Event Marketing and Event Promotions

The BIGGEST Secret to a Successful Event

by Eugene Loj

Greetings from 38,000 feet!

I’m writing you this while enroute to Las Vegas for an air show conference.  (Ah, the joys of technology – never to escape work!) The guy in front of me has his seat all the way back, so I can hardly see what I’m typing. Anyway, here goes ...

Fasten your seat belts, because you’re about to be blown away, ready?

The Biggest Secret to a Successful Event is ...

Plan an Event People are Dying to Attend!

After reading that, you're probably thinking, “Eugene are you kidding me?!?! I already know that. Share something I don’t already know!” What seems like the most obvious piece of event advice ever (see above) is actually ignored by very smart event organizers. Even worse, it happens all the time!

The Same Call About Every Two Weeks
I can’t tell you how many phone calls I’ve had over the years from desperate event organizers. These calls come in about every two weeks, (basically all the same) … “Eugene, I have an event in a few weeks and need to sell 4,500 tickets to break even. Our tickets have been on sale for months, yet nobody is buying. If I can’t sell those tickets, I‘ll lose $80,000 (one event stood to lose $350,000+), can you please help me?”

They’re Already Doomed
In most cases, I can’t help and it’s a horrible feeling! The reason I can’t help … those event organizers sealed their fate the moment they started to plan their event. If people aren't buying tickets to your event, it's most likely because they're not interested.

Do you want to avoid massive event failure? Then please STOP planning events that YOU think people want to attend ... It doesn’t work! Just because you’re passionate about your event, DOESN’T mean that other people feel the same way.  If you think that you can market an event people aren't interested in with a ton of advertising (or great PR), that won’t help either. It's like trying to get a friend to buy something they don't want or need. You can press until you're blue-in-the-face, but they'll never buy. No event organizer on planet Earth has enough advertising dollars to change people’s minds!

“So what can I do to create a successful event?”

Make It an Easy Buy
Start planning events people want to attend without any cajoling or prodding.  Here’s a little secret … I focus on air shows and beer festivals because it’s EASY to sell a ticket. In the case of air shows … People want to want to watch planes scream across the sky with loops and rolls … it’s like a real life version of TOP GUN.

Why do I promote beer festivals? Again, it’s an easy sell … Tons of people enjoy spending time with their friends, listening to great music, all while drinking (responsibly) some of the greatest beers in the world.

You need have an event that people are "irraltionally passionate" about. There is no need to push or pry, they'll just buy. That's a recipe for event success! When you have irraltionally passionate buyers, things like a bad economy have far less negative impact.

I'm Going to Do Something the World has Never Seen Before!
If you're thinking, "I want to do something nobody has done before," chances are it will fail. Please understand, I'm not trying to squash your creativity or ambition. Yes, doing a brand new event idea can turn out to be profitable. But, as with any new endevor into uncharted territory, there comes significantly more risk. You're far better off modeling another event that you know is successful and adding your own spin. Please note: I said model, not rip off. It might not be as exciting, but it's guaranteed to be far more likely to succeed. Save your creativity for after you've had a string of highly successful (and profitable) events.

I’d like to show you how to make your next event wildly successful …

On Friday, December 2, I’ll be opening up slots for the first (and most critical) step in the Event Promotion System … “Finding and Engaging Your Target Market.” If you’re just starting to plan an event or a seasoned pro, you need to be on this training. We’ll dive into proven strategies and tactics super-successful event organizers START WITH to drive massive advance ticket sales and pack their event.

Until now, the only way you could get this training is by purchasing the entire 7 Step Event Promotion System for $1,497. People have told me that they can’t afford that, so I’ve decided to break out the first step (the most important) into its own module. That means, you get the training at a fraction of the total price.

Look to your inbox (subscribers ONLY) for complete details on Friday. If you're not already a subscriber, you can sign up on the top left of this page.

Good night from just north of (and way over) Little Rock, Arkansas!

Here are some additional articles on having a succesful event:

• The Importance of Market Research in Planning Your Event
• An Extremely Dangerous Event Planning Mistake
• Your Event Promotion and Marketing Strategy - Start Point
• Event Planning: The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• Two Amazingly Powerful Event Survey Questions
• A Killer Social Media Promotion Strategy for Your Event

 

 

Why You Need to Ask Difficult Event Survey Questions

WARNING: Fasten your seatbelts, because I’m about to fly off the handle a bit!

The Subjective Catastrophe
Event organizers get themselves in HUGE trouble because they’re subjective in how they plan and execute their events.

According to Princeton University’s WordNet definition, a subjective person uses “judgment based on individual personal impressions and feelings and opinions rather than external facts.” Mix in a subjective event organizer mindset with some ego and you have the perfect mix for disaster. Trust me, it’s not pretty and I’ve seen many completely avoidable event catastrophes, all a result of people being stupidly subjective.

"I Know Better Than Everybody Else!"
Here’s the typical scenario . . . An event organizer becomes hell-bent on running an event THEIR way (also known as Captain Ahab Syndrome).  The end result is that they adopt a mindset of knowing better than their own event attendees.  Please heed the following.  It doesn’t matter how noble or great YOU think your event is, if people don’t share those same beliefs – or worst, don’t care – your event will flop, GUARANTEED!

