Build Your Content... They Will Come: Inbound Marketing & Your Event

Prom.

The year was..? Well, you know what year it was. You know what you wore and who shared a ride with you. (I may have looked like a disco ball with legs… but I looked goooood in that classic convertible.)

Pshhh… No judgment. That’s not even me.

(I’m not crazy enough to show you my actual picture.)

My point. Prom is unforgettable. Whether you went stag, in a group, with your high school sweetheart… The people you shared the night with made it memorable. The night was purposeful. It had meaning.

Events are a part of our world. Memorable events? Events that people want to attend and create buzz about? Well, that may not be part of your story. But it can be.

“’84% of professionals feel that attending events is an important part of their job’ but are the right people attending your event and is the content you’re providing them relevant to their job?”

-Hubspot and Eventbrite

How can you make the leap from being the Dark Helmet of flops to the Darth Vador of events?

Two words. Inbound Marketing.

Inbound Marketing is the most valuable approach to online business. It centers on developing excellent content that draws people in. When content and customer interests’ proverbial stars align, it’s marketing magic. Your inbound traffic is changed for the better. More traffic means more conversions.

“Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound leads [1]. Better yet those leads cost 61% less than outbound leads [2].”

-HubSpot’s State of Inbound Marketing Report, 2013

According to HubSpot’s Annual State of Inbound Marketing Report, nearly 60% of businesses surveyed were already using the inbound marketing strategy, and that number continues to rise.

How can inbound marketing work for your event?

1. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. (Use what you already have.)
2. Find important trends in your industry and ask influencers to speak about them
3. Take that content and share it via blog, slideshare or video
5. Design content that speaks to your event persona

*A definite persona is essential for reaching the right registrants and moving them toward event engagement.

2. Design Your Guest List. (Knowing who you want to be at your event is a must.)

• Set Goals
• Ask yourself: Is it for leads, customer appreciation or brand awareness
• Research and Design your Event Personas
• Check out the HubSpot buyer persona template here.

3. Make them show up!
4. Develop content that draws your desired people to the registration page, causes them to sign up, attend and ultimately engage
5. The content is most effective when it is relevant and valuable, and proves to be of help in their daily minutia.

BE RELEVANT.

“43%of attendees feel that events marketed to them are not relevant to their job or industry… 47% of event organizers surveyed didn’t have a well-defined persona for their events… 51% of organizers aren’t able to increase attendance and 14% had attendance decrease.”

HubSpot & Eventbrite Survey 2014

Content That Gets Noticed

Consider your event personas. What challenges do they face? What do they actually want to learn about? And how do they prefer to learn it? If you can answer all of these questions, then you can determine whether to use a press release, video marketing, or articles, etc.

Don’t stop there. Your event page must be worthy of their time. Make it count. Try using an infographic with your most influential presenter, or embed a video of the influencer and put it on the event website. Take that same event page and be sure to include a refund policy, event-specific FAQs and contact information.

Who can forget to use social media for event engagement?

Eventbrite found that every time someone shares an Eventbrite event through social media, that share then drives an average of sixteen visits back to the original event page. In order to optimize social sharing, there are several things you can try.

• Choose that hashtag wisely
• Then, talk it up! Tell everybody what that hashtag is.
• Real-time updates are your friend.
• Let ‘em see your tweets.
• Set up a great backdrop for pics.

The Party is Over… But your work isn’t finished.

• Recap articles
• Create a highlight video
• Post pics on social media

The proof is in the pudding. Content-driven events are a mainstay. Your job is to get that content right before, during and after.

Put the time in to know your personas and cater to their needs. Your event does matter. More importantly, so do the people who are drawn to it. Get to know them. Knowledge is power.

Want more information? Check out “The New Age of Event Marketing – Increase Event Attendance and Engagement With an Inbound Marketng Strategy ” eBook by Hubspot and Eventbrite.

Gimme a shout. What has helped you increase attendance?