From Planning to Execution: How to Promote a Conference

There are multiple ways of connecting and communicating with customers and clients all over the world. While different methods of events can have specific goals set for them, the company must find what works best for them.

Conferences will allow companies to enrich and interact with their clients and customers directly. These types of events will allow the company to communicate its goals directly to all the attendees. While the planning and organizing of conferences can take time, promotion is where most companies struggle. The promotions are what inform the target audience of the event details and reasons why they should attend the conference.

Promoting a conference is of utmost importance to any event. This will allow the company to advertise and promote its event to its entire target market. The target audience will only attend the meeting if they firstly know of its existence and secondly understand why the conference was created.

What Is A Successful Conference?

Defining a successful conference can be a difficult task. The number of attendees or the type of content that speakers will touch on can have an impact on the success of a conference. This however will not be the main reason why a conference has been a successful event.

There are more than one or two boxes to tick to ensure that a conference will be successful. A company can start by determining what exactly they want to achieve from the event. What event goals do they want to reach and why these specific goals are in place? By simply setting event goals the team will ensure that all planning and execution enforces the conference to achieve the goals.

The team can place their focus on planning the best conference according to their goals and objectives. The impact a well-planned event has on the company can be considered gigantic. The planning team will need to organize and build the event from the floor up.

Planning set the stage for the experience all attendees and guest speakers will feel. The event team must ensure that they have enough time to plan and create an event type that will meet all the company goals. The team will have many objectives and tasks to complete, all ensuring a strong foundation for the entire event.

After the administrative planning such as event budget setting, vendors, and other organizations’ tasks are done, the team must decide on the best-suited venue. The venue will have an impact on the success of the upcoming events. The venue will be where the attendees meet the organization

The venue must be of the right size to cater to all attendees and speakers. There are many other important factors to consider when determining whether the venue is the right fit. All these factors will play a role in the success of the conference.

The company must place a focus on safety on the day of the event. Onsite safety management will ensure that all attendees, staff members, and volunteers will know what to do in the case of an emergency. Clear exit signs and management must be available to ensure safety at all times.

When all the administrative and technical tasks are completed, the company can focus on advertising and promoting the event to the public. The foundation is laid down and the team can now build the perfect conference by allowing attendees to see their hard work. Promoting the event can be done in multiple ways, all having their benefits. The team must determine the best strategy for their conference.

How To Promote a Conference

The promotional content represents the first point of contact between the company and its target audience. It is critical that this content be of high quality so that clients and customers recognize the company’s brand and commitment to improving their lives. To maintain clear communication regarding the nature of the event, it is critical to highlight the difference between a summit and a conference in promotional content.

Before the business can focus on an event promotion plan for the upcoming event to any potential attendees the team must first identify their event promotion goals for the promotion and ensure that all sales and marking teams are informed and aware of them. This will allow the entire business to know exactly what to do and how to ensure they reach their promotional goals.

Know Your Conference Promotion Goals

Creating promotional material for the event promotion plan without setting marketing and promotional goals will leave the team with material that will leave the audience guessing and the team missing their conference goals.

As with events, promotional material will have more impact if the business knows the promotional goals. The team must answer the 4W’s in setting the goals. Why, what, where, and when. By clearly stating the promotional goals, the entire team can create and advertise accordingly.

The team must keep the audience, the team members, stakeholders, and ultimately the entire conference goals in mind when determining the promotional material and goals. These factors will provide the team with clear guidelines on what to promote and how to promote to their target audience.

Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams

Aligning the two parts of the business will play a key role in not only the conference’s success but also in determining the business’s success. These two teams must work hand in hand to ensure that the business advertises to its audience and that the sales team can sell and provide income to the entire business.

The business must ensure a clear funnel that will produce clear and accurate data. The data will then be used to ensure that the marketing team adjusts its strategy to build and reach a wider audience. Even though only 27% of leads from the marketing team will qualify or are set to buy. Most companies struggle to convert even a few customers from the 27%.

By aligning the sales and marketing team, the company can increase its sales numbers, return on investment and improve its marketing strategy. This will lead to the company hosting multiple successful events, meetings, and conferences.

Ways To Promote A Conference

There are many methods to promote a successful upcoming event. Companies must however not attempt to use all these different styles and methods to reach their audience. However, they must determine which social media strategy provides the biggest return, and focus on the primary distribution that will be seen by their customers and clients.

Improve your site SEO

Improving the website to ensure that clients and customers find the business website at ease. This will allow the business to be represented at the top of the log when customers are looking for specific solutions.

There are many ways of improving Search engine optimization on any event site. The primary aim must be to optimize and determine precise headings. By using keywords and phrases that the business acknowledges the customers are searching for.

