More about lists

Posted by writer | Each event is a brand - Part II »

This is a followup post to never stop building lists.

I felt I hadn’t stressed enough on the importance of building lists in my previous post. I was thinking of writing detailed considerations and methods for building your community lists, but came across a great article that pretty much sums it up for us. You can read the Eugene’s full article here.

Give People a Reason to Sign Up
As soon as your web site goes live, try to get users to willingly volunteer their email. Just because there is a sign up usually isn’t a compelling enough reason for users to sign up. Users are very sensitive to giving their personal information away. Think from the perspective of delivering value. Do you have something unique that you could offer to entice sign ups? In the case of an event it might be an interview with a performer, advance ticket discounts, or highlights from the previous year’s event.

Treat your subscribers like gold and don’t try to sales pitch them too early. Ask yourself, would you be more likely to purchase tickets to an event after 5 or 6 interesting and trustworthy emails? Or send a sales pitch out every time you send an email. Start with building trust and credibility from the beginning. It is important to remember that most people who visit web sites for the first time, never return to the same site. Collecting the user’s email is a good way to reengage your users down the road. It turns a visitor to your website into a lead, someone who is prepared to listen to what you have to offer. The next step is to turn them into a customer.

Advance Sale Tickets
Consider offering early subscribers the best price on event tickets. A few years ago I attended an air show conference in Belgium. One of the presenters outlined the ticketing strategy they used for their event. Their advance sale tickets were discounted by almost 50%. A number of event organizers might think that the process is counter intuitive,”We’re going to lose too much money by discounting ticket prices that much.” Ironically the presenters methodology worked. Their event was paid for before a single person walked in the gate. In addition, the event broke records for attendance and revenue.

Remember the more people with paid tickets in hand when it comes time for “what should we do next weekend”, the more of their friends will paying full price.

The Best Event Marketing Investment

Helping your own targeted subscriber list to grow is the best single investment you can make in your ongoing event marketing. Even if you don’t have something to offer your consumer right now, think about the future. Lists can be used to target the people who have identified themselves as your target market. You can spend less on traditional advertising if you already have a qualified list of people interested in your event, product, or service. Use your subscriber list to your advantage.

Remember the cost of a gaining a new customer does not have to be spent time and again, a new customer is a one off cost. Your list building process should start by capturing a visitors lead information. You are asking them to invest time to listen to what you have to say in return for quality information or value. If after listening they determine what you had to say was worthy of the time they spent listening you are well positioned to convince them that by becoming your customer, they will be better off than if not. Once you earn the customer your focus should shift to ensuring they become a happy customer with a view to converting them into loyal, recurring customers over time.


| Pre-launch

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