The Crash and Burn Blame Game & "Idiots"
Event organizers (of the subjective type) empathically state, “It’s my event and I’ll run it as I please.” That is true, but it’s not worth trying to reason them. My only question is, “What happens when your event crashes and burns?” Usually it’s someone else’s fault and it turns into a finger pointing contest. Even worse is the following statement, “People who didn’t show up to our event don’t know what they’re missing – they’re idiots!” Any event organizer who considers those that didn't attend their event in such poor regard, is an idiot! People didn't attend, because the "idiot" event organizer failed to give the consumer a compelling reason to attend.

Fear not, there is hope! Here is what you can do to prevent yourself from falling into the subjective mindset trap . . .

Check Your Ego and Get Some Negative Feedback
A well thought out event survey (or pre even survey) is massively beneficial in keeping your event planning and promotions objective. The caveat is that you have to truly embrace the survey results. One of the single best event survey questions to ask your event attendees is “what DIDN’T you like about the event?” Yet, when I propose the previous event survey question to organizers, they refuse to use it.  They believe if you ask a seemingly negative question their event will be cast in a bad light. I’d argue they don’t ask the questions because their ego can’t handle the feedback.

The truth is if you ask the question from above, you’re going to have to put on some ego armor. BUT, if you integrate the negative attendee feedback, you’re left which a significantly more marketable event.  Some might ask, “why not ask what people liked about my event?” Because if you only focus on the positive and don’t correct the negative, you’ll never improve your event. When you do ask the "negative" question, you'll find people are unbelievably cordal and appreciative with their feedback.

Event Survey Questions
Below is a series of links to additional event survey questions and ideas. Integrate the advice below and let me know how you make out.

Want to get more info on event surveys? Check out the articles below:

• A Great Event Survey Question - When Disaster Strikes
• Two Amazingly Powerful Event Survey Questions
• Create a Better Event with Patron Feedback
• Leading People to Provide Event Feedback
• Event Marketing Research - Know Your Target Market!
• Event Marketing: Multiple Ways to Engage Your List
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Being Proactive About Your Event Customer Service

As your event approaches the amount of traffic to your web site will increase dramatically. There is an important factor you need to be cognizant about. People visiting your event website only take in limited amounts of information . . . Most people will look at the information that is important to them at any given moment.  A certain percentage of your web site visitors are guaranteed to miss important information. As a result, you might have to deal with unnecessary customer service issues.

e.g. A few hundred people show up to your CASH ONLY parking lot with just a credit card. It’s even worse if the closest ATM is 20 minutes down the road.

 Minimize Customer Service Issues
You can minimize a significant number of customer service issues with a robust FAQ page. A good FAQ page should cover people’s most common questions. As stated above, not everybody will visit your FAQ page. You need a way to get people to visit your frequently asked questions page. That’s where a dedicated e-mail list comes into play. By the time your event is about to take place, you should have a decent list of prospects and customers.

Be Sure to Review Your FAQ
Make sure that you take the time to carefully review your FAQ page before your event. Is there any out of date information? Be sure to dig through recent customer service e-mails and make sure you aren’t missing any important questions. Don’t kill yourself trying to answer every question, focus on the most important and most common questions.

Send Them Directly to Your FAQ Page
A few days before your event, e-mail your list a direct link to your FAQ page. The message of the e-mail should go something like this, “… we’re just a few days away from the big event. Please make sure that you take the time to carefully review the updated frequently asked questions page. Doing so will ensure that your experience is as enjoyable as possible.” Then, include a link to your FAQ page. If there is information that's only pertinent to customers, consider creating a separate customer FAQ page.

By getting people to visit your FAQ page, right before your event, you will save yourself time in dealing with last-minute customer service issues.

Want to get more info on event customer service? Check out the articles below:

• Event Web Sites: Saving Money and Time with a FAQ
• What to Do After You’ve Sold a Ticket to Your Event . . .
• The Mystery of Online Customer Satisfaction
• Dealing with Harsh Event Feedback
• Your Event Web Site as a Customer Service Portal
• Event Marketing: Do You have an Online Champion for Your Event?
• Event Promotion: Are You Interacting with Your Target Market?

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

A Great Event Survey Question - When Disaster Strikes

When an event doesn't turn out well - things can get pretty dicey. If big bucks are on the line, the "reason why the event failed" debate can get even more heated. In most cases, the failure of an event usually comes down to poor attendance. It's pretty simple . . . Low attendance = not enough revenue to pay the bills. In order to fix your attendance woes your going to need some concrete answers.

The Danger of Unqualified Opinions
Let me be brutally honest  . . . Any opinion without data is an unqualified opinion. It doesn't matter your level of experience or educational credentials. Events crash and burn because of UNQUALIFIED opinions. In order to answer why people didn't attend your event, you need to reach out to your target market.