A website must be updated regularly, with new ideas, updated prices, and when new products or services are created within the company. Most sites will be customers’ first contact with their clients, thus ensuring a high-quality and descriptive website will provide them with all the information they need. This information can be in the form of blog posts or other forms of information. 

The company can use the website to promote and advertise their conferences and events. This will provide customers with information that there is more value to the website than solely buying or browsing products. The better equipped the website is, the more traffic and tickets it will sell for the conference.

Hold a Contest

A contest or a giveaway is a great method of activating word of mouth through any social media platform. The online era has provided companies with the ability to grow their audience through the use of a giveaway.

Customers that follow the business will spot the giveaway. This will then be advertised and sent to all the customer connections, ensuring a wider reach for the business. A contest will allow the customers to share; through this method, the organization can spread information about their conferences.

The marketing team must, however think deeply about the precise giveaway or contest to run. Not all products and services will be enjoyed by the entire customer base. The team must determine which type of contest will provide the best return and will allow the customer to share the amazing contest.

Offer Incentives for Attendees

Incentives are rewards given to an individual or team for their performance, outcome, or work that they have done. Incentives reward a desired outcome. Promoting a conference through the use of incentives is a great method to advertise that attendees will receive incentives before or while the conference is running.

There are many different conference incentives companies can offer. The event can incentivize early registration, online registration, or refer others to the conference. There are many ways to incorporate incentives into the conference. Some reward participation or just small incentives to ensure that the attendees focus and concentrate on the valuable information being shared.

There are incentive options for all types of conferences. Online and virtual conferences might take a bit more effort to determine the best incentives. These types of incentives, however can be sent to individuals. Hybrid and in-person events must include incentives to ensure the success of the conference.

Make The Registration Process Easy

The conference registration process can make or break the event. Conferences require attendees to register for the event. Even though registration can refer to a paid conference, this is not always true. Registration is used to observe the audience that will be present. The company can use this information to state whether its conference marketing strategy has worked or not.

With the online era, registration has mostly moved to online. This can be of great value if companies use this correctly. Individuals can be frustrated if the registration process takes too long, or have too much admin detail connected to it. And due to it being online, the individual can close the browser and forget about the event.

Companies must trial-test their registration process. This will provide them with the necessary problems to fix to ensure an easy process for future conference attendees. A quick and easy process will set the stage for all the work and enjoyment the attendees will experience on the day of the event.

Promote In Social Media

With all the social media platforms available to companies today, the question will rather be which platforms to target and where to access their perfect audience. Social media is one of the best locations to target the company’s customers.

There are multiple strategies the company can follow and adjust to suit the specific platform they want to target. The focus, however should not be to find what suits the company best, but rather focus on determining which platform is used by the customers and clients.

By determining which social media platform the clients use, companies can adjust their strategy and find the most effective method to advertise to their ideal customers.

Have a Conference Social Handle

A social media handle refers to the name and social profile of the page the company use. The name of the social handle sound is directly linked to the name of the conference or at least represents the business. The handle will allow attendees to access pieces of information through social media.

The handle will allow individuals to find what they are looking for, without needing to search for the information. A handle must be short and have a direct link to the theme or name of the conference. All attendees will use the handle on their social media platforms, thus advertising and promoting the conference for you.

Create a Hashtag For The Event

There are many benefits to using a hashtag at any conference. The event hashtag will expand brand awareness and assist the team in tracking the audience. The hashtag will provide all the conference followers with direct content access and assist the business with a community and network.

According to the statistics, posts with specific hashtags receive 12.6% more engagement. This shows that hashtags will increase the awareness of the company conference. The hashtags must place focus on topics or awareness within the conference, to ensure that it draws attention back to the main marketing plan, the conference itself.

Use Influencers with Audience That Fits Your Target Market

Influencers are well known for impacting and advertising specific pieces of information and products to a certain audience. Companies can have access to the audience by allowing an influencer to post and advertise the needed information to their social base.

Influencers will post information and promote the company conference to ensure the entire social following is informed about the event. The key to using an influencer is to determine which influencer fits with the target audience. The influencer must have access to the company’s target audience, to ensure that the target market has the information and access to the event that can influence and add value to their life.

Use of Email Marketing & Newsletter

Email marketing is one of the underrated and misunderstood methods of marketing that a business has access to. Email marketing campaigns allow the company to send informative marketing and event information to customers that follow the business. Email platforms allow the team to provide email updates and enticing content to draw the audience from readers into the conference. 

The email list will display all customers that have signed up for informative information the company has to share. The individuals on the marketing and newsletter subscription are there to follow the company, thus sending conference information will be of great benefit to the company and the followers.

Promote events through email signatures

An email signature is used to showcase the receiver who is sending and contacting them. By displaying the employee’s name and job description the receiver can consider questions that the specific employee will have knowledge to answer.

