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Workshop - specific technologies that have proven their effectiveness

12 ways to recruit a group for training

Have you ever been in a situation where you came up withwonderful training, training program or therapy group, launched advertising, told everyone to whom it was only possible that soon you have a grand event, and 2.5 people came to you, which they can’t even recapture the rent of the hall?

I used to face this problem all the time! It even happened that not a single person came.

But how is it?

I have such a cool training, I thought of it for so long, I tried so hard, I didn’t sleep at night ... And then the day “X” comes, and people "X-renushki"!

But if this continues from time to time, the demotivation to organize your group classes is getting higher each time. Thought starts to creep in

“Am I good for anything at all, since people don’t come to me?”

- Did I come up with a topic that no one needs?

Can someone arrange training for me? And even if someone undertakes to recruit people for you, he will take a not weak percentage for this ...

- Can't I make a group myself?

But fortunately, working methods for recruiting a group have long been invented that work, if not with 100% guarantee, but with 90% for sure!

In order to solve this problem, you need to master a few not tricky tactics for selling your group classes.Moreover, most tactics are completely do not require extra investment in advertising and promotion. Even with the resources you currently have you can significantly increase the number of people who will come to you for training.

I invite you to a seminar, the purpose of which is to solve this problem once and for all!

Seminar

12 ways to recruit a group in psychological practice

Whatever you take a pig in a poke, I will briefly describe some of the methods ...

1.Full information

The problem of recruiting a group for training is that that you sell "air". After all, your training cannot be felt like an iron or a washing machine. Moreover, if you can accurately describe what a new iron or washing machine will give a client, then it is much more difficult to describe what the training will be useful for.

For your client, training is an abstraction, air, something invisible. He does not know how this will happen, whether it will solve his problems, and whether this is really what he needs.

How to convey the information correctly, so that the client would want to come to you for some kind of abstraction? The seminar will answer.

2. Target Audience Selection

To successfully sell any training, you need to clearly select target audience.

This is understood by many among coaches and psychologists. But for some reason, a few really use niche in sales, i.e. deliberate narrowing target audience.

The idea of ​​niche is that you do not need to sell your training to everyone. It is enough to find only the group of people who really need it. And then they will buy it themselves.

But trainers and psychologists regularly make the same mistake, being afraid to narrow the audience, and trying to sell the training to everyone, naturally fail.

At the seminar we will look at how to sell your training to a specific target audience.

3. Front - tactics

For the sale of training, a so-called front product. An inexpensive information product that solves your client's problem at a superficial level or simply provides quality information about the problem itself and how to solve it. And if the client liked your front product if you then invite him to a full-fledged training, he will gladly come to you.

What can be a front product and how to use it when selling a training? And most importantly, how to create this front product quickly? There is a solution to this topic, and you will learn it at the seminar.

4 . Using sales texts

It's special texts that are created to sell your training. This is not just information about the training, which you see a lot when you go to any website of any training center. Outreach does not sell your training.

Selling text is a text that gives consistently specific information to your client and pushes him to make a decision to attend your training. No, this is not manipulation. It's a way to reach your client.

What is the structure of such a text? What are the main elements? In what order? We'll figure it out.

5. Long lead time

A constant problem of organizers and coaches - too short period.

“What should I do, I scheduled training, rented a gym, two weeks left, and I have three people signed up?”

"Nothing already." If you do not have a systematic psychological practice, you will not be able to significantly extend the training as a plus.

The tactic of effective recruitment here is in maximizing the recruitment period of the training. The sooner your potential clients find out about the training, the better. The more time they have to mature and make a decision.

What are the deadlines for what types of trainings? How much time will be enough and in what case? And here for a long time there are working models that you will learn about in a seminar.

In the workshop, we will also look at ways...

1. The first swallow - the most delicious - first
2. Melting discounts - who did not have time, he was late
3. Bonus systems - creating beyond value
4. Selling presentation - how to sell training in 45 minutes to "cold" clients
5. Division by status - how to use the different solvency of your customers to recruit a group
6. Dead line tactics - creating scarcity
7. Partnership - how to properly use the resources of colleagues

We will look at each of these methods step by step!

As a result of the seminar you will receive

Clear group recruitment algorithms under any circumstances

- You will be able to use these algorithms immediately after the workshop

All these methods do not require huge investments in advertising and PR.

- You will get rid of the headache - "How to recruit a group?"

You will learn how to recruit a group for trainings and not only - and this is the main thing!

If you use these methods crooked, you will still increase the number of people coming to your trainings at times.

Obviously, the event should be advertised in order for it to fulfill the tasks set by the organizers. As we said, they can be very different, but one of the most obvious and universal goals of advertising is to attract an audience of event participants.

Depending on your goal, plan the budget, means and advertising media.