The Survey Question to Ask
By the time your event finishes, you should have a prospect and customer list. Conduct a simple survey to your PROSPECT list and ask them one simple question. Here's the question to ask, "What was the BIGGEST reason you didn't buy a ticket for (YOUR EVENT NAME)?" You can rejig the question if you have a free event. The purpose of the question is to identify why people didn't attend your event.

Never expect people to give you valuable feedback without asking them, because it just doesn't happen. Regardless of the instant communication world we live in, most people need to be coaxed for their opinion.

Use a Comment Box
I recommend using a comment field to collect survey data, as opposed to a multiple choice box. Using a comment box allows survey respondents the ability to fill in their own answers. The challenge with multiple choice is that you might be forcing people to select the closest reason, as opposed to the actual reason.

If you want to go the extra mile on this one, verify that ONLY the people who didn't purchase tickets to your event are getting this specific email questions. Ideally you should have a segmented list of prosects and customers after your event. Check the links BELOW for specifics on surveying your target market.

If Your Event ISN'T a Failure . . .
You should still ask the question above. Any insight as to why people didn't buy tickets to your event is extremely valuable.

It's much easier to speculate why people didn't attend your event, versus, actually knowing why people didn't attend. Put your efforts into getting good data from your target market of prospects. You will do your event a tremendous amount of good by making dating driven decisions.

Want to get more info on event surveys? Check out the articles below:

• Two Amazingly Powerful Event Survey Questions
• Create a Better Event with Patron Feedback
• Leading People to Provide Event Feedback
• Event Marketing Research - Know Your Target Market!
• Event Marketing: Multiple Ways to Engage Your List
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Without concrete data, trying to reason why an event failed is speculation at best.

The Importance of Market Research in Planning Your Event

by Eugene Loj

Really knowing a target market is the foundation of getting people to your event. Event organizers frequently call me in a last minute panic . . . They can’t understand why people AREN’T buying tickets for their event. After going through a bunch of probing questions, my response is almost always the same - “You’re having problems selling tickets to your event, because people aren’t interested in what you have to offer.” It sucks having to tell people this – especially when they’ve worked so hard planning their event.

Truth be told, it doesn’t matter how much work goes into planning your event. If people aren’t interested in what you have to offer, they’re not going to show up! If you want to pack your event, focus on finding a passionate marketplace that will automatically (or as close to automatically) attend your event. 

Find Markets that with Passionate Buyers
A passionate target market is a huge reason I focus intently on air shows and beer festivals – it’s pretty easy to sell tickets! All you have to do is say there’s an air show or beer fest and people practically show up. When planning your event, look for markets that are “rabid” for your type of event. You can find rabid markets by doing a little market research.




Leverage the Magazine Rack!
Here’s a great way to find a passionate marketplace . . . I give credit to Perry Marshall (Adwords Expert) as being the catalyst for this idea.

Here is what you can do - Go to your local library or bookstore and spend some time at magazine rack. If you’re looking for HOT marketplaces and niche specific topics, the magazine rack is an amazing resource.  Magazines represent specific topic areas that generate enough interest that advertisers are willing to purchase ad space. Ad space is highly indicative of marketplaces where people BUY. You want your event theme/topic to match up to a BUYING (passionate) marketplace.

Magazine racks are great, because they allow you to look through a plethora of target markets.  Maybe there isn’t a perfect topical match for your event idea. In this case, try to find the magazines that are the closest match for your potential event. If there is no close match, you might want to consider not planning that event at all.

Zero in on Trends
Can you find a magazine that match up to your event idea? Is there a series of magazines in one topic area? Take a look through the magazine(s) – what are the articles about? What kind of products and services are being advertised? Look for article trends and industry hot buttons. If you can find the magazine at your local library, even better . . . Libraries frequently keep previous issues of their magazine subscriptions.  Go back through previous issues and dig into the articles and advertising. Again, look for trends.

Most event organizers don’t have the budget or time to influence their target market. Stay away from the notion that you can convince people to show up to your event by buying enough advertising – it doesn’t work and will leave you broke! That’s why the magazine rack is go great . . . It will clue you in quickly to passionate target markets and trends.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Marketing from the Magazine Rack
• An Extremely Dangerous Event Planning Mistake
• Event Marketing Research - Know Your Target Market!
• Knowing Your Event Patron
• Event Planning: The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• Get Great Ideas from an Event Marketing Field Trip
• Where to Advertise Your Event
• Modeling Other Event Marketing and Promotions
• Event Marketing: Ask Your Patrons What They Want
• Your Event Promotion and Marketing Strategy - Start Point

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

 

Those who ignore this crucial step doom their event to abismal financial failure.

• An Extremely Dangerous Event Planning Mistake
• Event Marketing Research - Know Your Target Market!
• Knowing Your Event Patron
• Event Planning: The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• Get Great Ideas from an Event Marketing Field Trip
• Where to Advertise Your Event
• Modeling Other Event Marketing and Promotions
• Event Marketing: Ask Your Patrons What They Want
• Your Event Promotion and Marketing Strategy - Start Point

Two Amazingly Powerful Event Survey Questions

Using the right questions in an event survey is an extremely powerful way to position your event with a target audience.  Yet very few event promoters and organizers use surveys. Event surveying can be done both before and after your event. As with any survey, the focus should be solely on your target market.
Below are my two absolute favorite survey questions for event planning purposes. Don’t disregard the potential for great feedback because of their simplicity.

