CEUs Are The Fool’s Gold Of Conference Marketing September 17, 2012 by Dave Lutz Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are nothing more than fool’s gold. Yes, that’s right. It’s just like Pyrite with a metallic yellow hue luster that attracts us. We think it’s gold…but it’s not! CEUs or continuing education credits are often mistaken for the primary reason why attendees go to conferences. While important, they are no longer … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , conference marketing, conferences, event marketing, marketing
The Three Vs Of Big Data As Applied To Conferences July 20, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Many conference organizers are familiar with the saying location, location, location! They know that their conference location has to be attractive to their prospective customers or they won’t attend. Some organizers know the 4Ps of marketing: product, promotion, place and price. So how many meeting professionals are familiar with the 3Vs of big data? Defining … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference data collection, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
Your Conference Competitiveness Depends Upon Flexing Big Data Muscles July 19, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Everyone seems to be talking about the tech trend Big Data! According to IBM’s 2011 CIO report of 3,000 global companies, more than 80% identified business analytics from big data as their top priority for business competitiveness. Technology guru Graham Oakes says that 90% of the data ever created has been created in the last … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference data collection, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
Turning Attendees Into Repeat Loyal Customers July 6, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Most conference organizers focus on meeting their paid attendee goals for their upcoming annual event. They are so focused on that one event that they rarely take time to step back and think about the sustainability of the event for the next several years. They concentrate all of their energy, time and resources on meeting … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Event ROC, Event ROI, loyalty, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, return on attendee, return on customer
Strategies For Attracting And Growing The Right Conference Audience June 11, 2012 by Jeff Hurt You seldom awake in the morning with people waving money in your face to register for your event. There comes a time in every conference’s history when there is a need to identify and pursue the right markets for conference growth and sustainability. Instead of trying to be all things to all people and offer … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference education, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning, meeting professionals
Reputation And Engagement Are Increasingly Important To Reach Your Market Via Email [Infographic] May 21, 2012 by Jeff Hurt According to Litmus, reputation and engagement are increasingly important factors when it comes to reaching your audience through email marketing. After visiting your website, making a purchase, or stumbling across your company’s blog, a customer has signed up to receive email from you. For a marketer, this is the most fragile, difficult relationship to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference marketing, email, event marketing
Using Content Marketing To Grow Conference Attendance May 14, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Joe Pulizzi shares how he uses content marketing to grow attendance at the Content Marketing World Conference. Here’s a rundown of his video if you want to fast forward to a specific area. 00:10 – Who Is Joe Pulizzi & What Is The Content Marketing World Conference 01:00 – What Is Content Marketing? 02:07 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , attracting attendees, conference marketing, conference tips, conferences, content marketing, event marketing, growing attendance
New Movies Have Preview Trailers: What Does Your Upcoming Conference Education Have? April 26, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Does your conference education have coming attraction previews? No, not those stale electronic and printed marketing pieces with descriptions, bios and pictures. Does your organization provide smart, savvy, provocative short video clips of upcoming education designed to attract buyers? The Movie Trailer Promotion When you go to the movies, the first 10-15 minutes before the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conference marketing, conferences, event marketing, meeting planning best practices
Today’s Youth Are On A Quest For Authenticity And Community April 20, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Imagine the following conversation. Eeeeghads! Our organization will fade away in 10-15 years if we don’t start reaching a younger generation. Our membership is mostly Baby Boomers. Most will retire in 15 years. We’re not sure if they will retain membership with us or not. We’ve got to attract more GenX and Millennials. What do … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , association future, association issues and challenges, association membership, attracting millennials, generations, GenX, GenY, Millennial
Four Ways To Create Customer Evangelists For Your Conferences And Events March 30, 2012 by Jeff Hurt What if you could create a volunteer army of true believers who spread the word about your conference? Would you? Sure you would. Creating Customer Evangelists More Profitable Than Marketing Creating customer evangelists is a more efficient and profitable approach to acquiring and retaining customers than traditional marketing says authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference marketing, conferences, content marketing, customer, customer evangelists, loyalty, meeting planning best practices