Event Marketing: 5 Tips to Make Your Event a Success

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Sharon Moore

Event Marketers 5 Tips1. Create and maintain an online presence. Event sponsor should start with a dedicated event website to share news, information and take registrations. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile users. And, create event pages on your LinkedIn and Facebook pages. Before, during and after the show, post updates, breaking news and commentary from your experts.

2. Use direct marketing. Targeted lists, such as past attendee lists your own customer and prospects lists and industry specific lists, are a great place to star gaining interest. For example, you might invite your prospects to a special VIP pre-party with a hot industry speaker, and us your direct mail piece for RSVPs to this “invite-only” party. Remember to follow up your direct mail offer with an email to anyone who has opted in, and give them another reason to visit your booth during the show.

3. Use incentives. Holding a contest or offering a great giveaway? Use those special  offers as an incentive for people to visit your booth. If you’re launching a new product or service or even have an updated catalog, store your marketing materials on USB drives imprinted with your company name and logo for a great giveaway. Offer your best prospects a “thank you” gift with perceived value if they schedule a post-show meeting with you.

4. Create a showstopping display. Attention exhibitors: Try to reserve prime real estate in a high-traffic location so your booth is seen by as many people as possible. Invest in quality materials. You’ll appreciate the easy set-up and take-down of display graphics that have the durability to last the show season. Use freestanding posters or roll-up banner stands to reinforce key messages and offers.

5. Put the press to work for you. If you’re an event manager, seek pre-show publicity in publications focused on your target audience to drive interest. Ask editors in advance if they plan to attend the show, and schedule meetings with them to personally answer questions and deliver your press kit. If the show organizers have a press room, leave copies of your press kit there for any editors you won’t be able to see personally. Favorable coverage can translate into more persuasive marketing messages for your next appearance.

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Mobile and Social: The Dynamic Duo

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Sharon Moore

mobile social marketingBehind education and lead generation, securing donations rounds out the top three reasons to sponsor an event.” With fundraising a universal goal, it’s no surprise that nonprofit organizations hold more events than B2B and B@C companies combined.

Finding new donors is also a priority. According to Blackbaud in its 2012 State of the Nonprofit Industry report, special events were rated the most effective method of donor recruitment in the U.S.

Nonprofits are leading the way in some major event trends, including a greater use of new technologies such as mobile and social media for pre-event marketing, recruitment and an overall improved event experience. Blackbaud reports that those who use social media tools set higher fundraising goals, raise more money and reach more donors.

Looking to maximize your event ROI? Follow the trends and get tech-savvy for:

Better event participation. In the nonprofit world, not every supporter can attend every event. For example, walk-a-thons and runs involve event participants to recruit sponsors.Traditionally, participants reached out to people face-to-face or by phone or email. Why not encourage your participants to utilize their social media network as well? According to NM Incite, the average Facebook user has 130 friends and the average Twitter user has 70 followers. This is in stark contrast to the average number of sponsor solicitation emails sent for an event – just 28.

Increased donations. Many nonprofits are enhancing online donation capabilities with mobile-friendly forms to simplify the process. Blackbaud reports that nonprofits using social media tools for event promotion increased their fundraising by as muchas 40%. Social media has a place during an event: try offering an incentive for event attendees who make a donation “right now.”

Donor recruitment. More than half of the organizations poled in the Blackbaud survey identified event attendees as “recruits,” stating that often the “ask” happens concurrently with the event. Also growing in effectiveness is the use of social media networking to continue communicating with the potential new donors after an event.

Donor retention. Blackbaud reports that keeping donors informed and engaged through regular communication and at events is the winning approach for retaining existing donors. How do you keep them informed and engaged? One way is with real-time information, such as tweets and Facebook status updates, in the time leading up to and during an event.

*Fascinating Event Marketing Stats, Constant Contact & HubSpot

 

 

 

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Search Engine Marketing: The Basics

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Sharon Moore

SEM. SEO. PPC. CPC. Confused by the alphabet soup of digital marketing? If so, here are the basics.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is an umbrella term that describes the process of driving traffic to a website. SEM can be divided into 2 broad areas:

1. Organic Search (“free”)

2. Paid search (Pay Per Click or PPC)

Let’s take a look at each.

Organic search results are the web page listings that most closely match the user’s search query based on relevance. Also called “natural” search results, ranking high in the organic results is what SEO is all about.

This video from the folks at Common Craft in conjunction with Search Engine Land does a great job of providing an easy-to-understand overview.

So now let’s take a look at paid search. Paid Search is basically advertisements. Web site owners pay for ads that display for specific keywords so these listings show up when someone runs a search query containing those keywords.

Of course, the 800 pound gorilla in this space is Google Adwords. This video does a nice job showing how you can attract customers online using Google Adwords.

 

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FootSTEPS: Ideas for Impact 2013

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Sharon Moore

We’re gearing up for FootSTEPS: Ideas for Impact 2013. This conference will explore ideas on how you can optimize fundraising impact, deliver relevant donor communications consistently and effortlessly, find new donors, and infuse your message with emotion that compels your supporters to act.

Our ultimate goal is to provide nonprofit development professionals with advanced information so you can “take the next steps” in your ongoing development and communication initiatives.

