Whether you’re doing a free webinar to generate interest in your products or services or speaking at a business event or even exhibiting at a trade show, you’ll have a list of attendees. (Most event organisers share their list of registrations with exhibitors and speakers). So what do you do with this list?
As part of your event planning you should be thinking about follow up. If you’ve got a series of autoresponder messages ready your follow up can happen the minute the event is over.
Building an autoresponder series
If you’re running your own event, people who register should be entered onto a list for that event as part of your registration process.
If you’re exhibiting or speaking at someone else’s event you need to know when you will receive the list of attendees.
Then you’ll need a series of messages to keep them engaged. These need to reinforce what you originally delivered, but can also be seeded with opportunities for the receiver to get more from you.
For instance – and this is just an example:
Event + 1 day: Thank you for attending, I hope you found it useful. You can find a workbook/notes/more useful information here (link to somewhere on your website) P.S. Ask for feedback – ideally a simple online form with a link.
Event + 5 days: Remind of a key point or two. Ask them to take action so they use their learning/experience. If it’s an exhibition then it might be a general reminder to sort out the mass of paper they’ve collected.
Event + 10 days: What have they done so far? Remind them of the key points. P.S. Offer an opportunity to attend something else/get a low-cost item/join your Facebook group/like your Facebook Page
Event + 15 days: Have they experienced a challenge in relation to putting their learning into practice? Give some advice. P.S. Remind them how to contact you and offer something (discounted price/free session/something useful – but different to the last PS)
Event + 30 days: How are things going? Ask for feedback on their progress. Ask if there is anything you can do to help them.
Autoresponder series can be short or long. Certainly for events where you are sharing learning they can be long with reminders of individual key points in each one.
Clearly each message will need crafting to appeal to the reader and have an ‘open me’ subject line. But once they’re all loaded into whatever online marketing system you use, they will just keep being delivered and leave you free to get on with running your business.
