Effective Seminar and Conference Marketing

Ralph Elliott

Dear [Enter Your Boss's Name Here],

I enjoy working here and truly appreciate how well you have supported me in 2010. As we plan for next year, I would like your permission to attend an idea-packed marketing conference. It’s called “Effective Seminar Marketing” (ESM) and will be held in Chicago, Monday-Tuesday, August 29-30, 2011.

This is not a typical conference. ESM is where the best and brightest come together with the most experienced, knowledgeable faculty in continuing education, conference, and seminar marketing. Here is a link to the program website:

Clemson University and the staff of Effective Seminar Marketing select presenters from the most seasoned and respected practitioners in the direct marketing and corporate events industry. The presenters share their expertise and address tough issues like “How to use social media to promote webinars and contract training” and “How to integrate web, email, and search engine marketing.” 

I’ll have plenty of chances to speak directly with the instructors because Clemson limits the conference to 35 to promote interaction. I can ask all the questions that we’ve ever had and get real answers! We can even access a 30-day hotline for questions that may arise after the seminar is over!

Besides meeting with the instructors, I’m also interested in interfacing with the other attendees. I’ve been reading comments from past attendees on the website, and everyone says that networking is one of the top reasons to attend.

Some of the smartest folks attend this meeting, and they all face the same challenges we do. I can learn a lot from them and see how they have overcome some of the issues we’ve encountered. This should give us a leg up on our competition.

The folks at ESM are so confident that their conference is top-notch, they offer a money-back guarantee! If I don’t learn what I expect to learn, I can get the money back! I see it as all reward and no risk.

Plus, I’ll come back with a ton of practical ideas and a notebook full of presentations to share with the rest of the staff. Finally, I’ll come back inspired and ready to implement immediately the ideas and techniques that I learned.

Thanks in advance for considering my request. If approved,  I promise to bring you new cost-saving ideas, a trip report, and an inspired and much smarter employee.

 [Enter Your Name Here]

P.S. The ESM folks also offer on-site training; so if you like, we can invite them to come to our office and customize training for our entire department!

Dear Marketing Colleague,

From the email ‘white papers’, you have received, you know about the terrific line-up of speakers who will be sharing magnificent ideas at the August 30 – 31, Chicago session of my two-day workshop on Continuing Education Marketing Conference. By participating, you will also have an opportunity to engage in ‘peer-to-peer’ learning with business, academic, and private sector organizations.

Here is a sampling of the organizations that represent the 41 executive and professional development directors and program coordinators who have already registered:

• American Academy of Dermatology
• George Mason University
• The American Academy of Medical Management
• Conference Consultants Worldwide
• Bluebird University
• Stryker Orthopedics
• Academy of GP Orthodontics
• Commission on Dietetic Registration
• Pitney Bowes Business Insight
• University of Arkansas
• Lewis Direct
• McLellan Marketing Group
• N.C. State University
• JW Image Building
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Chicago
• INCAE
• SeminarMarketingPro
• Listrak
• The National Sports Forum
• Worksmart Integrated Marketing
• MoreVisibility
• John Steinbeck’s PM8020.com
• Beyond the Classroom
• HEALTH EDucation Network

Plan now to join us in Chicago at this exclusive event, renowned for its networking, openness, and take-home value! I look forward to meeting you at the Clemson Conference. Contact me if you have any questions; otherwise, register on-line at Register Now or call Kay James at 864.656.2200.

By the way, you can still get the special $149 room rate. Just contact Clemson University’s hotel broker, Mr. Kristian Brown, at 310.721.9781 or email Kristian Brown.