- to inform?
- convince?
- to remind?
- support?
- be intrigued?
- provoke?
- something other?

When you answer these questions, it will become clearer to you exactly how to advertise this or that event, in what vein to prepare an advertising text, what arguments to use. Consider the motives of your potential participants. Make promises that your event will fulfill.

Determining the theme and name of the event

First, decide on a theme and title for your event. Don't make them faceless, give them a theme or a catchy name (or both).

Incorporate the event into your company's overall strategy. The theme chosen should encourage participants to learn more about the product or service being promoted and be in line with your goals.

The name of the event should sound quite tempting and initially motivate all participants. Very often people only read the title, only the capital letters of your ad or booklet. The headline is the most memorable, so put a catchy name for your event there. If it is of interest, the rest of the text will be read. If not, no matter how brilliantly you compose an advertising text, they may not read it and will not remember it. The description that comes after the title can only confirm or cool the interest that arose after reading the name of the event. Try to ensure that they already carry the necessary information about what kind of event it will be.

However, it is important not to overdo it here. Don't try to explain everything in the title. No details - just the essentials.

Good names: CREDEX lending conference, NASHESTIE (Our Radio festival) and Maksidrome (Radio Maximum festival), Nokia Snowboard show, Beaujolais Nouveau Young Wine Festival, etc. Bad names: Main Trends Conference , prospects for sustainable development and interaction of key sectors of the national economy on the way to increasing export potential, attracting foreign investment and interregional cooperation in the light of WTO accession and increased global competition. Russia is on the threshold of structural reforms in the face of the challenges of the modern multipolar world”; corporate holiday "on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the founding of the company."

How to check the title? Show the name to one of your colleagues and ask them to say what event they are attending. Most likely, he will say something similar to what the participants will say. “I’m going to the Maxidrom” sounds normal. “I go to Major Trends — not very well.

(Options: Company X Balloon Festival, Company Y Star Party, etc., etc.)

Try to come up with a name that can become a brand in the future. The most famous event brand is the Olympic Games. Among the conferences is the World Economic Forum in Davos (World Economic Forum).

Advertising channels

What ways can be used to inform about the event?

Direct handling (mail, courier delivery)

Direct marketing is considered one of the most effective advertising methods. This includes the mailing of special invitation cards, event booklets, etc.

How to arrange your invitations? They can be different both in form and in content. They are made colorful and strict, extravagant and classic - depending on the type of event.

For example, for official events there is a strict standard: a rigid white cardboard, a coat of arms or logo, black text, the name of the invitee is often entered by hand to emphasize the attention paid and the personal nature of the invitation. But flyers that give the right to enter club parties and various parties have a completely different standard: colorful, outrageous.

The main elements that should be present in the invitation:

- appeal (personal or impersonal);

— the name of the organizer and the name of the inviting organization;

- date, time, place of the event;

- RSVP (abbreviation rêpondez s "il vous plaît -" please answer "(French)).

You can also include the following additional elements in the invitation:

- the purpose of the event;

— local or international event;

- requirements for the style of clothing;

— names of famous speakers or guests;

— frequency (eg 2nd annual);

- jubilee or anniversary;

— information about the limit on the number of places;

— the status of the invitee (VIP, observer, invitation from sponsors).

The design of your invitation will say a lot about what event you are inviting the recipient to. If you are doing the event for the first time, test the reaction on a neutral person. Try to make sure that the design conveys exactly what you wanted to convey. Otherwise, confusion may result.

telemarketing

It is not only mail that offers us the opportunity to contact our Clients directly. This also includes telemarketing and, possibly, sending personal faxes (I do not mean promotional fax mailings, but personal messages). Depending on the number of invitees and other factors, you can call potential participants yourself or contact specialized call centers. Don't overestimate your strengths.

To work effectively on the phone, you may need a formal conversation script. Get ready, write an algorithm for the development of a conversation, typical questions from Clients.

Among the most common questions when organizing corporate events are the following:

- Who is the organizer of the event?

- Where and when will everything take place?

- What are the goals and objectives of the event?

- Who is participating in the event? What officials, heads of companies?

Who confirmed their participation, and who gave prior consent?

— What are the conditions of participation, the cost of the registration fee?

– What is the registration procedure?

Most likely, potential participants will doubt the need to participate - prepare arguments that could convince them and dispel these doubts. Prepare your answers in advance.

Personal selling

Two components of successful sales:

- detailed knowledge of the product;

- Effective sales skills.

What if your salespeople don't have the knowledge or skills they need?

“They can be taught that.

“They have to learn this.

When you start calling, do not hesitate to make changes to the conversation algorithm, as unforeseen questions and turns of the conversation may appear. Train your employees to answer them.

