If you’re planning an event, whether that’s a webinar, a seminar, a training course or workshop, getting people to sign up for it is just the first step to a successful event.
So how do you get people to register for a place?
If it’s a free event – maybe a taster or trial session to upsell a bigger event or a product – lots of people will sign up for a freebie, but about 75% of them don’t show up, so it’s important to bear that in mind.
How do you promote it and get interested people on your list?
- Email your existing list of contacts – more about that below.
- Tell your networking connections – whether that’s online on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest or offline at local networking meetings.
- Run a Facebook ad to get people onto the sign up page on your website.
- Do a video promotion on YouTube (and maybe a short video ad on Facebook and/or LinkedIn.
- Create a lead magnet (a free report) to build your list and promote this on your social channels, organically and with paid ads.
Once people are on your list you can email them more information. People rarely ‘buy’ at first time of asking. Most people decide to buy after anything between 5-12 reminders – that’s why, if you’re on an online marketer’s list, you’ll get more and more frequent reminders as an event approaches.
The email challenge
Email is still a highly effective tool to get your message to many people. Most people are comfortable to share their email address, where they are less happy to give out their phone number.
The plus is that with a professional autoresponder system you can set up those reminder emails to go out at times of your choosing. You write your email series (or get it written by a copywriter) and load them into the system and then you press the ‘go live’ button and everyone who joins your list gets the email you want them to.
If you can get mobile phone numbers, there are systems that allow short messages to go out by SMS too.
The customer experience
Autoresponders are also great for nurturing the people who have signed up. These messages can include joining instructions, links, useful additional information (e.g. blogs or articles that are relevant) and more.
A good autoresponder email series can help you to build your relationship. So write in a friendly, conversational style, be authentic and show your enthusiasm and excitement about the event and its subject matter. In turn this will generate excitement in your audience and improve the number that actually turn up, especially if the event is a free one.
Don’t tell them everything, but do tell them that there will be – a special offer for attendees, a discount, a guest speaker (no name, just an indication of their expertise), anything that generates that ‘I can’t afford to miss this’ feeling.
Set up your messages, hit ‘go’ and then you can forget about them while you do all the other things you need to, to prepare for your event.