We are currently exploring the altering of our registration system and marketing offers in order to make our programs more attractive to groups of people from the same organization. Because we are largely unfamiliar with this approach, we are looking for some best practice ideas in regards to boosting team attendance (e.g. changing our registration database structure, group discounts, registration forms, and marketing, etc.). Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

From: Dan Serpico <serpico@NJAES.Rutgers.edu

The University of Florida Continuing Dental Education office began offering TEAM discounts of $25 off of each registration fee (typical fee is $295) when 2 or more people register from the same office at the same time for a single course. We have seen multi-registrations from same office increase dramatically since that time, with approx. 30% of our registrations being TEAM discounts. It is not unusual to see 4-6 people from the same office register for the same course whereas before we only saw maybe 2-3.

Sincerely,

Lynn King, MBA, RDH
Coordinator, Continuing Dental Education
Phone: 352.273.8481
Fax: 352.392.2805
lking@dental.ufl.edu
www.dental.ufl.edu/ce

Discounts are effective and probably necessary, but we’ve found that selling the added “benefits” of sending  a team to be a more effective way to increase attendance.

Depending on the topic of the training, a strong case can be made that having different people from different areas and levels of the organization all hearing, absorbing and processing the information from the class at the same time, can multiply the benefit to the whole organization.

Furthermore, team attendance can be particularly effective at maximizing the benefits on programs where
concurrent sessions are involved.

Definitely sweeten the deal with a team discount, but make sure to “sell” the idea by putting together
benefits-oriented promotional copy emphasizing team attendance.

Judson E. Hair, Jr.
Executive Director/Continuing & Professional Education
NC State University, McKimmon Center
Box 7401
Raleigh, NC 27695 phone: 919-515-8191
http://www.mckimmon.ncsu.edu/cpe

Ralph Elliott

Get “90 Seminar/Conference Marketing Ideas in 90 Minutes” at the next session of my Continuing Education Marketing Conference, being held Monday – Tuesday, August 30 – 31, Chicago on the Magnificent Mile at the Downtown Marriott Courtyard Hotel. Here is one idea in advance for your review:

   How to Use Drip Marketing to Convert Inquiries into Customers- You are probably using a combination of direct mail, Google ad words, space ads, banner ads, exhibits, and clearinghouse links to drive visitors to your website. New traffic typically enters the site through special landing pages that you have created for each marketing channel. Having arrived at the landing page, your website visitors hopefully complete an “opt-in” form (vs.becoming a bounce).

  Once website visitors have inquired, you need to have a follow-up strategy for converting these prospects into conference attendees. One way to convert leads into registrations is through “drip marketing.”

  Drip marketing is like drip irrigation, where farmers and gardeners apply small amounts of water to plants over long periods to maximize growth. Drip marketing is the process of sending repeated, relevant email messages to inquiries until they convert.For many providers, drip marketing is automated,and relies on auto-responders sending a series of pre-planned email promotions to inquiries or opt-in subscribers.

  Drip marketing is effective because it helps you stay in touch with the people who are not ready immediately to book on your programs during their first visit to your landing page. Repeated reminders keeps your brand in the top of the inquirer’s mind. Drip marketing also ensures that you follow up with every inquiry in an organized and consistent way.

  How many drips before the prospect are “washed out?” Conversion data will drive this decision however; keep in mind the “rule of seven” in that it often takes seven solicitations to convert a prospect into a customer. You should track email open, click-thru, and conversions rates for each inquiry segment. Opt-outs, single page visits, less than one-minute website visits would be indicators that the prospects are now beginning to see your drips as water torture.

  You should segment your inquiries into different “water buckets” as you plan your drip strategy. “Bucket” segments might include landing page inquiries from a post card to a rented direct mail list. Other buckets might be landing page inquiries from Google ad words. Inquiries from general web traffic, rented email lists, and space ads should all have their individual buckets.

  To get maximum conversion into customers, you should give each “bucket” of inquires its own special sequence of offers. Some seminar offer hooks to create a “sense of urgency” for people to register might include:

1. Register now, pay later,
2. Only 10 seats left…assuming there is an enrollment limit,
3. Preferred seating if prospects book by given date (This is the front row where attendees don’t usually want to sit),
4. Breakfast with your big name speaker,
5. Free bestselling book, worth $95 (Always impute value to the premium),
6. Extending the early bird discount for the prospect,
7. Free white paper as soon as they book,
8. Free drawing for another seminar,
9. Hotel room block is being released and,
10. Prospects get a free drawstring backpack as soon as they book.

