14:52
Speaker
the agenda page or the topic or they'll kind of keep it more general like topics to be presented and they won't actually put it into like a formal agenda until everyone is confirmed and locked down but that's kind of the next way where it's kind of like the first way was like here are the speakers and the second way were like here are the topics so it kind of keeps this rolling like as soon as the speaker, you know, woohoo dies down, then it's like, oh, here's what they're gonna talk about, you know what I mean? So it's like, instead of revealing it all at once, if you're trying to stretch out your content a little longer, I would say do like, note who the big drawn headliners are going to be first, and then circle back to the topics because for some speakers,
00:15:29
Speaker
People don't even care what they're going to talk about. They just want to see them talk, right? like you know They know that they're going to like what they talk about. So it's less about the topic, more about the speaker. So it's kind of like start with the speaker first, because that's going to be the big thing, and then follow up with the topic they're going to talk about. Yeah, totally. and And I love your point, too, about like if you have an opportunity to kind of stretch out like or or leave some information off the table for a little bit and then bring it in, like definitely do that. Because any I think any opportunity that you have to like get in front of your audience, again, with more information that might entice them, again, you're not going to know what it is that is going to excite them the most about this event until it's out there and you get that data back, right? so like
00:16:12
Speaker
you Again, it goes back to the idea of like test small, miss small and like just throw like really hold back some information as much as makes sense and then kind of drip it out as you go and you're going to get a lot more just like learnings and understanding um and overly registrations if if you do it in that way. Yeah. And I think part of that kind of leads to the page strategy too. Because the paid strategy, and I see a lot of places not utilize this well enough, but it's a really good way to figure out what the audiences care about. Because one of the things we'll touch on later is registration doesn't happen like a bell curve, right? like you You tend to see the registrations closer to the event.
00:16:55
Speaker
So it can be hard to understand leading up to it, like, is any of this resonating? What's actually working? It's very hard to tell that organically, typically, right? Like, you can post stuff and you'll see kind of bursts of of in of action. But sometimes if it's just, it might not be large enough that it's, you can really tell, is this like significant? Is this just, you know, it was a slow day at the office and people were bored so that, you know, it's like, you don't know. Pardon me. You don't know. So the paid strategy that I will usually tell places to do is if you have, you know, different speakers and different topics, you know, use those in your ads and just see like, what is is there a speaker that people click on most? Is there a topic people click on most? Right. And um I worked as a company where they they did.
00:17:40
Speaker
like class webinars and stuff like that you had to pay for. And it was kind of the same thing. I was like, put the speaker's name, put the topic, and see which one gets the most interest. And that's the one we should go deeper with, right? um It's kind of the same thing. you know it's It's the same thing where it's like, is there a person that they seem most interested in? um Is there a topic or is it topical where it's kind of like, you know, if you run it, you don't have the speaker's name, you just have the topic. Is there a topic that seems to get the most interest? And that happens a lot, especially in like industries that change really fast, like we like we are in marketing. It's really interesting to see like what those topics are each year because, you know, like I'm in the middle of talking with digital summit about this year because they want me to come back and they're asking actually asking to circle back to talk about Google ads, which I have not talked about for them in years.
00:18:25
Speaker
because not much had changed. And they're just like, we everyone is asking. They don't know how what they should be doing with it. So it's just interesting because that's not the topic that would have been interesting two years ago. right So it's kind of like it's a good barometer to understand what are people actually interested in. And then to your point, you know as you are if you're working through this multi-tiered strategy, you know where to start focusing your efforts for the next you know the next piece of content that are going to come out. So you don't feel like you're trying to be all the things to all the people. You're kind of focusing on like what's getting the most attention.
Enhancing Event Value through Networking
00:18:56
Speaker
Hey, I want to take a quick second to tell you about our friends at Sweetfish. Content marketers, just a friendly reminder, your job is not to hook the 3% of your audience who are ready to buy. It's to peak the interest of the 97% of your audience who are not ready to buy yet.
00:19:11
Speaker
with compelling stories, interesting points of view, and practical advice that helps them be better at their jobs. And that is where Sweetfish comes in. Sweetfish is a podcasting agency that can help you power a modern top-of-funnel content flywheel, all to grow that 97% piece of pie into the largest queue of future buyers possible. How do I know all of this? Sweetfish is the official podcasting agency of that's marketing baby. So we're big fans over here. Book a call with them at sweetfishmedia dot.com today. So when the 97% are ready to buy, they buy from you. Okay, back to the show. Love that. That's so smart.