It's far easier to pack an event when you know what your audience wants and you go out of your way to give it to them.  Few things are as powerful as surveys in terms of honing in your target market's wants, needs, and desires.

What is Your . . .
Let’s start with a pre-event survey question.  The following question will better help you understand your audience, including their wants and needs. The question goes like this - “What is your biggest fear, frustration, challenge with (BLANK)?  Fill in the (BLANK) with something related to your target market. Here’s an example question for sales training, “What is your biggest fear, frustration, challenge with cold calling?”  You can also modify the question to focus on wants, needs, and desires . . . "What your biggest want or desire when it comes to (BLANK)?"  The survey feedback you collect will allow you to give your target market what THEY want, not what you think they want.

Look for the Trends
First and foremost, you should use the survey responses to plan your event.  Go inside the survey feedback to identify the trends and your target market’s hot buttons. Build and plan your event accordingly. Another great thing about surveys is that they allow us to let go of our "I know best" mindset. Event promoters who think they know better than their target market - set themselves up for failure.

Secondly, you can use the results to help you create laser focused marketing campaigns. Compiled survey data makes for great headlines, hooks, and advertisements. As with any advertising, your event marketing must specifically appeal to your target audience.

A Negative Survey Question - Polls Great!
My favorite question to ask, yet the least favorite question for event planners to ask is - “What didn’t you like about the event?” (Credit to Dave Petrowski from the World’s Largest Disco.) On the surface it looks like a negative question. Yet the survey respondents don’t take it that way.

Some of my clients have used the “what didn’t you like question” and gathered super helpful feedback. People respond in an amazingly cordial fashion to a seemingly negative question. I’ve seen survey respondents actually complement event organizers who’ve used the question.

When conducting an event survey, you need to stay as objective as possible. It’s really easy to get caught up in passionate survey feedback. Always look for the trends in any survey. If you stay highly objective the data will serve you well. In the end, it’s hard to go wrong with an event if you’re giving your target market what they want.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Planning - The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• When to Start Selling Tickets to Your Event
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event
• Automatically Generate Leads for Your Event Year Round
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

An Extremely Dangerous Event Planning Mistake

This is a really important post, so please carefully consider the information that follows . . . 

One HUGE mistake made by event organizers and event planners is holding an event that’s “never been done before.” The previous statement should always be followed up with the following question, “WHY has that kind of event never been done before?” When it comes to planning events, being overly ambitious or even too creative can be very dangerous to your pocketbook.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
My suggestion to you is don't try and reinvent the wheel - especially if you're new to event planning or event promotions. Look towards events that are easy money makers as opposed to being a cool event.

In my experience cool / fringe events are the most difficult events to get people to attend. That’s why I love doing air show and beer festival event marketing. There is already “a starving crowd” for air shows and beers festivals. The deck is already stacked in my favor.

Event Modeling
Instead of trying to come up with something brand new - model your event after another successful event. Keep the emphasis on modeling other events. You should NEVER steal someone else’s event idea and run with it. Ideally you want to model events that are outside of your local area. Most event organizers are very willing to share their insider secrets, provided you're not in direct competition with them. In terms of types of events – look for recurring events and those that have a proven track record.

Use the Inter-Webs (Internet)!
Start with a Google search. Look for other events that you know to be successful (long track record). You might need to cross reference the event on news sites. Successful events typically get good press. It's important to do comprehensive research. As part of your research, find contact information for the event organizer. If there isn't any information on the site, look at the domain's WhoIs record. Press clippings might also prove useful in finding an event organizer. When you find the information, email or call the event organizer.  Go for the top of the food chain - find the people / person in charge. My other recommendation is to call up people, instead of emailing. You'd be pleasantly surprised how willing successful event organizers are to talk with you regarding their event.

The whole idea behind the above premise is to try to find a successful event and model it. I'm all for innovation and creativity in the event industry . . . but you need to start with very strong foundation first. Creativity can bankrupt you in the event business. You can try something completely different when you get a few victories under your belt.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Planning - The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• When to Start Selling Tickets to Your Event
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event
• Automatically Generate Leads for Your Event Year Round
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

The Danger of Not Having Your Event

Two weeks ago, I found out that a client decided to “take a year off” from their event. The event had been successfully taking place for the last 14 years. What started as a small event - ballooned into a truly great event. When I heard that the event wasn’t taking place this year, my first reaction was “What? Are you kidding me?!?!” The event was loved attendees and most importantly – making money for the event organizer. I fully understand that it’s the event organizers decision to take the year off.  It’s their event, their pocketbook, thus ultimately their decision. But I’m not quite sure if the event organizer fully understands the ramifications of their decision.

If you don’t have your recurring event, you affect the future viability of your event and ultimately your pocketbook. If you’re thinking not to have your recurring event, ask yourself, “What do I stand to lose?”

