Branding
Eventslisted.com - Social media campaigns
Our social media campaigns run simultaneous to the email marketing, blogging and all other prelaunch campaigns. The social networking aspect of our campaign begins before we even launch the blogs and moves along the launch timeline long after the official launch in October. In some ways, you can consider it to be independent of the rest of the elements of the campaign because of its marked significance to the success of the launch.
In many ways, the social media campaign is the heart beat of our launch – it’s what keeps everything going.
We want to invest in the amount of time and attention it deserves. We have an entire blog dedicated to social media marketing strategies that event marketers or business owners can apply to their businesses. We’ll be covering details of how we’re leveraging social media for the upcoming Events Listed launch in that blog as well as touching on the outline of it here in the follow a launch strategies posts.
For now, I’ll just briefly mention the underlying philosophy behind this social media ampaign without diving into the details of the individual tools that we’re using (please check our social media strategies blog for that).
The concept is that you can’t force or fool people to your products, you have to patiently convert them into leads one at a time if you want your leads to have a good chance of becoming good customers. The power of social media is that it allows us to get to those prospects easily and engage at their levels. The idea would be to network, network and network – have conversations with them. These prospects emerge from our conversations, followings, friending strategies, fans on the online social networks.
We’ll have a presence in multiple social media networks with a consistency in our image and conversations. We’ll have Facebook pages, Linked in profiles, Twitter updates, Squidoo lenses and many other online places. We’ll work with the prospects to get the conversations started and draw them into the leads lists, if interested.
Launch Stories - make a perfect blend and serve it hot
Stories have an important role in making a launch a raving success. Your launch story is simply how you present information to your prospects. What are you about? Why should they care? I’ve always wondered why some launch stories hit it big and others just fizzle out like they never even existed.
We all want big successful launches, and it turns out that a lot of it is in our hands. All of this assumes that the product or event that you are about to launch is worth the hype.
I’ve written about how to build your stories here and here. Today, I’m just going to expand on it a bit more. If you are marketing your services or launching products, you need to really know how to tell effective stories. Story telling is an art that you can learn and adopt for your businesses and it helps define complex things into simple words. We come across countless situations where we can benefit from this skill - when you’re in an elevator with a potential business partner, when you get a chance to meet an investor, when you’re pitching to your clients, when you run across an old school friend on a weekend getaway and most importantly, when you are about to launch products or events in the market.
Telling a launch story is about summing everything up nicely and presenting it in a way that can influence your potential clients or audiences to take action. This is done by hitting the right mental triggers to the right people at the right time.
The mental triggers that you choose to hit will depend on your individual products, but we can safely say that the old tested rules of “hero play” still apply. And boy do they work! We, as humans, are attracted to stories of drama, intensity of emotions, shock, winning. We want that adrenaline rush. We want that human to human association. We want that heroism. We want to listen to people who understand where we come from. If you can incorporate these into your story, you’re bound to have a greater impact and response from your targeted audiences.
Make your key message (verbal or email) as informal and relatable to your audiences as possible. Make it like a conversation between two people. Here is a structure (also proposed by Industry leader Jeff Walker) that you can use for your message:
1- start with reiterating the fact that you are just like them. That you have a lot in common. The purpose of this intro is to get the attention of your key targeted audience and make them think “hey this guys just like me..”
2- Then name a few frustrations that you have (related to your launch). E.g. “I’ve been looking around for cool places to hangout, where I can just take my mind off work and network with likeminded people.. but there is just no such place in the entire town…”. This should make them think “yea. I totally get it”.
3- When you’re sure you have that nod, talk about how you aspire for things to be different. You can throw in ideas and thoughts and let their minds wander off. Don’t limit their thoughts to specific examples, let them imagine as much and as far as they can.
4- Finally, when you know that they are excited about how all of this can turn around, present your solution and discuss how it can benefit people like you (i.e. him).
