How To Get The Right People In The Room For Your Next Event

For both marketing and sales, an event is only as valuable as the people in the room. That’s why a huge conference, where only a small percentage of the attendees fit your target persona, probably isn’t the best investment of time and money. Hosting a targeted field event is a great way for to engage only the right accounts and personas. But how do you want sure you get the right people to show up?

Host events near your target accounts.

Identify locations where you have a high concentration of prospects or customers that need some time and attention. For example, if you have a high number of sales opportunities that are likely to close in the same city, host an event there to accelerate those deals.

On the other hand, you could look for a high concentration of opportunities that are stuck and need something to push them forward. You should also look for locations where you have a lot of customers or target accounts you want to engage.

Run a report of your target accounts and customers by city. Ideally, your event will attract a combination of opportunities, customers, and prospects from target accounts.

 

Encourage sales to help with invites.

Sending a an automated email invitation to your targeted list of attendees is the perfect place to start with your invitation strategy, but it shouldn’t stop there. Since your event should be focused on engaging target accounts, your sales and customer teams should be familiar with the list of invitees.

A personalized email from a rep will help to catch the the attention of invitees who ignore that first email invitation. Having your reps reach out to your target invitees via Twitter and LinkedIn is also a great way to get through to your target group of invitees.

Getting sales involved with invites is also a great way to align marketing and sales as the event approaches. Holding a sales contest that rewards the rep who drives the most registrations from target accounts is another great tactic to get sales involved.

 

Pick up the phone.

Email gives people an easy out to decline an invitation. Pairing an email with a phone call is a more powerful and personal way to get your target invitees to register. A phone conversation also gives you the opportunity to share more details on the event and address any questions.

Beyond registration, a personal phone call reminder before an event is an effective way to encourage your most important registrants to show up on event day. Even a warm voice mail reminding the registrant about the upcoming event will drastically increase the likelihood that they will attend.

Sure, some people may tell you they can’t make it when they pick up the phone, but now you know not to expect them. You’ll be surprised at how much these phone calls will improve your ratio of registrants to attendees.

Remember, Revenue Event Marketing is all about quality over quantity. That means getting the right people to show up should be your top event priority. When you are strategic about your location and invitation strategy, you’ll engage the right prospects and customers to drive revenue. Download The Complete Guide To Revenue Event Marketing made by the team of Attend, Inc., to learn more about how to get the right people in the room at your next event.