One of the primary responsibilities of a professional event planner is to attract guests to their events. While there are dozens of ways to promote an event, email is arguably the most effective. Once you’ve captured the email addresses of prospective guests, you can send them promotional material advertising your event and explaining why they should attend.
Build Your Email List
The first step towards using email to promote an event is to build your list. Without a decent-sized list of prospects’ email addresses, you won’t be able to effectively promote your event using this medium. So, how exactly do you build an email list?
Capture the email addresses of prospective guests through multiple platforms. This includes your own company’s website, social media networking accounts, mobile applications, etc. Whenever you promote your event, also include a form so prospects can sign up for news and “special offers” related to the event.
Address the Recipient by Name
When creating your emails, address the recipient by his or her name. According to a study conducted by Experian Marketing Services, personalized emails deliver 600% more transactions than generic, non-personalized emails. Recipients are more likely to open an email if it’s addressed to them by name. And when more recipients open your emails, you’ll experience a higher level of engagement and ultimately more event registrations and ticket sales.
Create (and Follow) an Email Schedule
If you haven’t done so already, create a schedule for your marketing emails. You should consider dates that correspond with your event, such as early-bird registration dates, registration deadlines, keynote speaker announcements, venue announcements, etc. When the end of early-bird registrations is approaching, for instance, you can schedule an email to notify prospects. Or if you’ve recently selected a venue for the event, let prospects know in a friendly email.
Clean Up Your Email List
Try to get into the habit of cleaning up your email list regularly. Go through your list and delete any duplicate email addresses, as well as addresses that “bounce” when you attempt to send a message. Leaving these addresses in your email list will only dilute your promotional efforts while making it more difficult to properly optimize your campaigns.
Monitor Metrics
You aren’t out of the woods just yet. You should also monitor your email campaign’s analytics for KPI’s like open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and of course conversion rates. If few recipients are opening your emails, let alone registering for your event, perhaps you should make some changes to your email campaign. Subtle changes in the wording, template or frequency can yield big differences in conversions.