People Look Elsewhere
Here is the biggest danger of deciding to “take a year off” (or time off) from your event . . . Your patrons will find something else to do. You should NEVER expect your patrons to patiently wait around for your next event. New competing events are constantly popping up and vying for your target market’s attention. When you take time off from your event your target market WILL find something else to fill their time.

Eroding Resources
Another danger of taking time off is your customer resources take a tremendous hit. Your most important resource is your customer database or list. Every event organizer NEEDS to have a house list of prospects and customers.  With each day that passes - you lose people from your house list. People change their email addresses, move, or otherwise move on.  Don’t be surprised if you take a year off from your event and lose 75% of your house list. It’s important to remember - the person most likely to attend your next event is the person who just attended your event.

Advertising Spend
If you mothball your event, expect to do more advertising the next time you have your event. Regardless of economic times, there is no shortage of advertising. When’s the last time you watched your favorite television program without commercials? People are being flooded with new advertising every day. If you’ve taken time off from your event, expect to spend more to reintroduce your event.

There is Hope!
Is it impossible to resurrect a recurring event that’s take some time off? No! You can start up your event again. People have done so successfully in the past and so can you. Here is one thing that can make a big difference in restarting your event . . . If you have an event web site keep it running, especially if you’ve been online for some time. Don’t take your web site down! You’ll lose position in search engines. You can counter the loss of your customer database by collecting emails from your event web site. Even in off years your event web site will get visitors. Be sure to keep in touch with your list during off years. Let your list know what's going on with your event and what to expect.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Keeping Your Event List Engaged
• Don't Neglect Your Email List
• Event Marketing: Multiple Ways to Engage Your List
• Simple Customer List Building Suggestions
• Late Event Promotion - Big List Growth

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Your Outdoor Event and the Weather

Potentially bad weather combined with an outdoor event can take any cool/confident event organizer and turn them into a nervous wreck. All it takes is one bad weather forecast to completely ruin an outdoor event.  Months of planning and massive amounts of money can come down to a weather forecast (accurate or not). Below are a few simple suggestions that you can use into dealing with weather and your outdoor event.

Those Pesky Forecasters
How a weather forecast is presented has a direct impact on people showing up to your outdoor event. In the air show world if the weather forecaster says something like “It might rain this weekend” BANG!  The air show just lost tens of thousands of dollars . . . It could end up being perfectly sunny and people will still remember the forecast and not show up to the event. Here is an out of the box suggestion - Try and contact your local weather forecasters and let them know about your event. Ask them if they can stay away from depicting doom and gloom. I’m NOT suggesting you ask your local forecaster to be dishonest in their forecast.  But let’s be honest . . . How the forecast is presented could have a huge impact on your event turnout. Don’t let a editorial speculative forecast ruin all your planning and hard work.

Use a Damaging Admission
There is a marketing genius by the name of Dan Kennedy that coined the phrase “damaging admission.” A damaging admission is a brutally honest conceit regarding your product or service. In the case of an outdoor event, the weather could be your damaging admission. You’re far better off coming out and acknowledging the weather in relation to your event. "Yes, it might actually rain, so we've done this . . . " The best place to address any weather concerns is right on your event web site.  Below is an excerpt of a “damaging admission” related to the weather leveraged with a huge Canadian air show.  Feel free to borrow any concepts or ideas from below.

Weather
We cannot guarantee the weather . . .  Please don’t rely on the weather forecast to help you make up your mind. In our experience “the forecast is usually wrong” for both good weather and bad. Your safety and the public’s safety is the number one concern of any air show. It’s important for you to know each performer has a routine to accommodate for various weather conditions, including low cloud bases. Each routine will leave you awe-inspired.

Important Weather Note
Unfortunately we aren’t in a position where we can offer refunds for weather. The Air Show is a rain or shine event.

The above admission didn’t have any negative impact on advance ticket sales for the event. People still purchased tickets in droves. And, they were very appreciative that we acknowledged the weather right on the ticket page. If you have an outdoor event, always acknowledge what happens IF the weather turns sour.

Have a Weather Back Up Plan
Create a backup plan if bad weather has the potential to disrupt your event. Obviously the first priority is patron safety when it comes to weather. Too many event organizers and planners have no plan for when then weather craps out. Is there something else you can do, in spite of the weather, to ensure patrons have a positive experience at your event?

If you have some experience in countering bad weather at your event, please comment and leave a suggestion.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Turn Your Event Into an Experience
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early
• Leveraging Your Sponsor's Digital Resources
  
  
• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

How Big Should My Event Web Site Be?

One question that always comes up when building or redesigning an event web site is, “How many pages should I make my event web site?” I’ve seen event planners and organizers agonize over the previous question far too many times.

When laying out your event web site, always keep in mind user attention span . . . People want to get information about your event and get out. Hence, I strongly recommend building an event web page of only 5-10 pages, 15 pages max. Five to ten pages might seem small, but it isn’t - consider the web stats below.

Some Event Web Site Stats to Consider
A quick look at your web stats should give you a good perspective on what people are doing on your web site. If you don’t have your own web statistics to reference, look below. The statistic below are averages collected from my own event projects over the last few years. The statistics were compiled from three different event web sites. The events had anywhere from a few thousand attendees all the way up to 1.35 million attendees over four days.

