Identify the Best Event Marketing Distribution Channels

Event planners have three main avenues for content distribution at their disposal:

Earned Media:

Earned media results from having information about your event published by a third party. For example, a news site, individual, or company might share your information on social media. While you have the ability to influence and request earned media, it’s ultimately the decision of the publisher to distribute information or mention your event.

Owned Media:

Owned media results from publishing content that you have developed on your own event website, blog or social media sites— i.e. channels under your complete control.

Paid Media:

Paid media results from having purchased advertising on other websites or search engines, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. Often, paid advertising can deliver traffic (visitors) to your owned website or blog.

Most companies rely heavily on owned media as it is the most readily available and gives you the most control over your content. However, the ultimate goal is to leverage a mix of all three in order to create a comprehensive event marketing strategy.

Key Elements of a Digital Event Marketing Strategy

1. Your Website

Having a great website is a critical component of your digital marketing strategy. In addition to being the central hub for information about your event, you can post links on other websites and posts placed on public social media sites. Consider adding links to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Using these platforms in tandem should help drive visitors back to your website.

Setting up a website can be daunting even for the most experienced planners. Aside from building the site (i.e. purchasing a domain name, finding hosting services, and selecting a platform), you also need to apply branding and style guidelines.

In-House vs. Agency Website Design

When building a website, the first decision you have to make is whether to design the website in-house or through a website design agency. Creating your own website gives you the most control and may enable you to reduce design costs if you have the skill set in-house.

One way to keep the design in-house and keep costs low is to use website design software such as WordPress, which provides ready-made templates. If you use common software such as WordPress and need help, most agency web developers know how to use the program and can make changes or apply branding and style guidelines.

In-house:

If you want to build the site internally, consider platforms such as Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, Joomla, or Drupal.  These platforms but all you to create customizable websites, with a look and feel that is unique to a template. Not all of these companies are the same. Some of these services have easy drag and drop interfaces, and you don’t need a developer to use them. Others are more difficult to use and developers familiar with these tools are less common. Also, if you want to create something beyond the existing templates, you will need a developer. Your website is the main source of information and registration for your attendees. Building a great one using one of these platforms can be worth the investment.

Agency:

In some cases, such as when you’re planning a particularly high-profile event or require sophisticated functionality for your site, you may consider contracting with an agency that specializes in website design. It relieves you or your organization of the burden of building and maintaining the site. Note, however, that the costs are usually higher than developing a site in-house.

Best Practices in Website Design

Your website’s primary functions are marketing, educating people, and attracting them to your event. Your site can also be a sales platform for exhibitors and sponsors. Whether or not you choose to design the website in-house or supervise the work of an external website agency, you should follow a few best practices for website design to ensure that your site is as effective as possible.

• Cohesive Functionality: Design buttons, menus, headers, and login prompts so that style is associated with a specific function
• Responsive design: Ensure that screen sizes, images, text, and sections adjust to accommodate the screen on which they are being viewed (laptop vs. mobile, for example).
• Mobile Functionality: Design tasks so that they can be performed easily on a mobile device.
• Load Time: Minimize the amount of time it takes to load a page, including pictures and JavaScript files
• Accessibility: Make sure that people with disabilities can access your content.
• Call to Action (CTA): Use action-driven words (prompts) to lead the visitor to perform an action.
• Language: Spread out dense information visually and functionally to get users from point “A” to “B” faster.

Branding and Style Guide

Your website is the primary source of event information and content, branding and style are of paramount importance. It is crucial to maintaining a consistent look and voice across the entire site. You should have a style guide that defines the styles, typography, colors, language, and general look and feel of all your marketing collateral (including your website) and ensure everyone on your team knows where to find it. 

If you don’t have a website designer on your internal team, you can find a freelancer for one-off projects on websites like Upwork. There are also a number of free do-it-yourself (DIY) design tools that can help you make smart designs that adhere to your brand guidelines. For example, Adobe Color allows you to easily select a coordinated color palette that matches your existing branding or choose from a range of popular themes and existing palettes. Or you might want to use Canva for your design needs and create stunning designs you can use on your website or social media posts.

Recommended Read: 4 Strategies to Market Your Event App Without a Budget

2. Earned Media Impressions

It’s not enough to have a website and social media channels in place if no one is interacting with them. This is where earned media can help you spread the “word of mouth” online. It’s the vehicle that drives traffic to your event website and it can be seen in mentions, shares, reposts, reviews, recommendations or content picked up by third-party websites.