  Your inquiries tend to forget you if you don’t stay in touch. Drip marketing helps you show a sustained interest in your prospects until they are ready to buy a seminar or conference. Get 89 more ideas by joining me at the Clemson Marketing Conference in Chicago. Register on-line or just call Clemson’s Kay James at 864.656.2200. I look forward to seeing you!

Ron Seaver

Dear Colleague,

According to IEG, the industry clearinghouse on sponsorship — the “Meetings & Associations” category will only account for 4.4% of the entire $17.1-billion pie that’ll be invested on sponsorships this year in the US. Compared to all the meetings that go on every week of every year here in America — this is nothing. How can you get your share? Let me show you  at Ralph Elliott’s Continuing Education Marketing Conference being held on Monday-Tuesday, August 30-31 on the Magnificent Mile at the Downtown Marriott Courtyard Hotel. 

On Tuesday afternoon, I’ll deliver a presentation on: “How to Tap Into an Invisible Mountain of Cash through Sponsorships where you will learn how you can add thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of fresh dollars into your events, meetings, and conferences.

No matter — if you don/t have sponsors for your program — or you’d like to attract more sponsors, (OR maybe, in this budget-strapped economy were living in you’re worried about keeping the sponsors you already have) you should definitely make plans to join us for this timely session in Chicago. 

And if you’re unsure as to all the reasons why Sponsorships (or more sponsors) can be so valuable to you let me share with you The Four Cs of Why Sponsorship:

Cash - This one’s self-obvious. With businesses, companies and corporations investing over $17-billion dollars a year underwriting events, programs, and meetings (like yours) here in the US, you’re looking at an incredibly lucrative stream of revenue.

Cash Flow If you’re like me (and you put on 1-2 major events a year), there’s’ a real seasonality an ebb and flow to when the money comes in. Sponsorships can help you immeasurably here as you simply structure the fee schedule so that their payments come in during those months when other revenues are sparse. 

Continuity Attendee registrations generally come in one program (or one year) at a time and can be unpredictable. Not sponsorships. By signing multi-year sponsorship deals, you’ll have committed revenue coming in each and every year consistently and predictably. (Which is just one great recession-busting strategy to keep in mind.)

Cache (Not that there’s anything wrong with getting the Cash (!!), but this last C might very well be the most valuable reason to want to add sponsorship into your mix.) Remember how your Mom used to tell you:  You’re known by the Company you keep well that goes double for events! Folks out there that may not know about you or your organization are bound to give you points when they see the sponsorship company you keep. Instant credibility.

Four great reasons for you to start thinking about (and hopefully looking forward to) my session in Chicago where you’ll get strategies, tips, and tactics on how you can get more money from your exiting sponsors while bringing in new ones! I’ll look forward to meeting you at the Clemson Conference.

Ron Seaver, President
National Sports Forum
7290 Navajo Rd. Ste. 204
San Diego, CA 92119
p: 800-232-3133   f: 619-469-4007

Stephanie Edwards

In 2009, a horrible year for the event industry, my clients did not pay a dime in performance penalties because we had negotiated recession-proof contracts. I am covering this topic at the next session of Ralph Elliott’s Continuing Education Marketing Conference, Monday-Tuesday, August 30-31, in Chicago on the Magnificent Mile at the Downtown Marriott Courtyard Hotel. I look forward to seeing you there; in the meantime, here are five (5) tips in advance

1. Know your program - what is your performance history, sleeping room pick-up, food and beverage program, and meeting room needs? What concessions are most valuable to your group? Identify your top needs and target your negotiations accordingly. Provide the venue with detailed information that proves your professionalism and experience. Later on, when you ask to eliminate performance liabilities, the venue will consider these factors in assessing their risk, and will be more likely to give concessions to clients who can demonstrate good history.