If, nevertheless, a potential participant has not shown interest or cannot take part for objective reasons, you will immediately ask him for recommendations on who to contact with such a proposal.

Database

For successful direct marketing, you need a good database. It is best if the attitude towards it is immediately extremely serious and work with it is centralized. Immediately think about how the database will be structured, what data you need. If you make a mistake and there is too little data, you will not be able to effectively use the database, if there is too much, you will lose time, data entry will be difficult.

At a minimum, you must have the following fields:

In addition, the database may contain, for example, the following fields:

- birthday;

- mobile phone;

- city code;

- participation in other events;

- the number of employees in the company;

- type of business and other things that you may need when preparing for the sample.

When creating a base for mailing, you will need to segment your audience and make a selection for sending out invitations. Having the necessary fields in the database, you can make a selection, for example, by position (general directors and HR specialists), by region (according to the list of cities in the region you are interested in), by the number of employees (companies with at least one hundred people in the state), etc.

Sources for the database can be the results of previous events (you enter the event participants in the database), publications in the press (enter the names of people you are interested in, find contact information), various directories, etc. You can buy databases from specialized companies, such as Kompass , use data from catalogs of industry exhibitions, etc.

Keep in mind that databases tend to become outdated very quickly: companies move, people leave, etc. Strive to keep your database at least 90% up to date. Treat it like a garden that constantly needs attention, which needs to be regularly weeded and watered - that is, delete irrelevant data, add new ones. And so - every day.

Internet

The ubiquity of the Internet makes it an extremely important medium for communicating with your audience. This is especially true when it comes to working with a business audience. Believe me, billionaires also happen to go online.

Among the tools that you may need when advertising on the Internet, you can name your website, event banners, announcements for mailing on specialized sites, prepared texts for direct mailings and newsletters to subscribers.

The event website is an excellent channel of communication with Clients: it allows you to attract Clients and provides answers to their questions. It is also an ideal and inexpensive tester of the interest level of your potential participants, an essential tool for conducting market research.

So, to advertise your event, you need a website. It can be either a specialized site created specifically for the event (like www. my-company-event.ru), or just a section on your corporate website (like www.my-company.ru/event). In any case, it will become an advertising channel for your event, so take care of its appropriate design.

What could be the site of your event?

— Brochure site. The content of such a site corresponds approximately or exactly to what you would print in the event booklet; its purpose is to inform about the event and your company. Usually a site consists of only a few pages. In some cases, this is quite enough.

— Site-presentation. The content may roughly correspond to what you could print in the event booklet, but the information on the site is more complete, there are numerous illustrations, additional and detailed information, there are elements of interactivity. The purpose of such a site is not only to inform, but also to convincingly convince, to interact with a potential Client, making it easier for him to make a decision.

- Site agent. Not even a thick brochure can convey the content of the site. The site lives its own life, a community of users is created around it. The site informs, convinces, entertains Clients, communicates with them, interviews, interacts and independently sells your event (and other services). The purpose of such a site is complex. Of course, creating such a site will cost more and require constant attention, but it can be an extremely valuable resource in your business.

Install a counter on the site and monitor attendance. This can give you insight into how interesting the content is to your audience.

The main problems to avoid when developing an event website are:

- difficult to remember domain;

- difficult or incomprehensible navigation;

- incomplete, fragmentary information.

Before opening the site for visitors, check how it will look. It may look completely different on other computers.

The worst thing I've seen is the images of the pages of a printed booklet posted on the site without any processing whatsoever. The same goes for placing PDF files. Placing a PDF (file format for Adobe Acrobat) is actually sometimes justified: you can download this file from the site and send it to a colleague, print it ... But this file should be just an addition to the rest of the well-designed event site. It is also terrible if the registration form is posted on the site as a downloadable Word file, which the potential participant must download, print, manually fill out and fax. This means that either the organizer was too lazy to make this process convenient for the participants, or he does not have qualified personnel maintaining the site. And either is bad.

Try to include the following on your event page:

— brief description of the event;

— detailed description of the event:

- goals, tasks;

participants, audience;

- date, time and place;

- the terms of participation;

— contact details of the organizers.

Plus extra:

— interactive form of communication (registration);

- FAQ (most frequently asked questions).

— description of the goals and objectives of the conference;

— conference program;

- the terms of participation;

– registration and contacts;

— description of previous conferences;

— information about the organizer;

— information about the partners of the event;

- other additional information.

Note! The same structure should be in printed booklets.

How to make the site more attractive?

Here are some tips to make your site more attractive.

- Conduct interactive surveys. About what - it does not matter: people like to participate in them.

- Create a community of site users or at least arrange a forum where potential participants can communicate with each other, arrange a meeting, ask questions to speakers and organizers.

- Post the history of the event (if any) on the site, publish photos and other information about previous events.

