February 2005
Cheat Sheet: Marketing conference content

In the second part of our series on conference content, we present tips for promoting new and repeat participation in conferences to increase attendance for your show. In the January 2005 issue, part one examined how to develop conference content.

By Linda C. Chandler

Before the marketing campaign
• Know what you’re trying to achieve. Work with stakeholders to establish a clear purpose, whether it’s to achieve higher attendance, better profit margin, etc.
• Decide how success will be measured. Will a 5 percent increase in attendance and a $5,000 increase in profit mean success, or will it be 20 percent higher attendance and $500,000 more profit?
• Segment and target the market. Don’t use a shotgun approach.
• Distinguish your selling points, focusing on the customer’s needs. Determine primary and secondary marketing messages for all materials.
• Learn the preferred way your customers want to receive communications, whether by e-mail, direct mail, fax or phone.
• Work with good writers and designers to formulate the messages in each medium you use for marketing and make the media consistent with the audience.
• Train all staff and speakers in the key marketing messages. Refer to them and reinforce them whenever possible.
• Have a plan for advertising in your own publications and Web sites.
• Plan a public relations program to coincide with your marketing efforts. Focus on high-profile industry issues or speakers to generate a buzz before the event. Don’t overlook the marketing value of editorial coverage.

Leveraging content
• Make sure content is fresh and need-to-know.
• Play up peer presentations and how-to sessions.
• Emphasize how content will help solve business problems and lead to better practices.
• Offer opportunities to interact with industry experts at Q&A sessions, receptions or book-signings.

Marketing to new attendees
• Qualify prospects.
• Send early and frequent notices.
• Include testimonials from past attendees.
• Extend personal invitations from veterans.
• Use first-class mail.
• Personalize both e-mail and direct mail.
• Use a consistent theme.
• Offer a satisfaction guarantee.

Marketing to repeat attendees
• Give early registration discounts, discounts for additional people from same company.
• Offer concierge services, coupons or points toward premiums.
• Make it easy to register via the Web or toll-free numbers.
• Allow access to a “who else is coming” list.
• Focus on new aspects of the event.
• Involve them in enlisting new attendees.
• Employ a thanks mechanism and change mailings and reminders after attendees have registered. Don’t send “you must register by” reminder to someone already registered.

Using big-name speakers to draw attendance
Pri-Med, run by Boston-based M|C Communications, regularly faces the challenge of driving attendance to six regional annual conferences and exhibitions. In 2004, with expansion planned into a new region, Pri-Med developed an enhanced keynote speaker program as a new marketing tool that would help Pri-Med reach bigger audiences. Here’s what happened:
• Pri-Med sought a visionary who would appeal to primary care physicians. James D. Watson, Ph.D., the scientist who won a Nobel Prize for revolutionizing modern medicine through his research on the chemical structure of DNA, accepted the invitation to keynote.
• Pri-Med distributed two national press releases for each program, highlighting Dr. Watson’s upcoming appearance.
• A postcard was mailed to 50,000 targeted potential Pri-Med attendees for each show to spur awareness and interest in attending to hear Dr. Watson. A second mailing was customized to 5,000 pre-registered attendees and 15,000 unregistered targets.
• All collateral featured a photo of Dr. Watson, his bio and a description of his lecture.
• Attendance at Pri-Med conferences and exhibitions reached an all-time high in 2004. Pre-registration for the first show featuring Dr. Watson was more than 10 percent higher than for the same show in 2003. Pri-Med will continue to feature renowned keynote speakers at every program.

What to ask about rented lists
• How was the list compiled and from what sources?
• What’s the rate of returns or bad addresses?
• When was the last time the list was CASS-certified? (CASS is the Coding Accuracy Support System of the U.S. Postal Service. There’s also NCOA, the National Change of Address databank.)
• Can it be run against existing data (or merged/purged by a third party) and you pay for only those not already on your own list?
• What are the conditions for use — one-time only, specified number of multiple uses, unlimited use within a time frame?
• What’s included in the cost?

More from EXPO
Visit www.expoweb.com for these related back articles on marketing:
Cheat Sheet: Developing conference content, January 2005
Digging Deeper: How SIA mines data to increase attendance, November/December 2004
Marketing: What works now, October 2004
What do growing shows know about attendee marketing that you don’t? , February 2004

Sources
Mark Dillon, ExpoLists, www.expolists.com, (301) 696-9233
Rebecca Gloe, M|C Communications (Pri-Med), www.mc-comm.com, (617) 406-4000
Bob James, Frost Miller Group, www.frostmiller.com, (301) 718-8512
MaryAnne Sinville, Advanstar, www.advanstar.com, (781) 239-7510
Michele Wierzgac, CMM; Michele & Co.; www.micheleandco.com, (708) 598-6600