Here are the most pertinent statistics:

• 90% of web visitors are coming to your event web site three times or LESS!
• People look at an average of ONLY 3.41 pages on each event web site.
• 3:52 is the average time spent on a web site within 30 days of the event taking place.
  After the event the average time on site drops like a rock.

You'll Never Be Able to Answer 100% of Attendee's Questions
Here is something important to realize - no event web site can answer 100.0% of any attendee’s potential questions. Here is an important question to ask . . . Is it better to have a 10 page web site that answers 95% of your attendee’s questions, or a 50 page web site that answers 99% of attendee’s questions? I'd argue it's better to focus on a smaller more useful website as opposed to gigantic bear of a web site.

Leverage and Improve Your FAQ Page
One great way to reduce the size of your web site is by having a robust Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Use your FAQ page to address the lump sum of questions people ask regarding your event. When putting together an FAQ page, think of it as a constantly evolving document. Work on updating your FAQ page right through your event.

Event Website Outline
Below is a standard outline that I’ve used for every event web site over the last ten years. Yes, it’s overly simplistic, but it works like a charm. The web site outline was based around people's most common event questions. Feel free to use it the outline below for your event web site. You can add a page or two where necessary.

• Home Page
• Schedule
• Tickets
• Directions/Parking
• FAQ
• Sponsors
• Contact Us

There is no need for a monstrous event web site with hundreds of page. Keep things small and simple. If you use the page outline from above and create a comprehensive FAQ page, you should be well on your way to a really great event web site.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Planning - The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• When to Start Selling Tickets to Your Event
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event
• Automatically Generate Leads for Your Event Year Round
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

What Happens When Your Event Web Site CRASHES?

Here’s a real life story . . . “Event X” is less than 10 days away and their web site crashes.  Of all the bad things to happen to an event – a web site crash days before your event is pretty high on the worst case scenario list.  If your event is a few days away and people can’t access your event web site, you’re in a world of hurt.

From worst to "worser" – In order to register for “Event  X” you need to be able access an online registration form on their web site. As a result of the web site being down event organizers have to deal with the stress and customer service issues. The moral of the story is pretty straightforward - you should always have a web site backup plan for your event web site.  Below I’m going to outline some simple points (minus geek speak) any event organizer can utilize as backup plan for their web site.

A Robust Backup Plan & A Simple Plan
Having a smart contingency plan goes well beyond having a backup copy of your web site.  Ask yourself the following questions - Does my web site have supporting databases or special configuration files crucial for functionality? Will my email still work if your web site is down? There are numerous technical details essential to a properly running web site. You want to make sure to have all your bases covered if the worst happens. You should work closely with your web developer to make sure all your bases are covered.

Bare Bones Backup
As a last resort, have a skeleton web site ready to go in case of a web site crash. Your skeleton site shouldn’t be reliant on any databases or special programming . . . just HTML and pictures. The skeleton site is a stripped down version of your web site that can be posted to any web server in a matter of minutes. Keep the skeleton version of your site on a USB drive and keep it with you.

Don’t Go with the Cheapest Hosting Solution
Many event organizers go with the cheapest hosting solution they can find.  Just remember that overused cliché - “You get what you pay for.” It’s well worth a few extra bucks to get 24/7 phone support and automatic backup services from a reputable web hosting company. Regardless of your hosting plan - Make sure you ask a technical support person (not a sales person) what happens if your web site crashes.  Recovering and restoring a backup copy of your web site should take minutes, not hours or days.  Paying those extra dollars for a backup plan might seem like an unnecessary cost . . . But it’s well worth the price.

Is Increased Web Traffic a Concern?
Too much of a good thing (traffic to your site) can also create problems.  Don’t let a traffic overload pull down your web site. Here is what you can do . . . A few weeks before your event, check in with your hosting provider and let them know you're expecting a lot of traffic to the site. Most events get a majority of their web traffic in the week or two leading up to their event.  Traffic peaks right before an event takes place. This traffic peak, depending on the size of your event, can put tremendous strain on your web server. In some cases the deluge of traffic can crash a web site.  You need to make sure that your hosting package and web server can handle the expected increase in visitor traffic. Be sure to talk to a technical person at your web hosting company to make sure your hosting plan can handle the spike in visitor traffic.

Heed the information above carefully. Not having a web site backup plan is one of other little things that can come back to bit your in a big way. A little forethought can go a long way to prevent unnecessary stress and headache right before your event.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Marketing: Do You have an Online Champion for Your Event?
• A Great Customer Service Example
• Business Problems and Customer Service
• Your Event Web Site as a Customer Service Portal

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Your Event Promotion and Marketing Strategy - Start Point

Are you interested in knowing the ultimate event marketing strategy to pack your event every time? Of all the promotion strategies you could use - what follow wins hands down every time. Any guess on what it might be? It comes well before you should start to consider any promotional or marketing strategies for your event.