The signature will allow the receiver to perceive the email as a credible source due to the signatures and brand that must be connected to the email. Statistics show that for every 1$ spent on email marketing companies can expect a 36$ return on their investment. This display the need and strategy change companies must go through to add email marketing to their conference marketing strategy.

Use AI Content Tools To Streamline Promotion Content Creation Process

Open AI has been an amazing addition to the business world. And while many are doubting its presence, some are taking advantage of the tools and abilities it presents to the business world.

Adding AI to the tools to promote a conference can ensure that the company creates content that will be audience specific. The marketing team can use AI to create content at a rapid rate that will be used to engage with the clients. And while some only use AI for ideas, others use the program to generate and create posts, blogs, and all content for the conference.

AI has its benefits and strengths and while companies tap into these benefits the team must remember to use it accordingly. Some content can be created and streamlined, while other content is better in the hands of humans. Content creators must remember to take the information from AI and adjust it. This personal flair can add value to all content creation within the business.

Check Out Using A.I. for Content Creation | Midjourney, OpenAI & HitFilm:

Use Industry Listings and Publications

Industry listing and publications are some of the best tools businesses can use to distribute and promote content and information. Publications will produce and advertise content on its one website or magazine that will inform the audience of new information, conferences, or products that have come to light.

Companies can either pay a small fee to insure that the publication lists their company as an event. Or the content and creative team within the business can write and send multiple pieces of information to the publication to showcase the importance of the event within the industry.

These industry leaders will display and advertise only important and impactful information. This ensures that the publication is a reliable source. As soon as the publication post-conference details about the conference, all readers will deem it credible. Thus having a bigger impact and wider reach than other forms of promotion.

Leverage with Sponsors & Speakers To Increase Reach

Companies can team up with industry leaders in the form of speakers and sponsors. By simply allowing guest keynote speakers into the conference, their following will follow to hear their role model speak. This will bring a broader audience that is untouched to the summit.

Determining the best speaker might take some evaluation. The team must evaluate the goals and aim for the conference, and then decide on a speaker that falls into that category. If woman-owned businesses are the focus, companies can acquire a strong female figure with a successful business to lead and inspire the audience.

Keynote Speakers and sponsors must align with the business. This will ensure that the right audience attends the conference. Sponsors must be picked carefully. This will draw a specific crowd, and by the same token must be potential clients or customers for the business.

Get a Conference Planner

Conference planners not only have specialized knowledge derived from their expertise in the sector but also have a large network and the time required to methodically create and manage an event that aligns flawlessly with the company’s objectives. They add numerous benefits to a company. They have exclusive access to possible keynote speakers and popular social platforms, which can dramatically increase the reach and success of the event.

Furthermore, employing sophisticated techniques, the planning team is capable of making striking promotional videos, ensuring effective advertisement. In this context, the difference between an event planner and an event coordinator should be noted: although a planner is primarily responsible for the event’s overall planning and design, a coordinator often handles the logistical aspects and assures seamless execution on the day of the event. Both responsibilities are critical to the success of the event.

Event organizers have the knowledge due to their expertise and the connections and time to plan and organize an event that will suit the company’s goals perfectly. Planners have many benefits that they can provide to a business. They have access to keynote speakers and social channels that can lead to great success. The planning team can also create promotional videos to ensure a successful advertisement through their valuable tools. 

Event organizers will have the equipment and experience to ensure that the conference succeeds. From planning to hosting, the team will have all systems in place to ensure the success of the event. Some planning teams will provide the organization with after-conference data. This data can be used to adjust the future events and goals of the company. These teams have the ultimate guide and event planning tips to ensure a successful event. 

Remarket

As in business, the team must take every step of the process as a learning experience. After the event, the team can set up post-meeting evaluations to gain data and information based on their marketing. 

Questionnaires or other data-gathering systems will allow the team to obtain a key perspective of multiple attendees. The benefits of remarketing are that the team can learn where they missed the mark, and find solutions to ensure that future conference marketing strategies are an improvement to the previous events.

The team must, however take the information as a guideline and not as complete truth. Not all attendees experience the conference in the same way; however, the information provided can be used to justify a change in strategy.

The team must strive to improve and adjust the strategy from the previous event. This will provide the team with the steps to ensure that the pursuit of excellence is in place.

FAQs

Conclusion

There are many reasons for companies to create and host a conference. Most companies face problems not with the planning but with the promotion of the conference. A business’s best strategy is to evaluate and identify its target market and then focus on advertising to them on its most used platforms.

A conference can only be seen as a success if the company achieves its goals and reaches the audience that will pursue or buy its products. Through the use of promotion and advertising, the entire company can benefit. The focus should always be on the attendees and what they want to see.