- Offer participants something free: a selection of news on the topic of the event, analytical articles, statistical information, etc.

- Install a reminder service - so that the participant who left his e-mail or phone number receives a reminder of the upcoming event at the right time and does not forget to participate in it.

— Make regular updates on the site: publish news, change descriptions, report on the development of the project. Firstly, it is interesting for potential participants of the event. Secondly, search engines in this case often return to the site and index it. Your site will be higher in the search results, and new visitors will come to you more often.

- Make auto-responders to the email addresses specified for the contact. It is clear that in the autoresponder you will not be able to immediately answer the sent question, but you can show that the request has been accepted and you will respond. The text of the answering machine can include the contact numbers of the person in charge and the standard requested information (date and place of the event, link to the location plan, etc.).

contextual advertising- one of the relatively new tools in the arsenal of the event manager. This means that you can advertise your event on the search results page of search engines. The advantage of this type of advertising is that it is seen by the interested audience, that is, only those who typed the word specified by the advertiser in the search line. (For example, when searching with the words “organization of press conferences”, the user will see an offer for services for organizing press conferences, etc.)

My experience shows that contextual advertising is very effective. However, since audiences and events can vary, do not overestimate the effectiveness of this type of advertising.

Banners and links. About the creation of banners and their correct design is described in specialized literature, designers can advise you, so I will not delve into this topic. I will only note that a banner is a very limited advertising medium. You will have to reduce the information you transmit as much as possible. Most likely, it will contain only the name of the event, the date and place of the event, and the organizer. Perhaps this will not happen and you will limit yourself to announcing a burning issue or topic of the event.

Of course, you will be able to place banners of the event on the websites of your information sponsors. In addition, by paying, you can place banners on specialized sites and in banner networks. The same applies to the exchange of links with specialized sites and portals. Among other things, link exchange increases the citation index of your site.

Announcements. There are many specialized sites on the Internet that unite communities of professionals in a particular field. Often these sites provide services for sending announcements to their subscribers or posting announcements on the site. In this case, you will encounter a limitation on the size of the announcement: say, the announcement can contain no more than 150, 300, 450 characters. You will face an extremely interesting task: how to capture the attention of the audience and attract it to the site using an extremely concise advertising message. Packing a four-page event description into 2-3 sentences is a creative challenge. As with everything, skill comes with practice. Writing announcements also requires a special talent.

My advice A: Don't try to tell everything. It's just not possible. Your task is not to convey the maximum in this announcement, but only to convince them to visit your site. Remember this. Highlight the most important element of the event or emphasize its uniqueness, give one or two reasons why the reader should pay attention to you. The rest is the task of your website or telephone operator.

Direct mail- This is one of the most subtle moments in advertising on the Internet. The problem of spam has made direct mailing extremely difficult. You can be accused of all mortal sins, disable the site, etc. Therefore, use this tool with extreme caution. For example, you can use specialized services, such as Subscribe.Ru, which have the consent of the audience you need to receive advertising mailings.

In addition, you can write letters to companies or people who are potentially interested in your event. To prevent your letter from being perceived as spam, be sure to introduce yourself, provide contact details, include an appeal to a specific person or company in the text of the letter, explain the reason why you are contacting them. It may not be necessary to immediately offer your services or event - send the most concise information about the topic of your event and ask if it might be of interest to the recipient. Only after receiving a positive response, send a detailed description of your event.

All these precautions are not unreasonable, as they can affect your reputation and perception of the event.

And yet, despite all the difficulties associated with direct mail, communication through e-mail is very effective. A lot of people prefer to communicate in this way. In addition, e-mail is noticeably faster than regular mail.

What is spam?

Spam is considered impersonal, unsolicited e-mail communication that is commercial in nature. Simply put, an offer to buy something, sent to everyone. If you have already been in correspondence with your addressee or indicated to whom exactly your letter was sent, and signed with contact details, this letter will not be considered spam. In any case, your recipient should be able to opt out of receiving future emails from you. Be sure to keep this in mind and do not be intrusive. Also, your ISP will consider sending more than 200 emails per hour or more than 2000 per day as spam. These are approximate numbers and may vary from provider to provider.

Other services provided by the Internet. On the Internet, there are services for sending press releases or company news on a specific topic. Prepare your description of the event (no more than a page) and take advantage of the opportunities that this service gives you.

In addition, there are quite a few resources on the Internet dedicated to the formation of various event calendars: there are catalogs of seminars, catalogs of press conferences. They have a rather different interface for adding event information and very different efficiency. See how much we visit this or that directory. It may even get fewer visits than your own site, in which case you shouldn't rely on it too much. Remember: the more information there is on the web about your event, the more likely it is that a potential participant will stumble upon it.

