Registration Now Open: a study in WGAS

I just got an email proclaiming “Registration Now Open for XYZSuperMarketingSummit 2014!” One of many that hit my inbox on any given day.

Stepping back, my first thought was: WGAS?

I have never attended XYZSuperMarketingSummit before, although I’m in their target audience. So an email touting that I’m now able to register for the upcoming event – without a hint as to why it might be in my best interest to do so – is at best a dubious tactic. And as was a recipient, I have to assume this went to "everybody in the database (hopefully opt-ins!)" or at least a much wider group of people than it should have.

What this really speaks to is a lack of thought behind segmentation strategy in event marketing. As seasoned event marketers know (and basic marketing ABCs dictate), past attendees are an event's core audience. If an event has traditionally produced good content and networking – core reasons people attend events – they will return, if not with every iteration of the show, at last with every other. To that end, informing this core of people know reg is open (and of course offering up an incentive as a way of showing appreciation for past participation) is a good, acceptable tactic.

Getting segmentation right has always been key to event marketing – and today, as technologies and audiences have advanced and matured it right is even more of an imperative. There is, of course,  no one answer to how to segment – your database is structured differently from anybody else’s. However, some of the key segments you need to be thinking about deriving specific messages to include:

• Past attendees: again, the easy segment. If you’ve delivered good product in the past, and done your legwork on maintaining engagement between events, getting these customers to re-purchase (both early and in large numbers) should be a key driver to continued success. If possible, consider sub-segmenting this out by individuals who completed event surveys (especially those who gave the event glowing reviews!)
• Cancels and no-shows: first, ensure these are filtered out of the above group (sending a “attend again this year!” to somebody who cancelled last year makes you look a bit silly). And you may want to split this between cancels and no-shows depending on the type of show and how granular you’d want to get. But a "sorry you missed last year, don't miss it again" message is worth exploring.
• Event-specific prospects: if you’ve delivered content around past events and captured leads, a strong subset of prospects – maybe not effective with a “registration is open!” email, but people who have expressed interested in content around the event should be high on your segmentation strategy, even if you didn’t convert them after they attended a webinar you did for last year’s event.
• Demographics: this depends on the type of event – if it has tracks or sessions that speak to a certain vertical, job roll or level, plan on segmenting and communicating to these individuals about how the event fills their specific needs. Think through this before implementing – it needs to come across as natural and intuitive to the recipient (don’t segment out widget manufacturers and talk to them if your event has one 50 minute session on widget manufacturing over the course of two days)

These are just a few general segments you should be including –thinking through what data you have on your overall database and how to segment them is an early stage part of developing your marketing strategy; getting it right is key to a great marketing campaign.

Good luck!

John

PS Please do share any general segments you feel have been helpful - always great to hear back!

New Year, Same Old Email ...

With the new year (and, possibly, a new decade – but that’s an argument for another day) upon us, the vestiges of the old are behind us … or are they?

I recently came across an email promotion for the upcoming Event Marketing Summit, and was, honestly, disappointed by the structure and tone of it, especially coming from an organization that provides such useful content as Event Marketer magazine, the Event Marketing Institute and both the Eventpeeps.com online network and LinkedIn group.

In case you missed it, the email reads:

My overall take is that this is just a legacy push email – the type of communication that has given email marketing a bad rep. Given the excitement and opportunities surrounding email today, I’m surprised there wasn’t more forward-thinking communications being utilized to promote an event on Event Marketing.

Looking more closely, there are also some particular facets of the email that bothered me, starting with the Subject Line of "EM Summit ridiculous discount pricing expires in two days; Sign up now to save $400"

• Maybe it’s me, but when I saw “EM Summit,” my first thought was “Email Summit.” It's not clear which event this is for – simply put, Event Marketing should have been spelled out. Although the “From” line does specify Event Marketing Summit, its incorrectly assuming the recipient would make the connection.
• “ridiculous”: A $400 discount is not 'ridiculous.' It’s nice – but we’ve all seen many events with this Early Bird discount. Also – 'ridiculous' can have different connotations – certainly the intent is to be positive in this case, but can also be interpreted as silly, absurd, etc.
• Timing is everything: I get it – savings before the New Year (which, for some reason, is not spelled out in the Subject Line) – but sending an offer with a 2-day actionable turnaround during a holiday when many individuals are not in the office – especially with the deadline-based incentive – is not a recipe for success.

