SeminarSavvy.com

Before you sit down to write a single word of copy, think carefully about who you really want to see sitting in your seminar seats. Analyzing your perfect attendee up front will make your copy more effective — and also make it easier to write.

If you try to be everything to all people — all people being the myriad types of folks who could benefit by participating in your seminar — your copy will be blah and will likely appeal to no one.

But if you can pick a primary audience to focus on, you can speak directly to their problems and desires.

During one recent project, the primary audience we were targeting changed as the copy developed. The client initially chose to focus on an audience that was large and somewhat desperate. But as the project developed and feedback came in from various trusted advisors and potential attendees, the client realized that shifting focus to a smaller — but more lucrative — audience would be a better strategy.

As a result of the change in focus, we had to rework some of the copy. Verbiage that appealed to the first audience would repel the second group. It added more work to the project … but in the end, we had a stronger letter.

As you implement your marketing plans, follow my client’s lead and keep your ears and eyes open. It’s better to invest a little extra time reworking your marketing pieces than to stick to a flawed marketing strategy once you have feedback that recommends a shift in direction.

The signature on your outbound email is a fantastic free tool to promote your seminar. That’s because an email signature flies below your prospects’ marketing radar. Most people don’t think twice about deleting promotional messages. But this promotional message is tacked on the end of a more personal message that WILL get through.

For best effect:

• Keep your message short. A one- or two-sentence message is plenty.
• Focus on benefits — what are the top 1-3 benefits or things attendees will get at your event? Alternatively, list your seminar title, tagline, the dates and location.
• Link directly to the page where readers can find full details about the seminar. Don’t drop them off at your home page and hope that they stumble their way to your seminar page.
• Want to use your email signature to build your opt-in
  email list of prospects who are interested in your seminar? Use your signature to promote a free teleseminar or other giveaway that’s related to your seminar topic.
• If referring to yourself in your signature, use the first
  person (“I,” “my,” etc.) not the third person. For example, “Discover my top seminar marketing secrets at …” rather than “Discover Jenny Hamby’s top seminar marketing secrets at….”

Promoting your seminar in an email signature obviously
won’t fill your seminar to capacity on its own. But it can
be enough to fill an extra seat or two … and the potential
profit more than justifies the two minutes it takes
to create this type of promotional message.