Advertising in the media

Advertising in newspapers and magazines, on television and radio is traditionally an advertising tool. In my practice, I do not use these advertising channels very often, so I will not tell you in detail how to create commercials or prepare newspaper ads - there is specialized literature for this, experts, I recommend contacting them; I also recommend reading Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy.

- compliance with the target audience;

- price quality;

- creativity;

- connection with the event;

- Estimated financial return;

— realization of other goals of the organizer.

Keep in mind that it is not necessary to portray your real Clients. In advertising, people prefer to see themselves as they want to be, rather than as they really are.

Also, special attention should be paid to PR tools: sending out press releases, holding press conferences, offers to interview the most interesting participants in the upcoming event and other types of activities that aim to stimulate the appearance of articles in magazines and newspapers. Journalists are an extremely important part of the audience, as they are the transmission link, the channel for communication with the secondary audience of your event (see the chapter “Working with the press”).

If your event, such as an exhibition or festival, involves mass participation, a large number of visitors, you can use advertising channels targeted at a wide audience: advertising on radio and TV, distributing a large number of flyers, leaflets, advertising on transport and street banners, street advertising on pedestals and posters.

Special Promotions

Organization of events is a good sales tool (and for some types of business, almost the main one). You can also organize an event to promote your event. This is not a funny paradox, but a powerful tool.

A fireworks display (city event) was organized in Sydney to celebrate the selection of Sydney as the venue for the Olympic Games.

You can hold a press conference (this is also an event) in order to announce through the press about a large-scale event that you are preparing.

You can organize an expert committee meeting (event) and present it with an idea for your upcoming event. On the one hand, you will get the opinion of the potential audience about your idea. On the other hand, the meeting participants will already be involved in the preparation of the event, they will perceive themselves as part of it and will assist you.

The target audience

Again, determine who your target audience is for this event. Depending on the composition of potential participants, choose one or another advertising channel.

— Consumers, Clients. The best tools are almost all of the ones listed above.

— Partners, suppliers. The best tools are personal invitations, personal letters, personal faxes, reminder calls. In some cases, advertising in the media.

— Workers. The best tools are emails, meetings, corporate newspaper, wall newspaper or ad, personal invitation.

- Mixed audiences. Combination of different advertising channels.

Customer Interaction Procedures

During the preparation and implementation of the event, you will encounter certain standard situations in interaction with Clients. Practice these typical procedures. This is a technological moment, and here you should work like a well-established conveyor, according to a clear algorithm.

— registration, confirmation of participation. Think in detail how your Client can communicate his decision to participate in your event (mail, phone, fax, website, in person) and with what help (questionnaire, call, buying a ticket, etc.);

— actions after registration. Report your actions to the Client. Do you need to send confirmation to the Client? Should (when and how) be reminded of the event? Work out internal actions: compiling lists of participants, maintaining a database. Depending on the incoming data on the number and composition of participants, adjust your plans and actions;

— reminders. In some cases, it is necessary to remind the Client about the event. The event may well be forgotten or otherwise prioritized by canceling participation. In this case, the reminder will serve you well. You will either return the almost lost Client, or learn about his absence and be able to make adjustments to your plans. This procedure requires accuracy, consistency and accuracy on your part. Always call back at the time promised. However, don't be intrusive;

— rejection or replacement. Since we are dealing with a service, our Clients may change their mind about participating in the event. Work out the procedure for canceling participation or replacing a member. If a participant is replaced, make changes to the database in a timely manner. In case of cancellation of participation, return the money if the conditions specified during registration are met. This is also an important point: refusal to return the money at an early stage can harm your relationship, and the Client will not want to work with you in the future. On the other hand, there comes a time when you have already made the necessary expenses and, having learned about the refusal to participate, you cannot change anything. Let your Clients be informed about it, let them understand your position;

Cancellations received more than one week prior to the event are non-refundable. A member can be changed at any time. Please inform us of these changes in writing.

Text from Eventum booklet

— special procedures. Consider what special situations and special relationships you may have with the Client. For example, special conditions for participation for a certain category of them (for example, for regular Clients or, conversely, participating for the first time).

“If you wish to send a group of employees to the event, we will be happy to discuss special conditions and provide you with a discount. If you prefer to get to the pension on your own, please inform us about this and provide your car number.

Ways to increase the popularity of the event

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.
A simple idea by M. Jonjua

In addition to presenting the general idea of ​​the event, use additional tools to increase its popularity. I would like to suggest the following.

— Identify the key elements of the event that need to be emphasized. Try to emphasize them favorably. For example, participation in your event of a unique specialist or a bright personality. Or a presentation of the latest research results. Or the special status and privileges of guests, etc. Interest in a bright detail will increase interest in the entire event as a whole, and will become the locomotive of your advertising activity.