00:19:51
Speaker
Also, one thing I wanted to mention, too, is like a lot of folks who speak on the regular probably have some sort of giveaway, worksheet, short course, like something that they're willing to kind of let people have. um That could also be a nice little like magnet um for folks. like you know If you sign up for this, or like you know Susan's going to talk about Google Ads, and she's going to give you her like Google Ad worksheet for free. right like there's another opportunity to jump in and tell people like these are all the things you're going to get. Like not only the kind of like educational takeaways, but like the physical, tangible things that you're going to have in your possession after this is it's really important too.
00:20:36
Speaker
I think hand-in-hand with that too is the the non-classroom type stuff. um Because a lot of times people find the conferences they go to, they they learn while they're there and it's valuable, but this that what they take away is connections, future business, that kind of stuff. And they're like there's an intangible that happens at in-person conferences that don't happen in any other way. So I think the other good thing is to you know kind of highlight, um and it can either be events like many events that are spot like if there's dinners or if there's you know organized activities at wherever the location is or whatever. Happy hours afterwards all of that yeah yeah it's like what is that and then that's also where I say the testimonials can come in handy too because a lot of times that's the stuff that
00:21:22
Speaker
conferences don't necessarily have pictures of, right? it's like You had a lot of pictures of speakers and stuff, but I feel like the ones that actually do well on on paid media and end up being pretty um impactful are the ones where they show like people at happy hours and the testimonials are about like the connections I made were invaluable. like there's that an intangible that it's not gonna be in an agenda, but it's something that's actually the one of the biggest payoffs of going. So trying to find ways to capture that as, you know, it's like, it's an additional takeaway, right? Like it's not in the agenda itself, it's this additional thing that just happened because you're there in person, right? So I think it's the added value perception to your point where it's kind of like, you're not just gonna sit through this, like sit in a conference center and hear this person talk, you're gonna walk away with these things you can use to do it better, you're gonna walk away with new connections and new relationships,
00:22:08
Speaker
I feel like a lot of conferences neglect that piece, right? It's like, very much like, this is the agenda. These are the topics. And people are like, okay, that's great. But I think what's what's become difficult is you know during COVID and everything had to go virtual, if you're just only going topical, you're competing with webinars, right? It's like you really have to make sure you're selling the entire experience because so much of that information can either be found online through other webinars and it they may not be the speaker that you want, but if it's just topical, you know, you can find that topic anywhere. You have to sell, you know, the speaker spin on it, the in-person takeaways you get, like that's what really I think pushes people over the line to the value.
00:22:46
Speaker
Absolutely. and I think there's something to be said about that for encouraging people who register to share that they have registered. but Understanding like, oh oh, someone in my feed, or someone that I'm connected to, someone that I've been following, they're going to be there. like I might be able to run into them, talk to them, learn something from them, even though they're not even a speaker. like That is a really big boom, like registrations, just seeing others that are going as well. Agree, especially for us introverts where we don't want to go into a room with a bunch of people we don't know. I'm like, oh, I have to go make a conversation. And I'm like, where's the party? And I'm fine on a stage. Put me on a stage. I'll talk for hours. For the second, I'm like, it's a happy hour and I don't know anybody. I don't like that part. So if I know someone that's going to be there, I just laugh out. I'm like, where will you be when I will meet you there?
00:23:40
Speaker
so I know someone's going to be there on five. Do not leave me behind. Yeah, don't leave me here. Don't leave me here. Oh my gosh. A couple small things I think we wanted to touch on before we really wrap this up. One is, I want to get your thoughts on this because I talked about this a little bit earlier with the Exit 5 Drive event. The idea of like some sort of capping strategy. on registration.
Exclusivity through Registration Caps
00:24:04
Speaker
Like when do we cut this off? So I understand like in person events, there's got to be some sort of cutoff. Like there are, there are like fire codes. You can only have so many people like in the building or you know, whatever.
00:24:17
Speaker
But with virtual events, like that's not the case. You can have as many people sign up as you want. Is there an advantage to like saying, oh, this is only available for 10 people, 20 people, 100 people, 200 people? right like Does that inspire a little bit of FOMO if you are capping it like that? The con to that is, If you only cap it at, let's say, 200 people and only 100 of the right people show up, could you have gotten more of the right people if you hadn't done that? Yeah. This is where I see pricing tiers come in, too, though. So um this is a strategy that I've seen also. And it can also kind of help, I think, conference under like conference organizers understand what's the appetite for the conference, especially if it's a newer one. um But a lot of times, you'll find there'll be like an early bird ticket registration price.