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Video Fastest Growing Segment of Online Marketing

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Sharon Moore

Both eMarketer and Social Media Examiner have identified video as the fastest-growing segment of online marketing. eMarketer says 50.5% of Americans view online video and predicts that by 2015, the number of those who access video with a mobile device will reach 79.1 million, up from 45.1 million in 2011. eMarketer estimates spending on video ads in the U.S. will more than double from 2011 to 2013.

Marketers responding to the Social Media Examiner’s survey also put video marketing in the top spot for the second year in a row, with 76% of marketers planning to increase usage of YouTube and video marketing in 2013. YouTube continues to dominate the marketplace in Canada, representing nearly one in very two videos viewed, says comScore.

 

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Let Me Hear Your Direct Mail Talk

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Sharon Moore

Make your direct mail physicalStudies show the brain fires more when the tactile senses are engaged.

“This is a great reason to use print,” notes Beth Smith, Education Director of the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Direct Marketing Institute. Physicality, accomplished with a thicker piece of paper, a peel-off sticker, lumpy mail, or three dimensional boxes, leaves a stronger impression on the brain. You’ll get a higher engagement factor and sense of curiosity when you make it physical.”

 

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6 Customer Service Fast Facts

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Sharon Moore

  1. On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10times as much as their first purchase.
    White House Office of Consumer Affairs
  2. It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience.
    “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner
  3. Three in five would try a new brand or company for a better service experience.
    American Express Survey 
  4. 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.
    McKinsey
  5. More than 50% of Facebook users, and 80% of Twitter users, expect a response to a customer service inquiry in a day or less.
    Consumer Views of Live Help Online 2012, A global Perspective, Oracle
  6. 80% of companies believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8% of their customers agree.
    Bain & Company from Harvard Management Update
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3 Tips For Giving Customer Appreciation Gifts

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Sharon Moore

1. Choose a useful, everyday gift.

Desk accessories, like notepads and calculators are always appreciated, as are coffee mugs, tumblers and insulated lunch bags. So are embroidered caps and shirts. Another popular idea? USB memory sticks. With thousands of choices at a range of price points, finding the right gift should be easy.

2. Give a gift that says “you” – literally.

A gift that features your company’s name, logo, and contact information will continue to have a positive impact long after the holiday season. Virtually any item can be printed, embossed, embroidered or engraved.

3. Make the giving occasion memorable.

Nearly as important as the gift itself is the presentation. Be sure to wrap your gift nicely. Deliver it in person, if possible, or with a handwritten note to make a lasting impression.

 

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Measuring Campaign Effectiveness

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Sharon Moore

Measuring Marketing EffectivenessThere is no “magic bullet” to marketing, but there are ways to measure the effectiveness of your campaign channels to help you determine what’s working and what might need to be adjusted. Here’s how:

Website - Install Google Analytics to access a customizable dashboard of the most commonly-requested website data, includeing total number of site visitors, traffic sources (i.e. typed in your address manually, used a search engine or were referred from another source, like social media or local directories), search keywords used to findyour business and much more. With a Gmail account, register at www.google.com/analytics/ for a tracking code to add to your site.

Direct Mail – Response mechanisms provide clear measurement of your offer’s strength. Reply cards are traditional; a personalized URL driving recipients to a campaign specific landing page marries direct mail and digital marketing. Use it to collect additional prospect/custermer data (i.e. email addresses, product or service interests and purchase timeline) for further follow-up.

Email – Begin by monitoring open rates, the click-throughs of your links, new subscribers, opt-outs and bounces. All will help you to cleanse your list and guide you toward list segmentation and testing of content, subject lines, offers and images to improve results.

Social Media – Social Media Examiner recommends these ways to measure impact: watch referring traffic from social sites to your website via Google Analytics; look at share of voice, meaning conversations about your company, using a free tool like Social Mention; and track community growth and engagement levels using social CRM tool like Sprout Social.

 

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6 Tips to Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Sharon Moore

According to a new study,* website traffic via mobile devices had doubled since last year. At the same time, tablet usage is ballooning, with users naming accessing content and information as their dominant activity on the device.**

Here are 6 things to keep in mind when optimizing your website for mobile visitors:

1. Simplify the design and content. Include just the key pieces of information your visitors will want when accessing your site from a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet. Your location (address and map), hours of operation, telephone number and current promotions are essentials.

2. Satisfy the need for more. Provide a link to your standard website for visitors who want the information that doesn’t make the cut for your mobile site.

3. Maintain your brand identity. All marketing channels (direct mail, email, Web, social media) should have a consistent look and feel, all delivering your brand essence.

4. Limit text entry. Small data fields on multiple pages are user-unfriendly. Try drop-down menus and radio buttons for making data selections when you can.

5. Minimize the number of pages.  Patience is a virtue on a mobile audience seldom possesses. A recent survey showed the time it takes a site to load is “extremely important” to 88%* of respondents.***

6. Watch your images. Up-close product shots and short videos can help to tell…and sell.

*Walker Sands Quarterly Web Traffic Report 2012
**Online Publishers Association
***Limelight Networks

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