2 Chef’s choice food and beverage – a great way to shave expense is working with the property chef to come up with a custom menu for your program. Essentially, order “off-menu.”

3. Do not pay for meeting space – guarantee the hotel a minimum food and beverage expenditure in lieu of meeting room rental fees.

4. Eliminate sleeping room attrition – if your performance falters, you are already facing a revenue shortage. Attrition penalties force you to pay for unused sleeping rooms and can represent a crippling expense for an under performing program. Do not sign for attrition. Let me tell you how in Chicago.

5. Shop around – just like with anything else you buy, you will get a better deal if you get proposals from several different properties and compare them. You will get the best terms if you are flexible with dates and locations, and start a bidding war between properties for your business.

You too do not have  pay a dime in performance penalties. Learn how by joining  me at the  Clemson Marketing Conference in Chicago. Register on-line or just call Clemson’s Kay James at 864.656.2200!.  the meantime, you can ask contract questions and learn more about our (free!) services at sedwards@conferenceconsultants.com or visit www.conferenceconsultants.com.

Stephanie Edwards, CEO

Amber Kelleher wrote:
We recently converted to online post-event evaluation forms for our programs and have noticed a drop in completion rates. I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions or resources with ideas for increasing completion rates.

1. Have a drawing from all of the people who fill out the survey to get a prize – maybe something logoed from your company

Tell them how many seconds it will take them – 15 seconds for your thoughts

Katie Brandt
Director of Marketing
608.268.2600 x 103

1. We recently did the same thing, but with opposite results. Our completion rate increased.
   We kept the form short and easy to use, but I think the main reason was that we offered an incentive of an Amazon Kindle.

Mike Critser
Group Conference Manager
Canon Communications LLC
100 Technology Dr.
Trumbull, CT 06611
Phone: 203 601-3740
Fax: 203 268-5874

1. Instead of a chance to win, make it a sure thing. You’re asking people for their time and that’s a very valuable thing. Why not compensate them for it in some way? Is there a white paper or series that you can automatically send them upon completion? This provides additional value, but doesn’t cost you anything. But PLEASE call it something else, maybe a “research report,” “industry study,” “insider’s secrets,” anything but the overused term “white paper.” Additionally, you might consider some kind of discount for attending another event. . Pile it on, just like an infomercial till they can’t say no. That’s marketing.

   Doug Dickson
   Chief Energizing Officer
   Seminar Direct
   602.424.1919

1. The number one email complaint: Organizations send their emails too frequently. According to Elliott’s rule, 24 is about the right number of emails to send customers per year.
2. The “Welcome to Your Organization” will be most important email you will send to a prospect added to the data base. Open rate is 2X regular open rates. Make sure you personalize the message to the inquiry.
3. Testimonials are a great way to build trust in your organization; however, you should organize the testimonials for the reader…ideally around the most common objections people give for not booking. For example , one objection might be ” I can’t afford to go”….therefore, have four or five testimonials (with full attribution) under a heading such as “The Highest Return on Your Investment.”
4. Inquiries may need to be exposed to your marketing messages up to seven (7) times before making a purchase; however, if no response after the seventh email, send a “regret you can’t attend” email with a link to two or three questions to determine why the prospect is not converting into a customer. Try to overcome the objection or move the person to the suppression file.

Get 33 Email Marketing Tips at  http://www.seminarmarketing.org/whitepapers.aspx

The landing page used in your PPC ads is an important factor in determining your Google quality score and can help boost your paid search conversions.

Want to boost your pay per click advertising conversions and maximize your Google AdWords spend? Where you direct your users after they click on your ad is a critical element to consider. In addition to your click through rate, the destination URL used in your ads is an important factor in determining your Google quality score.