Here’s the Simple Strategy
The ultimate event promotion strategy is to find “a starving crowd.” Some people might be disappointed by the answer, but I can tell you from experience no form of marketing or promotion strategy can trump “a starving crowd.” The starving crowd strategy comes from the late marketing genius Gary Halbert.  In a head to head business competition - Gary was willing to give a competitor any business advantage imaginable, as long as he could have the starving crowd. Think about it this way – How hard would it be to pack an event that already had a massive amount of demand? Check out Gary's "Starving Crowd" article for a closer look.

Selling Out Like a Rock Concert
Here is a real life example of using the starving crowd strategy. Consider how bands and musicians sell out their concerts.  Bands typically don’t start with trying to sell concert tickets, unless they’re well established. They usually start by producing an album and getting it to market. The album gets played on the radio and downloaded twenty gazillion times online. This process gets people excited about the band and their music. After a successful album has been out for a few months to a year - people are amped up about the music. When customer demand is high the band starts to talk about touring and concerts. It’s far easier to pack a concert with ravenous fans (a starving crowd), than without. Take a look at "When to Start Selling Tickets to Your Event" for additional details.

Your Event Promotion Will Flop, If . . .
If you don’t have a starving crowd your promotion and marketing strategy is largely irrelevant.  When planning an event start by making sure people are predisposed to attend.  You can have the greatest event idea in the world, but if nobody knows about it and worse - nobody cares about it . . . you are going nowhere fast! Far too many event organizer plan great events, only to have no one show up because there was no demand.

An Easy Way to Find a Starving Crowd
One place to quickly find a starving crowd is by carefully looking at other successful events. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with your event.  Look for events that people are already attending and are packed to the hilt. You can probably take the concept or exact model and use it for your event. With the Internet, it’s never been easier to do some quick research. You can quickly scan through newspaper archives or event use Google to do some quick research. If you find an event idea that seems to be working call the event organizer up and find out more. You would be surprised how open other event organizers are regarding their event.

There is an event here in Rochester, New York that was directly modeled after a successful event just 65 miles to the West in Buffalo. Rochester’s Ugly Disco was modeled on Buffalo’s World’s Largest Disco. For the last 16 years the World’s Largest Disco has been getting massive crowds. The World’s Largest Disco is so successful that the organizers sell out their event three months in advance!  Ask yourself - Are there successful events out that you can emulate?

Before you plan your next event start by asking yourself, “Are people going to come out in droves to attend my event?”  Trust me, I’ve made the mistake of thinking I had a great event idea. In end I was left with nobody showing up and money out of pocket. It's far easier when you have the deck stacked in your favor.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Planning - The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• When to Start Selling Tickets to Your Event
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event
• Automatically Generate Leads for Your Event Year Round
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

How to Sell Tickets to Your Event

Determining the best way to sell tickets to your event is a pretty broad topic area.  Today I’m going to focus on the ticket fulfillment process – how people actually purchase tickets for your event.  As a whole the trend for online event ticketing is definitely growing and becoming the norm. When you’re looking at ticketing solution it's important to let your target market determine which ticketing system is best. Plenty of event organizers have chosen one system (online or offline) only to have their target market do something completely unexpected.

Let them Buy from Your Event Web Site
With the trend moving toward online buying for just about everything, the ability to purchase tickets directly from your event web site is practically a no-brainer.  Think about it for a moment – If someone is already on your event web site and wants to attend your event, why make them jump through extra hoops to buy a ticket? 

Even if there is a small service fee, most people will go with the convenience of buying online. Their alternative is to jump in a car, drive to a ticketing outlet, and potentially wait in line. I can’t speak for other nations, but in the United States, instant gratification seems to be the name of the game. People want it and they want it now! Use instant gratification to your benefit to drive online sales.

Should I Only Offer Tickets Online?
Without knowing specifics about you event, that’s a difficult question to answer. There has never been event, that I’m currently aware of, that suffered any sort of backlash from only having tickets for purchase online. Be sure to check out the Demographic Ticketing Irony paragraph below. People will argue that not everyone has a computer or an Internet connection and thus you need an offline option. Here’s what I’ve learned - if people really want to attend your event, they’ll jump through hoops to get a ticket. Almost everyone can access the Internet either at work or at your local library.

A Demographic Ticketing Irony
A few years ago there was an event down in South West Florida that started selling tickets directly from their web site.  Initially the event organizers were extremely apprehensive about selling any tickets online.  The event and their target market was in an area with one of most senior demographics in all of America (55+ years of age). The annual event had been taking place for decades with most people buying their tickets offline. The first year tickets became available for online purchase, organizers didn’t expect many people to buy online. Who would expect so many seniors to buy online, right? Here’s the ironic part - online ticket sales for the event crushed all of their offline ticketing efforts.  

Ticket Purchase Simplicity is Key
Regardless of the type of ticketing you are offering, make it as simple as possible to buy tickets. Just because you have multiple offline outlets where people can buy tickets, doesn’t mean that’s the best choice for your ticket buyer. A few years ago an event offered tickets through a local company with several brick and mortar locations. When I went to purchase tickets it was a 15 minute wait behind people conducting business at the companies branch location. It was frustrating and annoying.