- Find promotional partners to improve the effect and share costs. This type of cooperation is called cross-promotion. Think about who can be included in the alliance of organizers (co-organizers) of the event. Most likely, these are companies from other industries, your subcontractors, who are also interested in your audience and in the success of the event. Their independent activity or participation in the project can spur the interest of the participants. In addition, in some cases, cross-promotion allows you to share part of the costs. Such partners can be specialized media, manufacturers of goods and services related to your activities, even some of your Clients. However, make sure that the event does not "change host": it should still be perceived as yours.

- Invite celebrities to participate. It seems to me that many secretly do not believe in the existence of famous people. Therefore, for the participants, their invitation is a chance to see the “legend”, to communicate with her. In this way, they can also satisfy personal motives.

In addition, the participation of a celebrity significantly increases the prestige and status of the event and is a guarantee of its class, which is also perceived positively. However, a well-known face can overshadow everything else. Your event may be perceived as an event in which a certain star participated, and its main initial value will be lost. Think about what your goal is. Advertise once again a celebrity? Try to ensure that the invitee organically fits into the general theme of the event, complements and decorates it.

On the other hand, celebrities are usually bright, extraordinary personalities with whom everyone will be pleased to talk. It is worth noting that if your event is open, and the guest is a star, you can also count on more attention from the press.

- Organize lotteries and competitions with prizes, arrange draws. Excitement is a great feeling, and there are not so few gambling people. Not everyone goes to the casino, but many will want to participate in your lotteries. I am personally very gambling and always participate in such lotteries.

For business events, you can arrange a draw using business cards. Collect participants' business cards in a special vase and win prizes. Those who don't win won't be too worried because they didn't spend. Those who win will then tell colleagues and friends about their winnings, increasing the popularity of your event. Of course, for this the prize should not be symbolic. Again, use cross-promotion: your partner can provide a valuable prize. On the contrary, small, insignificant prizes will cause annoyance over time, as people will realize that they have not actually won anything. If the prize is a business souvenir with the symbols of your company, make sure that it is valuable for the owner. It is not always good to use a discount on your company's services as a prize: it will be clear that this is just a sales method, and these are deceived expectations. Learn it.

- Organize demonstrations, presentations. It is always an element of the show that draws attention and adds variety to your event, which in turn increases the overall attendee satisfaction score.

public relations-PR

PR is a softer form of advertising. Advertising is what you say about your event. PR is, on the contrary, what others say about you. Typically, an editorial generates 3-7 times more revenue than traditional advertising. At the same time, the costs associated with the publication of such an article are usually much lower. (By cost I mean the effort and work involved in training or the services of professional PR agencies.) If you're interested in publicity, pay special attention to the press.

Recently, PR often means only relations with the press, some actions that are closer to promotion. But Public Relations is precisely relations with the public, relations with potential and real participants in your events. We need to return to this pure source, the original meaning. Build relationships. Make regular mailings among former participants of your events, send them gifts and postcards for the holidays, publish news on the corporate website or on the Internet, use all available means of communication.

Try to attract the attention of the audience in other ways (for this you need to know your audience and their interests). Remember the motives of the participants and try to influence them directly.

md. Chernaya Rechka, 15 Russia, St.Peterburg 8 812 497 19 87

Promotion of events using VKontakte. Quite an unusual way.

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Of course, now there are many ways to recruit people for an upcoming event: a conference, seminar, webinar, training, etc.

What I will share below is some additional tool that you definitely need to test in your business.

ATTENTION: it won't suit everyone. And some will even consider it unethical.

Remember, common sense is everywhere. My goal is to give you a really working tool, but how you will use it for yourself is another matter.

A little background:

One evening, I was flipping through a news feed on VKontakte. I rarely pay attention to targeted ads on the left, because usually someone's faces flicker there, absolutely not interesting to me. And suddenly…

…I see an avatar of my very good friend in the ad.

My gaze immediately shifts to the left. I read the title: “Applied for ...” (some kind of conference was indicated there).

Agree: it is curious when you see a photo of your friend, and even with such a title.

Now I could not sit still, because. my inquisitive mind demanded an answer to how they did it.

After thinking about it for 10 minutes, I realized what the point is ...

Promoting events using this method?

At first I thought to paint everything in text form, but I decided to make a video on this occasion.

After watching, several questions may arise at once:

Again, I will focus on common sense. Yes, this method is not suitable in all cases.

However, as you saw from the example above, I was very curious about what kind of conference was advertised there.

Draw your own conclusions!

That's all for me 😉

P.S. If you found this article helpful, subscribe to blog updates and recommend it to your friends, especially those who are interested in promoting their events.

Today, one of the most interesting areas in marketing is event marketing. Event marketing is understood as the holding of various events that contribute (and sometimes are aimed only at this) sales, PR, product recognition. Event marketing is useful because it is based on a rather interesting, long-term contact with the audience, immersing it in the atmosphere of the brand.