00:25:03
Speaker
And I think that kind of gives an initial read on data of like who's registering, who are we reaching, who's interested, which could help you change some of your marketing as you go if you're finding it's not the people you want. um And then sometimes there's also can be a good strategy around it if you're a recurring place like Brighton SEO does this where they're known for giving out a certain amount of free tickets, right? So they have a certain amount of free tickets, the speakers help promote them, and that's capped. right So it's kind of like there's ah there's the freebie section, which generates a whole bunch of buzz, I mean, months before the conference even happens. So there's this expectation buildup of that occurring too. So I think there's ways to limit it smartly without painting yourself into that corner. You know what I mean? I think that you've done it and you kind of know what your registration is going to be like. You can definitely use the capping strategy. I think it's harder, though, for conferences that are newer because they they don't know how many people are going to want to come, right? Not really going to have the indication.
00:25:58
Speaker
So it's like in that case, then maybe you do like a cap strategy of payment tiers. Like you do something to create that, to incite the FOMO, but not kind of leave yourself a little screwed. And you're like, oh, we said we'd cap it at 500 and we have 200. Okay. So now we look, now we look like idiots because we thought people were going to sign up and they didn't sign up, right? And you go to under the right people. So you might be happy with it, but you just kind of be careful about that strategy if, especially if you're newer, cause you just don't know. You have to weigh it and i think you have to be very confident in your yeah all of your previous messaging in the run up to the event that like.
00:26:34
Speaker
All of the other data has shown you I'm targeting the right people. I'm getting conversions from the right people in all of my other campaigns. so If I do decide to cap it, odds are I'm going to get most of the right people. If that's not the case, capping probably isn't a great strategy for you because it's like, I still haven't figured out the quite magic formula. I'm still need to do some work on like really to figure out you know what i need to say to the right audience to get them here so i'm just gonna leave it open and and know that that's something i still need to work and i'm gonna learn a lot from this event to help me do that. um Did you want to talk a little bit about pay strategy at all. Yeah we kinda touched on that um you know as far as just some of the initial things i think i'm.
Effective Use of Paid Media
00:27:20
Speaker
The other thing with the paid strategy that I see a lot that I think is a mistake is um they just kind of go right for the jugular or they're like, register now. And they evaluate if the paid strategy worked based on that. And that's that's too hard. There's so many factors as to why someone may or may not register for an in-person event, right? Um, and I think it puts a lot of pressure on your landing page to accomplish that. So a lot of times with events, I think the biggest mistake I see places make is they don't start it out soon enough and they focus so much on the event that they're not selling the other stuff. Right? So it, it.
00:27:59
Speaker
I think there's something to be said for, especially if you're having speakers that are well established and they have established content out there that's helpful. There's nothing wrong with promoting their existing content and in the ad saying, you know by the way, this person's going to be speaking um and have you know have an instant fill form. um and I mean, i'm huge I'm a huge fan of just the you know the the lead forms on on Facebook because once you find the right people, you'll continue to find the right people. So, I'm a bigger fan of using paid media further out from the event as opposed to the registration piece. So, it's like fill up the interest list. Fill up, you know, it's like pay much cheaper prices and have realistic expectations. If it's a, you know, an $800 conference, people have to travel to get there, you're going to have a really hard time getting that on one ad working. That is a long sales process. And it's like, it's always kind of, these places are like,
00:28:54
Speaker
You know, they'll they'll start promoting a an event six months ahead of time, because they know it'll take that long to get registrations. But man, the second they put money in a media platform 24 hours in, they're like, why don't we have any registrations? Like, why is there all this leeway? That's great thing else. Yeah, exactly. Because we put money in the magic wing machine, you're like, it's not producing. it's like it's It's not going to magically produce faster. What it will do is it'll give you data faster that you can use for other things. So I'm like, it is. It is kind of like a three-legged stool, right? It's like it's one of those legs. But to go in and be like, well, we did all those things. We're just going to run ads now. We'll see your registers. it You're going to be so frustrated in order to think paint doesn't work. It is very much a content amplification strategy. It's like your content's really the core of what's going on here. You're just making sure it gets in front of the right people continuously.
