How To Market A Conference

Advertising/PR | Book Club | Branding | Career/Training | Copywriting | Customer Behavior | E-Marketing | Research/Metrics | SEO/SEM | Social Media |Strategy | Taglines/Names | Just for Fun | Student Questions | Website Critique |MProfs PRO Seminar Q&A | Other | Our Forum Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=1258#ixzz239yzLlfn Posted By: Anonymous on 5/5/2004 at 8:18 AM 250 Points What are the responsibilities of people in charge of marketing conferences and what are the different steps to be taken to market them and achieve best results. Not what you are looking for? See more Advertising/PR suggestions » Or, search more Know-How Exchange Q&A from Marketing Experts Posted by: JBtron Accepted Answer 5/5/2004 at 9:55 AM faridamedany, TRAFFIC - TRAFFIC - TRAFFIC If you do nothing else in marketing a conference, utilize tactics that generate sufficient traffic to satisfy your vendors, so you can do it all again every 365 days. To generate traffic, you have to invite ten to fifteen times the amount of people you want to attend (for your break-even point) to the event. And you can't just invite EVERYONE: you have to invite a targeted audience of prospects that your vendors will want to meet and sell to. So, take your category and acquire the lists necessary to invite that targeted audience. Utilizing your internal database would be even better. Usually it's a combination of a number of internal and external lists from trade groups, associations, press, industry, related industry, analysts, researchers, sales professionals and managers, ALL of whom should be part of the makeup of your targeted list. Get to these contacts. SURROUND them with information about the conference: direct mail, trade publications, email blasts, outdoor in and around the event facility, duratrans at the airports if your event is large enough to attract a preponderance of air travelers to your conference. Website with complete information about available space, sponsorships, promotions, current vendors, special programs within the conference, etc etc, with a complete exhibitor registration portion of the site, so that someone from Hawai’I can register without having to utilize the mail. Get your sales staff calling each and every one of these vendors within three days of your first “touch” (contact) to that contact, however the touch comes. Stay on them. Decisions to exhibit are usually achieved in three waves: initial sponsors, who usually are the biggest names in the industry and have the money allocated to be at conferences like yours in a BIG way; then the companies that don't take the biggest booths but are aware and buy early for the discounts available; finally the last-minute exhibitors, who usually respond and close on discounted space for the few available booths left. All this to make sure that your exhibitors have a steady stream of traffic throughout the conference, so they achieve their sales goals. And for your information, this kind of event is becoming less and less effective as the Internet and instant communication retool the way we sell to other businesses. Hope this helps, and I KNOW, this is just the preliminary answer to your question. If we knew a bit more about the industry, there might be more targeted responses and insights to promotions, tie-ins, advertising and data management that have been successful with you particular industry. Hope this helps. Best, ::JBtron Posted by: jcmedinave Accepted Answer 5/6/2004 at 9:50 PM Responsibilities: Define Value, Principals attributes and characteristics, Target (Prospects), advertising media (mailing, emailing, magazines, newspaper,...), mailing communication, Place (services, training facilities, accommodation, transportation,..), conference material (presentation, memories,..), Prize (discounts, groups, payment in advance, payment alternatives,..), Patronage (business alliances,..), event organization (coffee brake, lunch time, schedule, registration,..), Post sailing activities (customer satisfaction research, ..). Posted by: Sharon Moderator Response 5/28/2004 at 10:59 PM Hello all. I am closing this question. This is standard procedure when the question author gets busy and falls out of the conversation for a while – or doesn’t understand the procedure for closing. Thanks, so much, for participating! Back to top 0 inShare Would you like to post a response or ask a question? Welcome to Know-How Exchange! This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation. All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right). Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY). Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs

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