Location tours are pretty common. And yet, Linda's Location Tour is really standing out: every edition is fully booked within 2 weeks, with 0% no-show! That’s quite an achievement. What makes Linda op Locatie so successful? In this blog, she shares her insights on event communication.
Why a location tour?
When organising an event, doing a 'site visit' is important. Planning a site visit (or a multi-location tour) in an unknown city or region is a hell of a job - any event manager would agree. For event organisers, locations and marketing departments, initiatives like Linda’s are a great solution.
A new approach
Linda was often participating in location tours herself. In her opinion, the event communication wasn’t great - even though this is extremely important for accomplishing event goals (eg. achieving a low no-show). After all, the experience of your visitor starts long before the event!
- According to Linda, these are the 5 most important elements of good event communication:
1. Communicate effectively and efficiently
When I first started Locatietour, I realised that event communication and event registration should be efficient and effective. Administrative hassle has to be avoided! My goal is to create a great event, but I don’t want to spend too much time organising it. I want to have a clear overview of the event registration status. In addition, I'd like to know make sure the people that attend are part of my target group, so my locations will participate again next year. These insights are essential for the success of Locatietour.
2. Screen your visitors
I was surprised that anyone could sign up for most location tours. There is no screening at all! Questions like ‘What kind of events do you organise?’ ‘How often?’ And ‘How big are the events?’ are all crucial questions to ask beforehand. They form an important part of your event communication. Asking these questions helps you to form a better picture of your target audience and create a customised program. I always include these questions in the Locatietour application form on the event website. This becomes the basis for my screening: I only want to attract the bookers!
3. Communication goes beyond event registration
After signing up for other tours, I usually received a confirmation email containing nothing more than the start and end times. In my opinion, that's not communication! You want to excite your future visitors and give them the feeling they cannot miss out!I always try to give the visitors enough information to keep them informed - and at the same time give them no more than a sneak peek to keep them curious. The program page on the event website is the ultimate tool for this!
4. A digital goodie bag
In order to complete the experience, I always arrange one clear mailing to the attendees, after each event. Momice makes this very easy: you can send a message to all attendees with just one click - all in your own look and feel. In the email, I give a nice overview including relevant contact info of all locations and that participated in the tour: a digital goodiebag!
5. Evaluation is key
Momice's survey module has been important to our success, especially in the first editions of Locatietour. The survey helped us gather useful feedback, which allowed us to make major improvements. I now have insight into the expectations and needs of the bookers. We’re still doing yearly evaluations to measure and tweak our goals. Once again, this confirms that event communication is so much more than just an event registration form and a program booklet!
• Bonus: Natural hospitality
There was an instant click with the Momice guys. When I had my first appointment with Momice, my mother was with me - after the appointment we would visit a big event. My mother asked: "Do you think these guys mind if I use their bathroom?" She ended up drinking coffee in the kitchen with the Momice team, while I was talking about organising events.
Well that’s what I call natural hospitality! Momice always gives its customers a warm welcome, another reason why I love working with them. This is a feeling you also want to carry out at your events.
Momice has definitely contributed to the success of Locatietour. The software ensures that I achieve my event communication objectives. Momice has become an indispensable part of my event, I really couldn’t do without it!
More inspiration
Curious about who else uses Momice? You can read the stories of Sonja Straathof (Amsterdam Marketing), Marjolein van Asperen (Maasstad Hospital) or Nathalie Mangelaars (NK Pitchen).
