How do you market and promote your conference in a changing market?

Hosting a successful conference is a challenging task, especially in a changing market where attendees have more options, expectations, and preferences than ever before. How do you market and promote your conference to stand out from the crowd, attract your target audience, and create a memorable experience? Here are some tips and strategies to help you plan and execute a winning conference marketing and promotion campaign.

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1 Know your goals and metrics

Before you start marketing and promoting your conference, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure your progress and results. What are your objectives for your conference, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, building relationships, or educating your audience? How will you track and evaluate your key performance indicators, such as registrations, attendance, engagement, feedback, or revenue? Having a well-defined and realistic set of goals and metrics will help you align your marketing and promotion efforts with your desired outcomes and optimize your budget and resources.

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Jasmin Roberts
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Another factor that I found important is to identify the prospects you're targeting for the conference. This is a crucial component because once you've identified the profile of your targets then you can tailor and curate your marketing initiatives to resonate with them.

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2 Understand your audience and market

The next step is to research and segment your target audience and market, so you can tailor your marketing and promotion messages and channels to their needs, interests, and behaviors. Who are the ideal attendees for your conference, and what are their demographics, pain points, motivations, and expectations? What are the current trends, opportunities, and challenges in your industry or niche, and how does your conference address them? What are the competitive advantages and unique selling points of your conference, and how can you communicate them effectively to your audience and market?

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Jasmin Roberts
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A great way to better understand your audience is to send out a pre-conference survey 15-18 months ahead of the conference. The pre-conference survey will give you sight into exactly what your audience is looking for. The survey should include questions to capture their pain points, topics that they'd like to see covered, and location and date preferences.

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3 Create a compelling conference brand and story

One of the most important aspects of marketing and promoting your conference is to create a strong and consistent conference brand and story that resonates with your audience and market. Your conference brand and story should reflect your conference goals, values, and vision, as well as showcase your speakers, agenda, and benefits. You should also choose a catchy and relevant conference name, logo, slogan, and theme that capture the attention and curiosity of your potential attendees. Your conference brand and story should be integrated into all your marketing and promotion materials and platforms, such as your website, social media, email, video, or print.

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Jasmin Roberts
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In addition to developing a compelling conference brand story, you should also place a lot of emphasis on speakers and session tracks. Attendees are there to gain new knowledge, industry insights, best practices from subject matter experts. Thought provoking sessions and knowledgeable and well-rounded speakers are key.

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4 Leverage multiple marketing and promotion channels

Reaching and engaging your audience and market requires a mix of online and offline marketing and promotion channels that fit your conference goals, budget, and timeline. Your website should be the central hub for your campaign, providing essential information, registration, and updates. It should also be user-friendly, mobile-responsive, secure, SEO-optimized, and have clear calls to action. Social media is an effective tool for building awareness, interest, and engagement for your conference. Choose the most relevant platforms for your audience and market, such as LinkedIn or YouTube, and create valuable content like blog posts or podcasts. Encourage speakers, sponsors, partners, and attendees to share your conference on their networks. Use email to communicate with your audience and market throughout the campaign. Segment your list based on characteristics and preferences to send relevant emails that inform or persuade. Video is an engaging way to showcase your conference brand and story in a dynamic way. Create teasers or interviews to distribute on various platforms or livestream sessions for on-demand viewing. Print is a traditional way to market and promote your conference locally or niche markets not active online. Use flyers or banners to advertise your conference and reinforce the brand story. Include website or social media links for more information.

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5 Adapt and optimize your marketing and promotion campaign

Finally, you should monitor and analyze your marketing and promotion campaign performance and results regularly, and make adjustments and improvements as needed. You should use tools and methods, such as analytics, surveys, feedback forms, or interviews, to collect and evaluate data and insights on your marketing and promotion channels, strategies, and tactics, and to identify what works and what doesn't. You should also keep an eye on the changing market conditions, trends, and expectations, and be flexible and responsive to any opportunities or challenges that may arise. By adapting and optimizing your marketing and promotion campaign, you can increase your efficiency, effectiveness, and return on investment for your conference.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How do you market and promote your conference in a changing market?

1

2

3

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1 Know your goals and metrics

2 Understand your audience and market

3 Create a compelling conference brand and story

4 Leverage multiple marketing and promotion channels

5 Adapt and optimize your marketing and promotion campaign

6 Here’s what else to consider

Conferences

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How do you market and promote your conference in a changing market?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Know your goals and metrics

2 Understand your audience and market

3 Create a compelling conference brand and story

4 Leverage multiple marketing and promotion channels

5 Adapt and optimize your marketing and promotion campaign

6 Here’s what else to consider

Conferences

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