A marketing format that attracts people not with “buy-buy-buy” advertising messages, but entertains and educates, allowing potential consumers to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the brand, is a fairly popular direction for promoting a wide variety of goods and services today. As a rule, product marketing begins with the fact that the concept of the event is determined. After a detailed prescribing of all the features and ideas and the start of preparation, the stage of advertising the event itself also begins.

In fact, marketing becomes complex - if at first we just needed to sell a product, now we use a scheme in which we first sell the event, and then worry about selling the product at the event itself. On the other hand, such marketing is much more effective and inspires more trust in the audience. In addition, you can collect contacts from people who came but did not buy anything and use these contacts for repeated communication - the percentage of those who buy next time can increase significantly. If you work with contacts correctly, of course.

So, as you can see, marketing that uses events (events) is a very popular format.

But it often happens that the main problem that event organizers face is not the problem of finding ideas for the script, but the problem of PR and advertising of the event itself. After all, you need to fully recoup the costs of organizing and selling the product, making a very wide coverage. And organizing events is a troublesome business, as you know.

So, we have already determined that the main problem is the problem of attracting people to the event. It doesn't matter if they pay for it or not. It is difficult to attract people to both paid and free events.

Let's deal with all the difficulties and write an algorithm for advertising an event on the Internet.

1. We start with the concept of the event. This is the most difficult, but incredibly interesting item of work. There will be no event without a concept. A concept is a general idea that clearly states the essence of the event. A concept is not just an idea taken from the ceiling. It's not just a pretty idea. The concept should perfectly match your product, include an understanding of why the audience will want to attend the event. This is the key question - today there are many places where you can have a good time. And if you offer a competing alternative program, then there must be very good reasons for the person to change his mind in your favor. The concept just answers this most important question - why will they come to your event.

2. Determination of the best communication channels. Today, a marketer has so many tools that he already has to choose among those that are at hand, and not look for new ones. Some tools are not needed at all to attract people, others may be almost the only channels of communication with the audience to attract to the event. I think it's no secret to anyone that the best option is to use social networks. Social networks are the best way to create a viral effect. There is a special solution - if you want to attend the event for free, then write a comment from yourself on the promo page, and also repost it to your page on the social network. This is an excellent technique that has been tested by more than one course (training, seminar) and allows you to reach many people who are potentially interested in your topic in a matter of days. In general, it all comes down to making the event known among a certain group of people on the network in a minimum amount of time and almost without spending money on contextual advertising and advertising on social networks. The group is usually determined not only by age and interests, but also by location, for example, if you hold an event in St. Petersburg, then, of course, people from Minsk or Kyiv will not be very convenient. So keep geolocation in mind as well.

3. Details and details of the program. Be sure to keep in mind that even if you are hosting a free event that takes a little time, people may not come if there is no clear program. The program is a list of what awaits people who want to attend your event. Usually the program includes the best blocks at the end - so that people come and stay until the end. But you also need to take into account the fact that in no case will people come to places where they are not interested. All promotional materials should confirm your competence and prove that the time spent on your event will be very useful.

4. Cooperation with other companies. Some other companies may also be interested in organizing an event with you. This is promising, given that people who know about their company will now be able to know about your event. In general, use every opportunity to expand the contact list of potential partners and get more people to the event.

5. Actively use banner ads on the right sites. Make beautiful and informative banners and make a list of sites that have your potential audience. You can then start promoting your event approximately 1-2 months before the start. This way you will definitely get the right number of participants. Considering that banner impressions are cheap, you can calculate the optimal budget and the optimal time for placing your ads.

It is profitable to advertise events on the Internet. The main thing is to start work in advance and test all the proposed tools. You will advertise each new event much cheaper and easier, but you need to start right away, as soon as you decide to hold an event and decide on the dates.

So you will have time to correct errors that will definitely occur the first time.

Your own master class, workshop or battle of scientists is only half the battle: it is important that the audience for which it is intended learn about the project in a timely manner. Maria Vul, head of the SMM department at Sterno.Ru, talks about how to attract opinion leaders and use hashtags, what you should never do in your public, and why Odnoklassniki is not as hopeless as it seems. T&P publish videos and the main theses of the master class.

You have decided to hold a lecture, a master class, a seminar or any other educational event - you have prepared a lecture, imagine what audience it is intended for, but no one came to the lecture - simply because they did not know about it. To avoid this kind of fatal mistake, you need to learn how to inform the public about your brilliant ideas. After all, the entire blogosphere with forums and sites, social networks Facebook and Vkontakte and many others is at your disposal.

Before you start the process of promoting your event, you need to imagine the target audience and ask a few simple questions:

Who needs to be attracted?

