9 Must-Have Elements In Your Seminar Marketing - By: Jenny Hamby

After 12 years of promoting seminars, I've identified 9
things that you absolutely must have in place to properly
promote your events.

1 -- A multi-channel marketing plan that spells out what
you need to do each week to promote your seminar.

If you don't have this in place, you know what happens?
You make it up as you go along. Then you get busy with
life, developing your content, or a million other
things ... and all of sudden it's been 3 weeks since you
last sent out a promo. Or you rush to toss something
together ... and your mediocre effort produces mediocre
results.

Developing a plan increases the likelihood that you'll
contact prospects frequently enough about your event and
develop a solid message that you can carry through from
piece to piece.

Plus, having a written plan means you can delegate
implementation of the plan to someone else!

2 -- A foundational marketing piece to promote your
seminar -- such as a salesletter, copy for your
direct-response web site, or even a brochure.

Developing one piece that contains EVERY detail needed
to sell your event is a great idea for a few reasons.
First, it's like having a salesperson on your staff that
you can refer prospects to 24/7. When prospects have
everything they need to make a buying decision, they
won't put off registration until they're able to get
more information from you.

Also, developing this comprehensive piece makes it
easier to create supplementary marketing materials.
All you have to do is lift chunks of copy from your
salesletter and then polish the transitions.

3 -- One or more follow-up marketing tools to continue
promoting your seminar.

You'll see the best results from your marketing if you
notify prospects about your event more than once. The
easiest way to follow-up is to simply re-mail the first
promotional piece (e.g., a brochure). But modifying
your copy and/or type of follow-up piece can produce
big bumps in your response rates. For example, after
sending a salesletter, send a postcard that warns of
an impending registration deadline.

4 -- A plan for building your database of qualified
prospects

When marketing a seminar, the people in your database
are your very best prospects, because they already know
you. Building your list is almost as important as
marketing your seminar ... and this activity deserves
its own plan.

5 -- At least one marketing piece designed to build
your opt-in list

Most people invite website visitors to join their
mailing list. If you want to maximize the growth of
your database, you should also actively market the
opportunity.

6 -- A system for capturing and keeping seminar
registrations to prevent last-minute cancellations

After registering for a seminar, many people are hit
with a case of buyer's regret. If you're not staying
in touch with registrants after they sign up, they might
see red flags warning them to stay away from your event.
At the very least, be sure to confirm registration
within 2 business days ... immediately if possible.

7 -- A system for tracking all of your responses, so
you gather the data you need to make educated decisions
about your marketing for future seminars.

Most new promoters have questions like "How can I tell
if I'll get enough registrations to run my seminar?"
"Will this promotion really be worth the effort?" "How
many times do I need to contact a prospect to get them
to sign up?" Although there are general rules of event
marketing that you can follow when getting started ...
you will need to discover what works for YOUR audience
and YOUR seminar specifically. Tracking results is how
you gather the data you need to answer these questions.

8 -- A plan for capturing testimonials and valuable
feedback from seminar attendees.

Testimonials are one of the most powerful marketing tools
at your disposal. But if you don't have a plan in place
before your seminar, chances are good that you won't
capture as many testimonials as you could if you were
prepared ... and the ones you do get will be bland.

9 -- A plan for staying in touch with prospects and past
seminar attendees throughout the year

Getting someone on your list isn't enough. You have to
keep your name and expertise in front of your growing
list if you want to remain relevant ... and if you want
to increase the likelihood that people on your list will
want to attend your future events.

As with your list building and seminar marketing activities,
having a written plan makes you more accountable -- and
enables you to outsource this portion of your marketing.

So ... here's the question of the day: Do you have all of
these elements in place?

About the Author

Jenny Hamby is a Certified Guerrilla Marketer and direct-response copywriter who helps speakers, coaches and consultants fill seminar seats and make more money from their own seminars and workshops. Her on- and offline direct marketing campaigns have netted response rates as high as 84 percent -- on budgets as small as $125. For more free seminar marketing secrets, visit http://www.SeminarPromotionTips.com

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