New Section: "Dear KRMite ... Should I do a series of events?"
Dear KRMite:
I’ve been planning events for many years and have some
experience in marketing. I frequently hear that special offers and series of
events are a great way to help drive registrations.
Can virtual events in a series be successful?
Dear Not Sure About Series:
The answer to your question is, “yes, they can be --
with some thought and planning.”
Series events can increase registrations and your
revenue for multiple events. Many of our clients have held a series of virtual events
with great success.
Here are a couple of things to consider when deciding
whether or not to offer events in a series.
Think about your content. Holding a series of events
can help you present important content that is too large or too much for just
one 90-minute webinar.
Think about your audience. As always, it’s important
to keep the buying decision easy (beware of complicating it) and clear it of
any “road blocks.” If you force a registrant to decide right now whether or not
they can attend all six of your live events in a series rather than the one
that’s happening tomorrow, you may put off some buyers and reduce registration
numbers.
Plan for typical registrant behavior. Generally,
virtual event registrations are a low risk, last-minute type of purchase
decision. For the first half of 2010,
KRM clients have experienced an average of 9 percent of their total
registrations occurring on the day of their events.
If you do
decide to offer a series of virtual events, here are some important tips:
1.
Offer recordings of the events as part of your mix. For example, if someone can attend 4 of the
6 sessions live, allow them to purchase recordings of the remaining two
sessions to participate in the series and qualify for the discount.
2.
Be sure that
your lead time for promotion is adequate — consider the date and time of your
first event, and promote before that.
3.
Before you promote the first event, be sure that you have all of your events in the series nailed
down — dates/times/speaker/content. Don’t expect people to purchase a series if
you can’t give them firm information about all of the events.
4.
Send messages
about the series multiple times— before each event — to everyone who hasn’t registered yet. Give registrants
many opportunities to participate and purchase.
6.
Ask KRM for
assistance with marketing copy, promotional timelines and registration setup.
7.
If your topics
in a series are related, but don’t build on each other — e.g. 6 different
conversations about how to promote events – email, mail, fax, timeline, copy,
etc. — give people a chance to register for just the topics that appeal to
them. You don’t have to offer a discount for a single topic purchase, but don’t
require they purchase of the entire series if they really only need one topic.
8.
If your topics
in a series build on each other and knowledge of the previous session(s) are
important for understanding of the upcoming topic, promote early enough for
people to get recordings of any initial sessions they may have missed and
listen to them before the next event.
9.
Continue to
promote the series — as recordings only — even after the live events are done. Keep the
revenue coming in!
Call your account manager, Ann, Chris, or Wayne today at 800.816.2640 to discuss whether or
not a series of virtual events will help you reach your goals. | 