It takes very little time to come up with the good meaningful stories that you can use to turn your business around. So get down to work and get creative. Let me know if you need further inspiration or assistance.
Its all about the buzzz..
Having the right strategy for your launches is important for the success of your ventures. If you don’t plan your events well, you may not be able to draw the attention that it otherwise deserves. Remember how we discussed that events are like revolving doors of launches and relaunches? The more hype you can create in your launch, the more revenue you will generate for even bigger and better launches.
You have to make your events news worthy to create the initial buzz. Have stories within stories. Make people want to share the “did you know that….” stories about your event. A great way to do that is to have interesting themes for the event and streamline your entire promotions based on those themes.
The more different and unique the themes are, the more interest they will generate. So, think creatively. Look at it this way, if you can get people to blog or talk about you - you are getting free media coverage worth thousands of advertising dollars. Its a win-win for both you and your targeted audiences. They want something interesting to talk about, and you want to be talked about.
You can also create videos and demos to generate buzz. Good videos spread around a lot faster and are great tools for marketing. I’ll add a post on how to use videos on the Social Media Strategies blog soon. Teaser ads or messages are also a great way to attract attention. Anything that leaves questions in the viewers minds will make them wait for and talk about you.
Whatever marketing strategies you apply, make sure you can get your audiences buzzing way before you launch. The reason why I am repeatedly talking about creating hype is because I really want you guys to get your pre-launch preps right. Just want to make sure our basics are covered before we dive into details of launching.
Your companies blog - an investment or cost
Earlier last week, I was having a conversation with some people about blogging, and was surprised to see that most people still consider it a cost rather than an investment. So, I decided to write a small post on this topic to let you guys know my thoughts on it.
I agree, random blogs with unauthentic or irrelevant content are pointless. But if you are doing business, you need to have a strong blog presence, and here’s how:
1- You need to have a personal voice for your business that people can relate to, communicate with and understand. One of the best ways of doing that is with a good content blog. For authority blogs you have to provide value and insight, instead of following the crowd. Your posts should be authentic, original and unique. Thats the best way for you to make a mark on the niche and get a following. Whatever business you are in, make sure you have a good voice for your community.
2- Its a platform for you to connect with people. Once you have people reading you, try to engage them in conversation. Get them as involved and connected with you via the blog as possible. An active community is one that spreads the most. If you are an event manager, cover your events or engage your audiences in activities through the blog.
3- You can also use your blog as an effective messaging board. Turn it into a key source for your company information. Use it for answering questions or giving clarifications. Use it for announcements and updates. Use it for publishing case studies of your clients.
4- When you are connecting with other bloggers, try to give away links or look for points of synergy. Its good to open and friendly with the blogosphere at large. This helps to make your blog stronger and more visible to potential readers.
5- Make sure your content is relevant to your niche and that you keep posting to it frequently. This is where good resource allocation skills come into play. Don’t think that you have to do everything yourself - get over your inhibitions and get a team onboard. Did you really think Donald Trump writes his blog posts himself?
6- Set realistic expectations and goals for the blog. Your blog has to have a long term plan and shouldn’t be sporadic or spontaneous. Know exactly what your goals are (whether its something measurable like direct increase in traffic or something unmeasurable like brand awareness)
7- Have a good feedback mechanism in place. Get hold of a good trackbacking software and actively engage in comments and responses. This is as important as writing the posts itself, so make sure you can schedule dedicated hours to it.
Designing events - its all about the creativity
Planning events is just like designing. That is why whenever I have to pick someone for my team I look for those that have a good mental balance. Let me explain: The most ideal team members so far have been people who are meticulous planners (left brained) and highly creative (right brained) at the same time. This may sound a little too idealistic but its not. You can even get intelligent people and train them with mental exercises or activities to use both sides of their brains.