As much as an issue was the body of the email – upon opening it the message is: 

• Headline/opening sentence: A reaffirmation of the ‘ridiculous’ advanced discount.
• Second paragraph: A call to action … and another push of the $400 savings.
• Third paragraph: A third push of that $400 discount. And a reminder that it is only available through December 31.

By the third paragraph, the email is redundant. In other words, there was no message behind the message; it had very little to say. Given the sensitivities around the volume of email in people’s inboxes today, what is again disappointing is that this email was for an event on Event Marketing – with sessions and speakers who will, I would hope, advise attendees not to utilize this types of communication.

Finally, possibly most problematic is that the 'big' (I’ll refrain from calling it ridiculous) discount expires before the event content is available. As noted on the landing page the email drives to, “The program will be announced in January. But by then the lowest rates will be gone!” In short, the push is for registrations before content is detailed.

As much as I am an advocate of good, creative Event Marketing as a key contributor to the success of an event, I know that content is key to driving attendees. Unless targeting an event alumni familiar with the event’s historical quality and content (which this email was not, the recipient was not a prior attendee), going to market with messaging around registering for an event, providing an average discount, and not offering content to justify the registration decision strikes me as … well … ridiculous.

Hoping this email is the symbolic death knell of a challenging year, and let's keep the focus on best practices - and exceptional results - in our 2010 initiatives.

Good luck and Happy New Year!

John

DM Should Not = Desperation Marketing

I am floored. Flabbergasted. And, honestly, a bit saddened: saddened to see that, even today, some events organizations' direct marketing efforts are not only not getting it right, but are getting it very wrong.

The background: I recently registered on a (reputable) portal which, along with producing blogs, newsletters, etc., supports an online community, which struck me as a smart Social Media-based initiative. The company also organizes well-known industry events, including a fairly sizable event in a couple of weeks.

As part of their event marketing strategy – which may work perfectly well for this organization – the Early Bird deadline was set for two weeks prior to the event [this strikes me as a late Early Bird – more on that later]. Unfortunately, the deadline fell on September 4 – which, in the U.S., was the beginning of the Labor Day holiday.

Given that, I received an email on August 31st (last Monday) letting me know the Early Bird deadline was expiring on Friday. A perfectly reasonable communication to push the deadline and associated savings.

Then I also received another reminder on Tuesday.

And Thursday. And Friday. All with fairly similar messaging around the Early Bird Deadline discount which I Could Not Miss.

Of course, I missed it. So, on Monday (on Labor Day itself), I received an email that the deadline had been extended until Tuesday. And two emails on Tuesday letting me know The Deadline Was Near!

In short, in the course if six business days, I, Joe Prospect, received seven emails with fairly identical messaging that the Early Bird savings to this event was ending soon. Interspersed with a pair of emails (one last Wednesday – the one day I didn’t get an Early Bird email – and one today) letting me know I could get a free Exhibit Hall pass.

I forwarded one of these emails to a colleague, Roger Jarman, who very succinctly replied “They think that DM is short for Desperation Marketing.” I initially laughed … but then it bothered me. It’s these strategies and tactics which continue to present the Event Marketing in a negative light – historically, as perpetrators of “spray and pray” direct mail, and more recently as spammers. And of course, it does smack of desperation.

As Event Marketers, we need to move beyond such tactics. In this case, with proper planning, an alternate Early Bird deadline should have been utilized. (Also – see this previous posting regarding Early Bird strategies.) A longer lead time (more than two weeks) would have also allowed contingencies to be implemented if attendee numbers were below internal targets.

I certainly know and empathize that the industry continues to struggle both in generating attendees and sponsor revenue in our down economy. But in short, in the face of these challenges, resorting to a series of fairly identical daily emails is not the answer. Far from it, I would be surprised if this campaign doesn’t drive up opt-out rates and drive down open rates.