Where to look for them?

How to talk to them?

What do they need?

How to give it to them?

Explore social networks

It is important to understand that cliches and stereotypes about social networks have nothing to do with reality. The legend that elderly dull aunts sit, for example, in Odnoklassniki is a myth, vigorous people aged 25-35 prevail there. We need to focus not on outdated clichés, but on what is really happening today in social networks. In addition, often when people promote an educational event, they forget about social networks like Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare. They too can greatly help you in promoting your project.

Where to start and where to go?

If you don't have a lot of money and can't afford to go to content promotion companies, there is a set of steps that are quite effective for self-promotion of an event:

Place events on free poster resources;

Contact free city publics and publics on the topic of the event;

Contact the administration of niche sites;

Invite influencers who are REALLY interested in your event;

The same goes for your friends list.

In all places where you will post an announcement about your event, you need to leave a home link by which the user can come to you. Then, using the Yandex Metrica service, you can find out where people came from, what worked more efficiently. On social networks, you should always use the "I'll go" or "maybe" button to roughly represent how many people will come to you.

You can immediately leave messages about your events on the Lookatme.ru, Exchang.es services, but it makes sense to agree with the Afisha, Mail.Ru or Yandex.ru services in advance.

Suppose your lecture is about unicorns. Find forums and publics of unicorn lovers, find all the places where these people sit, do not forget about links to those places where you want to accumulate your audience. Find out where your target audience is.

Opinion leaders receive many invitations every day - you need to interest the people you need with your master class, prove to them that you are unique. Even if the person doesn't show up, they can recommend your event and that would be great advertising. Remember: you don't need to spam your entire friend feed with an event message 15 times a day, the same doesn't need to be done with your target audience, otherwise they will start to hate you silently.

Report the event in advance, but within reasonable aisles - about a week in advance. If you need to buy tickets, then you need to inform a little earlier. If you have information about events that you have already organized on this topic, post a report and photos.

When reporting your future event, always be original and varied:

Show people what awaits them at the event;

Come up with hashtags and always use them!

Always include links in your posts so people know where to go if the picture gets shared. Use hashtags everywhere - on social networks, on the splash screen, and on the banner. If you have your own groups, blogs, etc., use them to announce your event.

Collect and accumulate your audience. When we, for example, promote the lecture hall of the Higher School of Economics, for each lecture we create an event and an email notification for people who previously said “I will go” to our previous lectures on Facebook.

When talking about the place where the lecture will take place, make a map - make life easier for people who come to you.

No need to write a hundred times a day “we have a very cool lecture, please come”, etc., no need to get people. You can remind about the event once a day or every two days using different pictures, a list of references for the lecture, links to films on the topic, you can draw a picture, give a quote.

Importance of intonation

It is impossible to speak the same language in different networks. You can make a poll, picture, discussion for Vkontakte or Facebook. If you are planning to give a serious science lecture, you will scare people away by posting funny pictures on social media about quantum physics. You need to understand who you want to hook on and how they are used to communicating with them.

If you have money, you can promote your post on social networks - Facebook is very convenient in this sense, it will guide you through all the steps of creating an advertising post. Both Facebook and Vkontakte have clear tools that will help you understand how your ad works and change the picture or text of your ad if you are not happy with the effect. On Vkontakte, the text-graphic block does not always work effectively - you can order an announcement or contact the editors of the Vkontakte public if the main audience of this public matches the interests of your lecture.

Feedback

When the lecture is over, do not forget about social networks - after all, you need a loyal audience in the future. Do not relax: say a big thank you to people for coming to the lecture, offer to ask questions if they have any left, post a photo and presentation.

Ask people to leave comments, reply to them, don't leave them hanging alone. You can do a little research: in Yandex, type in a hashtag, your last name, the title of the lecture, and see what people write about you. Remind people of the hashtag so they use it when they write or post something.

You can share pictures, questions, lecture topics, and discussion topics that require a response. Always say "thank you so much for your constructive criticism" and answer any questions asked. Use additional useful content in your event. Create content that you yourself want to repost.

You don't have to do that!

Invite the entire friend feed to the event indiscriminately;

Tag people in photos without their permission;

Update the event endlessly;

Announce an event in ten publics at the same time;

Forget about questionnaires, the physical presence of the hashtag at the event;

Ignore negative reviews, delete comments.

During the event, you can conduct a twitter broadcast, you can combine the lecture into a short video so that a person who was not present at it understands everything in three minutes. All the time while we are holding the event, and after that we monitor reviews by hashtags, by last name, by keywords.

Use Instagram even if you have nothing to photograph. You can always pull something out of the field of expertise. Look at General Electric's Instagram - few people are interested in looking at photos about motors, but they just magically lead their Instagram.