00:29:44
Speaker
And you'll eventually see, you know, conversions tied to it over a certain period of time, but it's probably not going to be last click attribution, right? It's going to be something they clicked on something else. So I always have to sort of adjust places expectations because I get a lot of places like they're going to be at a trade show and they're like, let's run an ad and tell people to come to our booth. And I'm like, how are you going to measure success? I mean, what? How? I can't do anything with that. I can't do anything with that, right? So in theory, it makes sense. Like, I get this thing. It's like, I'm not faulting. I get why it seems that way. You'll never know if it succeeded. And you'll learn nothing. And I'm like, we're waiting until the month before, and then you're going to drop like $5,000 trying to get registrations. Take that $5,000, spread it among the first three months of amplifying the content around the event, and then let your website do the rest of the work. You can pay for so much, but you can reach way more eyeballs, promoting content and not trying to go right for the conversion. It's gonna be way too expensive. So that's usually kind of the issues I see around paid. And that's, I mean, if you listen to any of our podcasts, that's always kind of my complete with B2B and minerals. I'm like, everyone wants to behave like B2C inventory and it's not going to. So this is like another instance where you don't have to necessarily spend a ton
00:31:03
Speaker
but spend it wisely and start further out. Like if anything, to look at it as like, we just want to get our content to the right people and understand what content they're interested in. If that's all you place on your paid media, you will find success using it for events. But it if you're like everyone else where they're going, okay, it's a month before the event, we have to fill seats, let's go, you know, throw $10,000, just have any registrations you get, you're going to be really disappointed when you track like two. It's just not going to do well with that. The time to try and prime the pump with your paid media money was way before that. At that point, yes, run retargeting, but that's why you want to build an interest list. That's when you start emailing them, not spending money on media. Do it when it's going to be cheaper for you and you can get a lot of eyeballs for way, way, way cheaper objectives. There you go, folks. The genius. The genius has paid for me. You heard it from your wallet minder.
00:31:52
Speaker
its and or if they're like i'm trying to give you money i'm like I'm trying to tell you how to spend it. like Don't spend it that way, please. All right, last thing before we wrap.
Registration Dynamics and Reminders
00:32:02
Speaker
The bell curve of registrations, of conversions for an event, it's not actually a bell curve at all. It is a ramp. The closer you get to that date, the the higher the number of registrations you get typically. Um, and that's just because like, people are like, okay, yes, I'm going to be able to join this, especially with virtual events. Like in person, obviously there's going to be, uh, you're, you're going to get those registrations a bit ahead of time because people have to, you know, travel and and have all that planned out, but especially for virtual, uh, you know, people are like, okay, yeah, I don't have something at noon tomorrow. I can absolutely make that. right So don't be afraid to send reminders the day before, the morning before, of people who are on that interest list, or that you're retargeting, or are in your community, um or whatever. i'll Offer us with less signups, too. i mean Totally. you can It doesn't have to be email only. it's like And you can make it, you can segment it, so you're just like,
00:32:59
Speaker
you know, sign up for SMS events, you know, specifically around ticket sales. You know what I mean? It's like it doesn't have to be they get every single message, but if they want a reminder, make it easy for them to remember. I love that you said that when I was at Lasso. SMS was our biggest driver of event registration because someone who was willing to give you their phone number is very interested in what you have to say. So, yes, such a good point. Like use your channels and and as you get closer, don't be shy about like hitting them a few more times before the day comes. Because again, don't be shy. You got to put butts in seats, man. It's not the time to be timid. That was always when I worked in like the automotive ad sector. It was like, how do we get butts in seats at the and dealership? I worked in hospitality. It was heads and beds. Oh my gosh. Good idea.
00:33:51
Speaker
Well, I think we covered everything to do with the with events, but I'd be curious to see you if anybody has any comments or if they have further questions or if there's other topics related to events you're curious about. Feel free to hit a up over on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear about strategies you have used to get people to your event um and and what the results were because it's a fascinating topic. It tins. I think that's it for this week. Thank you all for coming along with us yet again, and we will see you soon. Yeah. That's marketing, baby. That's marketing, baby. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to That's Marketing, baby. If you dig what we're putting down, be sure to subscribe and share with your marketing besties because hot marketers don't gatekeep. If you're like, this is not enough, I need more, we got you. Rants and Raves is the official newsletter of That's Marketing, baby.
00:34:40
Speaker
Every week, Susan and I share one thing we love and loathe in the world of marketing. Get on the list at thatsmarketingbaby dot.com. Okay. Bye.