We, as Event Marketers, need to ensure our efforts and campaigns are using industry Best Practices, that we continue to go to market strategically and innovatively, and that we really need to think before we hit the “transmit” button.

Good luck!

John

It’s Not (Only) What You Say, It’s How You Say It

I recently read an interesting post by Marc Munier of Pure360 on Econsultancy detailing social media tactics and incorporating them into marketing channels – mainly email (Pure360, FYI, is an email marketing service). A couple of specific nuggets he suggested:

• Encourage response: Part of the allure of Blogging is its interactivity – the potential to engage, post comments and participate in discussions. Munier suggests including this invitation to respond in email communications –and not to expect flood of response, but because including this feature of two-way communication increases the value to the reader.
• Unsubscribe comments positioning: Moving the unsubscribe to the top of the email, while this it would make some marketers nervous, would show you are a “legitimate Marketer, and that you don’t want to email people who don’t want to receive your emails,” Munier notes.

While I won’t reiterate the entire blog here, the post raises a good point: social media, aside from being a different platform/channel (which underlies part of the “buzz”), uses a different communication/tone (which is the unspoken part of said buzz). And it is time to take a look at the voice used in traditional channels.

For example, printed collateral (a.k.a. those direct mail pieces that are just not delivering ROI) has not changed its core components in ages: intro letter, session descriptions, sponsors, registration/hotel info. All of which speak to the recipient, not with the recipient. The same scenario frequently exists with Event-specific emails; although there have been advances in weaving more content into promotional marketing e-mail communications, the overall message remains ‘register for my Event!’

In the face of challenged clicks, opens, and ROI on traditional channels in an integrated Event Marketing campaign, we are not (yet) at the point of cutting these channels from a campaign. Event Marketing leaders are, however, certainly at the point of needing to think through (and test) incorporating key elements driving Social Media, specifically:

• Making it a conversation: Include informational elements to brochures – for example, I’ve done brochure with one page (in a 12-page brochure) dedicated to results and discussion around a pre-event survey on topics, issues and solutions. This could be done in conjunction with a drive-to-Web link to a discussion board or further information on the site.
• Pull, don’t push: intersperse content, insight from White papers, statistics, etc., from the organization that the prospect would find helpful.
• Allow prospects to interact with the event: include speaker Twitter IDs and LinkedIn URLs (easier done in email unless customized); also, share your event Twitter ID, Facebook fan page, and/or LinkedIn Event page at every available opportunity. (Make it easy to communicate and be transparent in how they can find you!)
• Share the organization’s expertise: if you have a free e-newsletter, whitepaper, podcasts, Webinars, etc. let it be known – make mention of it and provide links in your print and email.
• Truncate it!: As Munier suggests, part of the success of Twitter is its brevity. The same can be applied to emails and print: put the 75-100 word session descriptions on the Web. Aside from being green, this will produce a more visually palatable piece.

In regards to print, incorporating the above will and should go hand-in-hand with thinking about covers – moving away from traditional Event/Location/Key Reason to Attend messaging to content points – drawing people to specific pages in the brochure.

And again, these are suggestions and elements to test – I welcome comments from anybody with examples and results of any initiatives taken along these lines to date.

Good luck!

John

Is Testing Part of Your Email Campaigns? Survey Says "No"

In April I blogged about utilizing legacy marketing practices - particularly testing - in online marketing campaigns. This subject was recently highlighted in B2B Magazine’s online edition, which detailed a white paper published by Experian Marketing Services, A guide to effective email testing. In its introductory remarks, the paper cited research published by Forrester Research last October, Benchmark your Email Organization, noting that 20% of respondents surveyed for the report did not test email at all, and 55% reported limited or ad hoc testing.

Quick math: that leaves 25% of the organizations responding reporting a continued email testing program. And that’s across industries – I would venture to guess, unfortunately, that in the Events arena those numbers are lower. Given the constant churn of events and campaigns, event marketers historically overall have focused on developing and managing ongoing testing strategies. Which is a lost opportunity to gather some hard intelligence on your prospect base.

To that end, given the challenges the economy and the events industry is facing, I’m stressing to you, the reader, that you need to take the time to establish and execute a testing strategy for your upcoming email marketing efforts. This does not need to be a complex, multivariate test; gaining quick, actionable data on elements that can be rolled out across a portfolio of events should ultimately be the goal.

