So, you have a portfolio of products you need to get in front of a specific audience. In order to make this event successful while maximising outreach, there are 5 key stages to follow.
The 5 key stages to ensure a successful event
Database – Deciding on a target audience of the product. Consider how you ascertain this demographic and how you reach them.
Hooks – Creating an incentive to attract and engage an audience, boosting attendance.
Invite stage – Using marketing methods to reach people so that they sign up and attend.
Delivering the event – Professionally displaying and explaining the products using outsourced suggested partners.
Follow up – Data capture and ROI.
Database
The following questions are integral to deducting your target audience. Try using a combination of asking them yourselves, and using someone outside of your organisation to facilitate a brainstorming session to find your answers.
Who do you want to attend your product roadshow, event, or conference?
Do you want a large audience or a smaller crowd with a more intimate feel? Let’s say you were selling Power Tools. Do you want to attract Self Employed Builders or Facility Management (FM) companies whose purchasing powers vary greatly? There are of course many options in between these instances. Choose your audience very carefully.
How do you find or create the data?
There are many ways to achieve this. One option is conducting Desk Based Research. This is in essence using search engines to find the right companies to approach. These must fit the intended target demographic audience you want to attend your roadshow, event or conference.
Focus on size, sector and geography. A second way is to buy the data from a reputable data house.
An important note to mention; an unsolicited email offering you 50K pieces of data for £1,000 is rarely going to work or be beneficial for your business. If it is accurate, it’s very unlikely it would have the specific segmented data you are looking for. If you use a data house, they will give you a small sample of the data so you can see if it is the correct target audience area you want. Vocal Group offers 100 organisations for £50 (Feb 2022 prices), allowing more freedom of choice without a colossal investment!
Hooks
It’s very important not only to excite the prospective audience therefore giving them a reason to attend, but also to engage their interest.
Hooks can be something that will surprise, promise or benefit the audience, and having a series of hooks will only further encourage attendance, reeling them in to interact with your business.
Incentives to attend should be relevant to the audience and only available for attendees, like branded goodie bags, exclusive discounts, the chance to network with other attendees, or even the location it will be held in. The location doesn’t always need to be prestigious but does need to make the audience feel comfortable in the surroundings and give some credibility to the event.
Be sure to prepare relevant promotional material for the intended audience, boasting about the hooks you have lined up!
Invite stage
Let’s focus on the basics. Is this a business audience or a consumer audience? The invite to your product roadshow, event or conference will be very different depending on this. Social Media is a great way of attracting an audience however this approach alone isn’t always the most effective way attract a business audience.
For example, let’s focus on the business audience we originally mentioned targeting Facility Management companies (FMs). A well thought out LinkedIn campaign may get you the sign ups but to boost the attendance at your Roadshow, Event or Conference you may want to look at a multi-faceted approach using social media, Email and Telemarketing campaigns.
Direct Telemarketing will find you the specific targeted decision makers you need to attend. You’ll know you’ve hit the right audience because they will sign up in their droves. Telemarketing allows for a personal, direct conversation between your brand and the target audience. They will either say yes, no or maybe to your event and in each case, there are actions that can be taken. If they say yes, you can register them and perhaps offer a welcome pack. If they say no, at this stage you can ask if they know anyone who may be a better fit to attend the event. If their response is a maybe, this might require some encouragement through further messaging through Social Media, video chats or email.
Delivering the event – This integral part of the 5-step plan is a specialised area. Whilst Vocal Group can deliver you the audience the event itself needs to be expertly crafted. We highly recommend a few events companies we know personally which can provide a brilliant service for your company.
www.all-in-all.co.uk
vbx.agency/events
Follow up your event roadshow or conference
Depending on your original objective, you need to assess if you have achieved it. If for example you are selling power tools to the FM market, make a follow up telemarketing call with a time-sensitive promotion. At this stage you can also identify annual budgets and their estimate spending amount on your or competitors’ products. Make it easy for them to do business with you, set up an account, guide them to buying online or simply take the orders on the actual the follow up call itself.
Following these 5 steps will enable you to professionally display the products to the correct specific audience to maximise outreach.
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