The driving forces behind earned media are a mix of strong organic rankings on search engines and content that you own and distribute. Content includes everything from your blog, a video, a webinar or press release. Follow the guidelines below  to get earned-media impressions:

1. Create Valuable Content. In order to create earned media, you have to first create content that is valuable and worth sharing. Make content interesting, fun and engaging and don’t forget to add social sharing buttons.
2. Interact on Social Media. Spend time on your social media channels and interact with everyone individually. This will encourage attendees to talk about your brand and share your content.
3. Reward Influencers. As you listen to different social media channels, ensure that you reward people who constantly share and “like” your content. Over time, you can build brand ambassadors that help you spread the word on a regular basis.

3. Explore SEO and SEM Strategies

In order to increase the reach of your owned and earned media, it’s best to leverage both search-engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) strategies. Remember, a website is only useful if people can find it.

While it is possible to create traffic from links placed on social media sites and other promotions, this is usually not the main traffic generator. A large portion of your website traffic will come from interested people searching for your event, brand, or related topics. To ensure they find you, you will need to increase your rankings for your chosen (i.e. target) keywords in the search engine results.

Search-engine marketing (SEM) is a form of internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the sum of all the tactics you can use to increase your ranking.

Search engines like Google rank your content, which makes it easier or more difficult for your audience to find it. They can be a tricky way to market due to their highly competitive nature. Also, note that SEO tactics can often undermine the quality of your content if they get out of control.

Different search engines take various factors into consideration when determining your rank. The most commonly used search engine by far is Google, which determines your site’s rank and relevance to a given search query based on a number of factors. So how can you ensure that your website shows up on top of Google’s or other search engines’ search results pages?

Google Search

A Google search consists of three steps:

1. Crawling and indexing. Following pages on the web and collecting, parsing and storing website data with the goal of making it easier to find.
2. Algorithms. Using a set of rules to rank sites based on over 200 different factors.
3. Fighting Spam. Taking measures to remove or discount websites that are not useful.
   

Find more information on how Google performs searches.
Think about your own meeting or event website. There are a variety of tactics you can use to achieve a high ranking in Google SERPs, including the use of keywords and AdWords.

Summary

Firstly determine what meeting and event marketing technology resources are at your disposal. Then you can determine the channels and timeline for your event marketing strategy. Your owned media—website, blog, and social media channels—should factor in heavily. It is usually the most cost-effective and reliable resource you have.

Once your own marketing engine generates enough attention, you will start to receive earned media and it is up to you to nurture it. Reposting and reforwarding mentions and links will take your earned media a long way. Just make sure that you are consistently adding value to the community.

While your reputation affects your ranking on search engines, there is no substitute for SEO and SEM. The timely, targeted and effective delivery of your marketing will result in a community that recognizes your brand and the value of the events it delivers. This will, in turn, produce its own promotional momentum.

To better assess the success of your event marketing strategy, be sure to come up with measurable goals. Define the metrics for these goals to track along the way. This will ensure that you are actively collecting the data you need to make improvements, both in real-time and year over year.

Schedule a demo with an EventMobi event tech consultant to learn how an event app can help you achieve your event goals.

 

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The post Tips for Event Planners: How to Create an Event Marketing Strategy appeared first on EventMobi.

As a meeting or event planner, you’re constantly being pulled in countless directions and putting out last minute fires. Being an event planner is so stressful that it ranks as #5 on Forbes Top 10 Most Stressful Jobs.  At any one time you could be working on multiple projects, all of which are operating on different lead times and have both short and long-term goals. You need to keep track of so much information that it’s quite possible that you spend most of the time feeling like your head might explode. 

One of the biggest challenges is making sure you’ve got a solid plan in place before you start organizing and executing. So to set yourself up for success and reduce your stress levels, the most important things that can help you during the planning stage is a solid project management process.

‘Event’ is Another Word for ‘Project’

The event planning process is really like a project, with a finite length, a number of tasks and people, deadlines, and fixed budgets. For meeting planners, it can include activities, such as establishing timelines, acquiring permits, planning menus, establishing budgets, managing risk and developing contingency plans.

When planning your event, leveraging a project management tool is a huge asset because it allows you to not only record your objectives but also to track them.

Project management tools are specialized software products designed to help project managers (aka event planners) plan, monitor and take corrective action on any facet of the project management process.

According to a report from Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and audio-visual company PSAV:

• 15% of organizations surveyed said “they are lucky to have a process” in place when it comes to strategic planning for event technology
• 36% mentioned that processes exist by project
• 24% have organizational standards they can follow, and
• 21% of all meeting planners organize and manage resources themselves

That being said, about a third of meeting and event planners are responsible for selecting event technology, including project management tools to assist with the event planning process

So in many ways, event planning is a specialized version of project management. Similar to projects, events often have many stakeholders, which means a lot of moving parts must work together. Event planners are highly mobile people who are often required to visit venues or be onsite the day of the event. And many event planners carry a binder (aka your “event bible,”), to hold documents related to the event, such as banquet event orders, documents outlining standard procedures, and supplier contracts.