Suggestions in the Experian paper, and their applicability to the Events industry, include:

Timing Tests: There is always debate over what information prospects need and when – add to that optimal timing (and promotion) of early bird deadlines and this is an area ripe for testing. The reality is timing will vary pending segment – but gaining insight on when to best send each communication is a key piece of knowledge – the potential for increased view/clicks is invaluable. This test can be time of day, day of week, weeks from event – or a combinations of these (as long as a large enough sample exists.) You can also drill down into what list segments respond best at what times.

Subject Line Tests: These should be done across a spectrum of events and over time to gain aggregate results. There are a variety of elements that can be tested: Experian suggestions include personalized vs. non-personalized, offer vs. no offer, short vs. long and branded vs. non-branded. One important facet I would include is push vs. pull – an ‘announcing XYZ event’ vs. ‘learn about XYZ’ – logic would dictate the second would pull better – but you won’t know until you test!

Creative Tests: An opportunity to test different creative schemes – but also to test HTML vs. text/non-image HTML. As the world moves toward mobile devices, images are blocked, etc. you may find that plan text messaging is the most effective for either the audience overall or certain segments of the audience. (Note: The metric for creative testing is clicks, not opens.)

Offer Tests: Test Early Bird price points, group price tests, testing premiums, etc. – send offers with various price breaks – and some with no price breaks – and see if discounts have an impact – if the answer is ‘no’ think of the retained revenue!

And again, test one element at a time (or two – i.e. testing four datasets and testing subject line and creative) – beyond that you are in the arena of multivariate testing – not impossible, but not to be tried without input from a third party or colleague versed in statistics to validate this scheme.

So take the time, set up your tests – and become a better marketer with the results!

Good luck!

John Gibb

This Is Not a Test!

It’s an article about testing.

In a recent article in BrandWeek, Karen Gedney was interviewed for some pointers on tricks of the trade in today’s online marketing environment. As the article points out, behind all the buzz about online marketing lies … principals of Direct Marketing 101. The legacy tactics may be in decline – the Age of Spray ‘n Pray is behind us – but testing, digging deep into results and incorporating them into future campaigns or efforts is still what it’s all about.

In my early experience working at Global Business Research, a conference company, we were constantly testing list segments and acting on results. However, I decided to test paper stock – we (and other events organizations – which operated in a “me too” environment) traditionally printed brochures on 80# coated stock. I decided to test uncoated vs. coated – obviously would not have shiny brochures, but would it impact attendance numbers? End of the day it didn’t – a simple A/B between the mail drop produced no variation in registrations; moving forward we saved $ by printing on uncoated stock.

Obviously testing can be more complex – while at Gartner I hired Karen for her creative services for several campaigns for us, including one in which we tested single vs. dual campaign communication for two events running a week apart which had a large audience overlap (another issue for another day).

Today, of course, the Internet has brought testing to a new level – both in timeliness and complexity. Results can pretty much be gleaned in real-time now, and action (if need be) taken much faster. To that end, a couple of quick suggestions on methodology:

• Keep email testing simple, utilizing A/B splits to test subject lines, messaging, offers, etc. independently of each other. Get a grip on one element before testing others. Given the challenges in generating clicks and views via the email channel, I’d suggest keeping it simple – as numbers will be relatively small, you want to have a good sample size from which to make decisions.
• Use your Web site for more complex multi-variable testing. Work with your internal Web team to ensure proper analytics are in place (and work with someone versed in statistics to ensure the test is viable), and use the Web to test headlines, copy placement, images, etc. – with the ultimate driver of course being registrations (although measure of leads generated vs. conversion is also a good metric.) Your site visit numbers will be more robust than email results, so take advantage of the larger audience to gain insight from larger datasets.

In short, use online marketing as a channel – but keep the legacy practice of testing in place as you develop and roll out your online initiatives!

Good luck!

John

P.S. Thanks for all the positive feedback I’ve gotten on http://www.johnsgibb.net. In the process of working on some additional efforts – stay tuned!