by Kim Houlahan – e-Marketing Strategist

Know who you’re targeting for the event, and be creative in your approach. Know what you’re going to say and be consistent across all marketing vehicles. It’s 2006…and email is probably going to be the most cost-effective approach to begin your awareness campaign and guide interested participants to register. Plan out your entire series of emails before you hit the first “send” – make sure you make the most of every opportunity to inform, entice and move your audience to participate.

If you’ve run the event before, your first email needs to attract enough attention and provide enough information to get your recipients to “mark their calendars” once again. Who do you send this initial email to? Your “house” list, of course, which may include:

• Attendees from last year’s event
• “No-shows” and cancellations from last year’s event
• People who have attended your other events

If it's a first time event, don't worry. Your house list can be built using a compilation of customers (old and new), prospects, partners and maybe even vendors. If you don't have their email addresses, do a quick telemarketing campaign. This is also a great way to update your list and get permission to stay in touch.

Segment this list even further and send more personalized messages in several campaigns, for even better results! For example, offer customers a special price. Keep in mind the aim of this initial email will be to get as many pre-registrations as possible. Different people will be motivated to register by different offers. Senior managers are looking for well-known keynote speakers or networking opportunities. Junior and mid-level managers may be looking at bottom line costs, so they may be more influenced by an early registration discount. It’s easy to segment your list and send a variety of emails to your segments. You just need to think about your options.

This is the magic of email – you can measure delivery rates, bounce rates, open rates and click-through rates. In our opinion, the most helpful tracking for an event email is the analysis of each click-through (each time someone clicks on any link in the email). Each “click through” metric indicates a specific interest. Certain links will generate higher click-throughs than others and smart event planners pay attention to these details. Perhaps there are many clicks to see the agenda, or the registration page or the link to your website for more information. This means you need to keep these pages up to date with new content all the time. Go a step further and take advantage of this insight by sending supplementary information specific to reader interests. For example, if you know people have clicked to register but they’ve not yet registered, you may need to “sweeten the offer” via a follow-up email.

Be sure to eliminate registered participants before sending reminders to register.
Once registered, personalized email is also the most cost effective way to send all the supplementary information they will require in order to attend (and incentives to encourage them to invite friends and colleagues). Ongoing contact is a crucial part of effective event management. Email is the new “word of mouth” – colleagues pass along interesting and helpful information (like great event invitations). This is the viral aspect of email that will help you grow your event!

Get those last minute decision makers to push the button on registration! A few days before the start of the event, a final email can be sent which offers the ability 'fast track' a last minute online registration - something that would be impossible to administer so close to the event using traditional methods. Email is the ultimate last minute registration tool. It makes it easy for everyone to enjoy a terrific event – even those that like to sit on the fence.

Email offers the perfect solution for event promotion and management! Re-think your traditional event promotion strategy and build email into the picture. It’s low cost, personalized, measurable and customizable! Do the on-line event marketing process once and then leverage it over and over again. Once you automate the process using email, you never have to re-invent the wheel. Sure you’ll always need to tweak bits here and there, but automation will help you be well on your way to a more focused, more effective campaign that you can mange virtually on your own!

For more information on event promotion using email marketing, give us a call! We can help.
(613)-592-7243 or email us at info@cardcommunications.com.

Want to significantly reduce the cost (and stress) of your event, make your event a sell-out and grow your database?….Check out this article, A Short, Sweet Turnkey E-Mail Campaign to find out how the Vision Awards did just that with the help of cardcommunications!

See some examples of Event email campaigns that we have managed for some of our clients.

About cardcommunications:
As an innovative e-marketing outsource solution, cardcommunications helps businesses deepen customer relationships, influence client behaviour, build brand and boost revenue. These benefits are achieved though a wide range of e-marketing programs including e-newsletters, e-promotions, and e-surveys - all built through a combination of permission-based strategies and best practices. Serving local and national clients in government, education, high tech and retail sectors, the reach of cardcommunications is broad.