Company’s fight over the attention of potential customers. We all know that screaming louder is not the way to go. But how to reach them? What you need is relevant content, things that matter to your audience. Therefore, it is important to know who you’re addressing - and what this person wants to hear. Personalisation is key. Also when it comes to events.
Targeted marketing
Targeted marketing is the way to get your message across. Proclaiming one message to a large crowd of people is not effective. Readers are immune to loud advertisements and effortlessly filters out non-relevant mails, banners and announcements. The trick is to tell your audience what it wants to hear. Aim for your target before you shoot!
CRM treasures
Knowing what your target is interested in really pays off! Collecting client data has never been more important. Therefore, it is smart to connect the insights of the Marketing, Sales and Event departments of your company. They all bring different pieces of the puzzle. Client data in your company CRM becomes a real treasure when it is carefully collected.
Event personalisation
For the longest time, events were organised for big crowds of people. Offering programmes with generic topics, event organisers were trying to attract big audiences. Ironically enough, when programs are too generic, they don’t appeal to anyone in specific. This results in less engagement, higher no-show rates and lower event ROI. Events organised for a smaller, more specific crowd turns out to be much more effective. The possibilities for personalisation in events are often underestimated. Even though most aspects of event communication can be adjusted to the needs of the attendee:
In order to personalise your event, you need client data. Are you sure your data policy meets the requirements of the GDPR? Download the white paper here.
Email invitations
Personalised emails perform much better than generic mails. But keep in mind: personalising your email goes beyond a personal salutation. Adjust the content and design of your mail to the preference of your contact - and only invite them to events or programme elements that match their preferences. Try different styles, images, subject lines, tone of voice and of course always align your call-to-action with the audience. The open and click rates of your mailings provide you with interesting insights for future events!
Tickets
Using a personalised ticket strategy will stimulate ticket sales for your event. Create multiple tickets for the various target audiences. Consider offering tickets for specific program elements or speakers, or create VIP packages. Also, you can make a distinction between paid and free elements of your event, to follow the needs of your audience.
Programme
Analysing the ticket sales, registration statistics, email response and survey results of previous events tells you about the preferences of your target audience. An event with relevant content can surely count on lower no-show rates and more registrations. In the run-up to the event you can send personalised updates, containing a personal programme or information about their workshop of choice.
Communication during the event
Once you know who is present, you can send personalised messages on the day of the event. Tell your audience the latest facts about the elements that are relevant to them. If you check in your attendees at the entrance, you know exactly who is attending. Checking out upon departure gives you valuable information too!
Survey
A good event survey gives you valuable insights to help you adjust your next event to your audience. Send a survey after each event and find out what they value about the event. Ask them what they missed and which topics they would like to see in the next edition. Including the NPS (Net Promoter Score) will tell you who your biggest fans are - use this information in your marketing and communication strategy. You can even consider sending a survey to the people who did not attend. Tell them you missed them and ask them why they decided not to come.
Synergy
As mentioned before, Marketing, Sales and Events all provide information and insights - before, during and after the event. Effective use of your CRM is crucial if you want to put this information to good use. Therefore, it is important to connect these 3 departments, eg. by linking the CRM system to your event software. This way, registration data, workshop preferences and event attendance are automatically imported in the CRM, making your client data more and more complete.
Conclusion
Personalising your event can be done in many ways. It all depends on how carefully you keep your client data. The more you know your audience, the more relevant you can make the event. Eventually, this results in less no-shows rates and higher event ROI.