The Benefits of Project Management Tools For The Event Planning Process

Project management tools benefit meeting and event planners in a number of ways. They facilitate collaboration across multiple stakeholder groups, release planners from being bound to a physical space, and eliminate the need to carry heavy binders. They also provide real-time access to information that enables:

1. Forecasting deadlines using historical data from previous events
2. Calculating return on investment (ROI)
3. Making projections
4. Estimating resource allocations
5. Predicting limitations and potential risks

But before you shop around for a project management software, ask yourself:

• How many projects will you be working on and how large are they?
• How many people will be working on the project at once?
• Do you need mobile access (remote team members)?
• How much do you want to spend?

Recommended Read: 12 Tips to Prevent Last Minute Changes at Your Event

Criteria for Evaluating Project Management Software

So now you’re aware of the reasons why using a project management tool will help you and your stress levels. The task is not to find the best project management software for your meeting or event, but to find the best software for you and your team, whether it is installed or cloud-based (SaaS).

Here are the key criteria to consider:

• The tool’s user interface
• The ability to manage all aspects of your project
  • Forecasting, budget, to-do list, task management etc.
• Tracks time and issues
• Offers analysis and reports
• Enables better team collaboration
  • Sharing documents, sending out notifications, automated follow-ups

Once you’ve determined your must-have and nice-to-have features, figure out how much you want to spend. Cost also plays a determining factor when selecting the most suitable platform. Will a free solution work for you? Can you use a tool that includes is paid on a subscription basis? Or do you need a solution that has a monthly fee per user? Your organization’s needs will be unique.

Consider whether you want to commit to a long-term event planning process solution that you have to update manually or a pay-as-you-go option that updates dynamically. Upon answering these questions, you’ll start to narrow down and compare what’s available. Know that the terminology for features isn’t consistent throughout the event industry (ie. communication tools can refer to an in-project alert or sending an email, etc.)

Project Management Tools for the Event Planning Process

So you’ve selected the best project management tool for your event. Now what?

You can now use the tool to collaborate and track milestones by creating tasks. Design tasks for meetings and events in small increments. Even the most complex events can be broken down into simple tasks and checked off a to-do list. It helps you avoid errors or oversights, and allows you to easily delegate tasks.

Just like defining objectives for your meeting or event, create tasks using the SMART formula: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. In addition to the SMART objectives, incorporate two other attributes into your task creation process:

➔  Personal. Every task should have one, and only one, assignee. No task can ever be done by two people at the same time. If it can, you probably want to create two subtasks!

➔ Accountable. Tasks need to be accountable, meaning every team member can check on the project status and therefore strengthen the team through transparent project management.

After you’ve created tasks within the tool, we have some best practices in order for you to get the most out of your software.

Define Success and Set Milestones

Based on your overall meeting or event objectives, define project success in a clear and measurable way. Use the project management tool to track those specific targets and redirect resources as necessary.

Break down project milestones into small chunks of time. Take a closer look at the work hours logged, typically in 10-15 hour intervals. This reduces redundancies and allows you to make more accurate estimations, assign the proper resources and track progress more thoroughly. Review lessons learned from past programs and apply them appropriately.

Communication

Most project management tools come with their own communication systems built in. For example, as tasks are checked off, the project owner receives an email notification. It’s essential to align the built-in communication tool with your team’s existing practices to avoid confusion and unnecessary emails.

You can use the communication tool to automate follow-up messages as deadlines approach for your staff. Use the comment function to remind your team members of upcoming deadlines, instead of walking over to their desks or picking up the phone.

Sit down with your team, and make sure everyone understands and abides by the rules you have established within your project management tool.

Summary

Project management may also be seen as a synonym for event planning since both include multiple stakeholders, dependencies and timelines. Within the world of project management tools, you can choose between cloud-based or installed software solutions, but it’s notable that installed products are on the decline. (SaaS products are becoming more popular because they’re easily accessible and allow for collaboration.)

It’s best to write a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves to determine your organization’s needs and test drive products before making a purchasing decision.

Once you select a tool, you need to create effective tasks that will allow you to specifically state the expected outcomes and measure success. This way, you can collaborate with your team to achieve project milestones.

When you introduce a new project management tool, ensure that your team is aware of all its functionalities and set rules on how to communicate within the program. The goal is to integrate the new tool into your existing processes and allow for a smooth implementation and work process in the future.

Project management tools are just one aspect of how today’s planner is taking advantage of event technology.

To learn more about how you can become an expert in meeting and event technology, get certified today.

 

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