Planning events or businesses requires creativity. You need to find new ways of targeting customers, new ways of promoting events, new ways of building communities, new ways of planning themes. Everything works at a fast pace these days, which puts the customer expectation bars high. You can only expect to meet those bars if you can differentiate your services and products significantly and manage to stand out from the crowd.
So, instead of looking for best practices or easy way outs, take time out to design your events as if they were a painting. Paint out new ways of blending all of the different elements together to make picturesque memories.
Each event is a brand - Part II
This post is a sequel to my previous rant on the importance of building your event’s brand story. This topic is so important that I can’t stress it enough. A lot of people still don’t ‘get it’, so I thought I’d discuss it in a little more detail.
I see this mistake over and over again… People think that when they’re doing a launch the story is about them. They are WRONG! The story is always about their PROSPECTS.
This is something you have to get right. I’m going to walk you through the process of getting to your prospect’s story and tying it with your launch story.
I’m sure that this probably sounds all hippy-groovy granola right? Trust me it’s not – this is critical stuff and it’s all about creating a crushing event launch for you. In fact, this could even be the single leverage point that changes everything.
The first step is to truly understand the value of your product or service. This will involve answering questions like… “is it really useful?”, “who can benefit from it most?”, “how is it different from other options that already exist?”.
Next, based on the value, imagine the ideal prospect that can benefit most from your product or service. Marketing folks also call this step “brand personification” - but the idea is simple. If the brand of your product or service was a person, what would he/she look like and how would he/she feel. Understanding your market is key to being able to communicate with them effectively. Put yourself in their shoes.
Once you understand your ideal prospect’s story, link that story to your brand’s story so that its a perfect fit and see the magic happen.
Turn your events into a revolving door
To keep up with today’s pace - businesses are like revolving doors for launches. You’ll notice how they’ll go through an extensive hype building pre-launch campaign, and then finally launch; only leading to another relaunch or special mini-launches. The interesting thing is that this process actually works!! I have been studying event marketing tricks for a good time, and have found this cyclical launch technique fabulous for business.
If event marketing and launching is dominated by ‘a survival for the fittest mindset’ - then this technique is truly going to benefit you a lot. I call it the ‘revolving door technique’ because; just like revolving doors go round and round, marketers can keep launching and relaunching events. It would be noteworthy to mention that this technique is also backed up by some of the most influential thought leaders in internet marketing.
So, if you have been reading my posts recently, you would know how to continually keep building your community through lists. You’ll also know that just having lists is good for nothing until you have strong relationships with them. All of this sounds like very basic stuff, and it is just that. But even basic things need to be handled with tact and intelligence.
A typical event goes through a standard hype cycle, where the launch is usually at the peak of the hype curve. Slowly, after the event, the hype wanes and fades away with time and only becomes a fragment of people’s memories. What we recommend to our clients is to always keep ahead of the game. Always be on your audience’s or client’s minds. Always have something exciting going on. Lets suppose you launched a product by building lots of hype online to get the targeted audience excited. You would want to keep that excitement and loyalty to that product intact for a good time to come. So, you can simply launch discount campaigns, competitions, product variations, seasonal offerings on the “same” product without having to invest anything extra in product development. If your product is an event, you would want to make it into a recurring event with something new to offer every time.
Treat your events like revolving doors, don’t just stop there.
Client relationship tips for event managers
Here are some quick tips to help you in maintaining relationships with your customers and prospects.
1- Give options. If your clients want their events to be different, offer ways of customizing them to the nth degree. Be consultants, not just organizers. Give your full attention to what they want and then propose solutions and options to them.
2- Show that you care about them. Offer complementary services or gifts for bigger events to build relationships with regular customers. These can be anything from a picture album of the event to free bartenders. This depends on your budgets and resources. But a good gesture goes a long way in building lasting relationships.
3- Keep marketing material handy. Always have case-studies of successful events that you did and present them in an attractive way for prospects. You can short fliers or brochures printed or online PDFs. Make sure you can demonstrate your capabilities as great event organizers.