While it may be tempting to use an existing site page for your paid search-landing page, it could be detrimental to your campaign’s overall performance if that page is not relevant to your online advertising campaign, consequently costing you more in the long run!

Because you should always link your ads to the most relevant page on your site as it relates to your PPC ads, you may want to consider creating new landing pages just for your paid search traffic.

Here are 2 reasons why creating dedicated landing pages for your pay-per-click campaign is good for both users, search engines, and ultimately your conversion rate.

1. Relevant PPC Landing Pages Help Convert Searchers: When users click on your ad, they want to be taken to a web site page that matches your PPC ad message. If your PPC ad says one thing (for example, an offer for a specific promotion like Free Shipping for orders over $100), when users click on it, they need to see this reflected on the landing page. Otherwise, they may feel confused and bounce – and you’ve spent money on a click that didn’t convert.
2. Optimized Landing Pages Help Google Promote Your Ads: Having a landing page that isn’t relevant to your PPC campaign not only confuses users – it also confuses Google. In addition to matching your landing page messaging to your PPC campaign, you should also optimize your landing page for relevant keywords that you are buying. For example, if you are targeting the phrase “Spanish guitar lessons Denver,” you need to use this in your landing page copy! Yes, this means that if you are buying multiple phrases, you may need to create several landing pages optimized for those keywords. But know that this is a long-term investment as Google rewards relevance by boosting Quality Score (which enhances ad positioning and helps you lower bids/costs).

Stop Wasting Clicks and Boost Your Conversion Rate. If you are already spending money on clicks, use your landing page to help them actually convert. An optimized PPC landing page helps increase the relevance for both the user (they are happy and more likely to convert) and Google (the search engine is happy and rewards you by boosting your quality score).

While it may be easier to direct your paid search traffic to an existing page (like your home page or contact form), you can get dinged by Google for directing users to a landing page that has not been optimized for your AdWords campaign. Not to mention you could be providing a poor user experience for the people who found your site through paid search – and missing out on those conversions.

Emilia Doerr
Client Treatment Specialist
http://twitter.com/my_dog_ate_it

When I think about direct mail, I usually divide the subject into two broad categories: self-mailers and envelope mailers.

Under self-mailers, you have a standard postcard 3½ x 5. You have a jumbo postcard, 6 ½ x 11½. Some providers use Slim Jim’s, which is an 8½ by 11 tri-fold. Another self-mailer is 11 x 17, folded 8 ½ x 11, folded to a 5 ½ by 8 ½ with a tab. And last, another self-mailer would be 11 x 17 folded down into 8 ½ x 11 mailed as a flat.

Envelopes: Some choices are #10,a #14; 6 x 9 is very popular; and 9 x 12. Also, you have windows and non-windows.

I’ll give you some quick recommendations:

1. Envelopes typically outperform self-mailers.
2. Envelopes with cover letters outperform mailings without cover letters.
3. Personalized cover letters outperform non-personalized cover letters.
4. An 8½ flat brochure will outperform the 5½ x 8½ with tabs.
5. A letter-sized 5½ x 8½ will outperform the tri-fold or the Slim Jim.
6. A jumbo postcard typically will outperform a standard postcard.
7. Metering your postage on an envelope will outperform preprinting the indicia.
8. A street address as your return address will outperform a post office box.
9. Ink jetting the address will outperform putting a Cheshire label or pressure-sensitive label on the envelope or brochure.
10. Window envelopes will outperform non-window envelopes.
11. Right-hand windows will outperform left-hand windows.
12. Two-color brochures will outperform one-color brochures.
13. Photos on brochures and envelope mailings will outperform non-photos.
14. A “Z” design on the front of your brochure will outperform a non-Z.
15. A sideways U layout of your copy will outperform an over-panelized layout.
16. Envelopes with headlines such as, “Enclosed is the information you requested,” will outperform envelopes with nothing on the side.