If you use any local ticket outlet to sell tickets for your event, try to buy tickets on your own to test the process out. Selling ticket seems like it would be a simple process, but there are always snags that need to be worked out. The same applies for online ticket purchase. Test your ticket checkout process extensively before going live. Make sure the discount codes work. Check to see if your ticketing system gets wonky as ticket blocks start to sell out. Basically, go through as many possible ticketing scenarios and debug the process.

Ticketing Company Recommendations
If you want to sell event tickets online or off, I’d strongly recommend an established ticketing company. Crucial services include 24/7 telephone customer service, secure online purchasing, anti-fraud bar coded tickets, and a dedicated account manager always reachable by phone. To beat a dead horse - Whatever ticketing option you choose, be sure to thoroughly test the purchasing process on your own. Few things can taint an event experience like a difficult ticket buying experience. You don't want people showing up to your event annoyed about how difficult it was to by tickets. Keep the customer service of your buyer at the forefront of your priority list.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Turn Your Event Into an Experience
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early
• Leveraging Your Sponsor's Digital Resources

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

Event Planning: The Customer Avatar and Your Event

I’m going to present a great marketing concept from two of my mentors, Eben Pagan and John Carlton.  A few years ago Eben Pagan came up with the concept of a customer Avatar.  An Avatar is the personification or manifestation of your ideal customer.  In the event marketing world your Avatar is the ideal prospect for your event.  You use your customer Avatar to better plan and market your event.

Your Ego = a Surefire Way to Sink Your Event
A cardinal sin committed by many event planners, organizers, and marketers is planning an event around their ego.  When planning your event keep in mind that people attend your event to satiate their wants, needs, and desires. I’ve seen far too many events fail miserably because an event planner or marketer thought they were smarter the people they were trying to serve. You can avoid the “ego” mistake by utilizing a customer Avatar.

Simple Questions to Build Your Event Avatar
Below are some quick questions that will help you in creating your customer Avatar for your event.  The questions below are derived from John Carlton’s Simple Writing System.

• Who is your ideal customer? (Demographics & Psychographics)
• What are your customer’s wants, needs, or desires regarding your event?
  (Do they have an irrational fear or desire?)
• What message can you present to your prospect that drives them toward action?

By answering the questions above you will put yourself into a position to better understand what someone attending your event wants and how best to serve them.

Do a Survey
It has never been so easy to find out what your customer or prospect wants. The Internet gives you the ability to quickly collect information from your target market.  With a few hours of work you can quickly find out critical information about your customer and your event. Minus the details, here is what you can do . . . find online search phrases related to your event, start a PPC campaign, drive traffic to a landing/survey page, collect the data, and then compile the results.  If you have a recurring event, do a follow up survey before you start to plan your next event. 

An Already Done Avatar
If your market or industry has survey data on potential customers be sure to reference it.  You can build a very good Avatar from industry data. Most of the research might have already been done for you.

When you build your event around your customer’s wants, needs, and desires, you can’t go wrong. Having a customer Avatar to reference for your event planning and marketing is a huge step in the right direction.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event
• Turn Your Event Into an Experience
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early
• Leveraging Your Sponsor's Digital Resources

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training

When to Start Selling Tickets for Your Event

Here is a classic question almost every event planner asks him or herself: “When should I start selling tickets for my event?” At first thought, one might think starting your ticket sales early is always better. In my experience longer ticket sale cycles almost never translate into bigger total ticket sales.  The biggest factor in determining when you should start selling tickets for your event is based on the level of ticket demand.

Low Ticket Demand
If the ticket demand for your event is very low, it doesn’t matter how early you start ticket sales – people won’t buy.  In contrast, you can start selling tickets for your event (depending on the type of event) a few days before and sell the event out if the demand level is high enough. One good indicator for ticket demand is how many people contact your via telephone or email to inquire about tickets for your event.  If people are contacting you regarding tickets with the fervor of a hungry wolf pack that hasn’t eaten in a week, you’re in good shape.

Start Your Ticket Sales for Your Event When You Have High Demand
Ticket sales for your event should start when you’ve created enough sufficient demand to sell most of your tickets in a short period of time.  You might want to wait until you have created a sufficient level of demand before putting tickets for your event on sale.

As an example, one client recently ran a discounted advance ticket campaign that generated $15,890.00 of advance ticket revenue 58 days before their event.  The reason they were able to sell $15K+ of tickets almost two months before their event is because they made a great offer that was coupled with high ticket demand. Part of the offer included a limited number of premium level tickets to their event. The client’s total advance ticket sales paid for their event before a single person walked through the admission gate.

How would you feel if your entire event was paid for before a single person walked up to attend your event? When it comes to ticket sales, your focus needs to be on creating a high level of demand for your event.  Check out “How to Sell Out Your Event“ for a simple way to crank up to demand for almost any event.  If the demand is high enough for your ticket, then it doesn’t matter when you start to sell tickets.

Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

• Event Planning - The Customer Avatar and Your Event
• When to Start Selling Tickets to Your Event
• A Negative Question to Create a Better Event
• Automatically Generate Leads for Your Event Year Round
• How to Get Them To Your Event
• Why Well Planned Events Fail
• Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early

• The Event Promotion System
  Get Your Free Event Promotion & Marketing Video Training