4- Never forget your lists. Keep in regular contact with previous clients, prospects or audiences through emails and occasion-based greeting cards. You can setup reminders for yourself to invest a few minutes each month to do this.
Creating experiences for your events
We discussed earlier how to build brands for the events that you plan. The idea there was to help you to turn the event into an entire experience for all of the people who participate in it – the audience, the attendees, the clients, the guests. The experience should be seamless right from the beginning, even before the event actually takes place. If ordering an iphone is an event in your life, then the experience begins from the moment you go to their website to place an order, to how the package looks like when it arrives, to the promptness of their customer support staff. Similarly, for organized events, the experience begins from the moment people find out about it, all the way till after the launch. The smoother the flow is, from the start to the end, the more memorable the experience will be.
I recently got an invitation to a wedding with the most beautiful invite card that I’ve seen. Everything from the font, the graphics, to the feel of the card texture was wonderful. It also had a small personally addressed hand-written “looking forward to” note attached to it. Just the invite made me feel honored to be invited and excited about being a part of it. For me, the wedding’s first touch moment was perfect.
So the idea, is to turn your events into experiences that everyone would want to remember and feel special about. It also comes down to simple things, like making it simple for people to get back to you with regrets or RSVPs. Make it easy for them to find locations and venues. Give offers, discounts and giveaways. Also remember, that your event doesn’t just end at launch – the post-launch phase is just as important.
Each event is a brand – do you have the right story figured out?
Every event that you plan is like a separate product – each event requires its own brand and identity. Its sad to see how people keep on launching events without giving thought to the event’s brand story. Today, I am briefly going to talk about ways of building brand stories for your events, whether they are small soccer club gigs or huge global conferences. The essence is always the same – does the brand of the event make people want to brag about and be a part of it?
There are different approaches to building the brand story, but I like the simplest approach the best. Its more genuine and honest and takes up less time.
Step 1: Understand what sets the event apart
The first step to building your brand story is to understand who your ideal attendees are. What are there thoughts, fears, requirements, ideas? What gaps exist in other events that you will be filling? Once you understand your targeted attendees, you will be able to identify things that you want to highlight about your event that fills their needs. This can be anything, from better payment terms to cool merchandize. Write down the things that set your event apart. Let’s call them the brand attributes.
Step 2: Build a story based on your brand attributes
Now that you have the brand attributes written down, it’s easy to build a story around it. A story is a description of how the event idea came about, in layman’s terms. The story doesn’t have to be a fabricated knit-up but it should be positioned in a way that is easy to remember and repeat. A story could be: “we were furnishing our baby’s room and couldn’t find good economical furniture for small baby rooms in this town. First we looked around then, we decided to take things in our own hands and custom build them. They turned out so great and everyone loved them. We now have a small furniture outlet in our own garage for other parents like us where we arrange bi-monthly meetups for parents to share ideas and come up with designs. Our little get-togethers are open for all expecting or existing parents and even furniture designers.” This is a story people will not only remember, but spread to every parent that they know.
Step 3: Tell the story to your audience
If you have been following my posts, you probably already have a community (audience or list) that you are actively building a relationship with. When you are ready to share your story with your community, just tell them the exact story that you have spun in the previous step and let them absorb it. Never push anyone to your events, let them get lured themselves.
Step 4: Make references to your story and encourage others to spread it
Make it easy for people to share your story with their friends. A great way to do this is to have materials ready, that they can send to their networks. Also, keep referring to different aspects of the story or different analogies of the story off an on, as a subtle reminder to the community. For example: “you know how we have this great little garage all set up…”, or “we are avid believers or DIY home products..”, or “our babies in a cute and inquisitive stage these days..”, or “its interesting to see how great ideas can be generated in fun brainstorming sessions..” etc. These references will revive the entire story in the listeners mind and will make sure he or she doesn’t forget it.
Just like product brands require special attention, your events deserve the same level of thought into designing them. Good luck.
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