SeminarSavvy.com

A recent trip to the grocery store reminded me of a valuable Internet marketing tip I learned years ago.

When I was headed out the door with my cartful of groceries, the greeter — an elderly man who always welcomes me with a big smile and friendly “hello” — flagged me down. His job that day was to hand out fliers directing customers to the store’s web site to take a customer satisfaction survey.

I like George. So I went to the site to share my rave reviews about the store’s customer service.

Unforunately, the flier directed me to the superstore’s home page, which featured dozens of links and buttons. Even after some persistent digging around, I couldn’t find the survey. So I left without sharing my input.

Contrast this experience with the survey offered by a local pizza franchise — their coupon takes you directly to the survey form. And when you’re done, you get a discount coupon as a thank you.

I firmly believe that you can learn a lot about marketing simply by paying attention to what annoys you, as well as what wows you. From these two experiences come the following lessons:

1. Direct visitors to exactly the page you want them to visit. Depending on how your site is organized, dropping visitors off at your home page in hopes that they’ll find their way to your seminar page can be like kicking someone out of your car miles from nowhere with a hearty “Good luck!” They might be persistent enough to find a trail; they could easily get lost in the forest. If seminar registrations are your goal, take visitors by the hand and lead them to exactly the page you want them to go.

2. If the URL of the page you want prospects to visit is long and convoluted, set up an abbreviated URL that redirects to the target page. For example, a client of mine runs advertising to promote its personal development seminars. Rather than including their web page’s full address http://www.foundations1.com/personal-success/cornerstone/ which would be too long and clunky for a print ad, their webmaster provides shortened URLs that point to this page (foundations1.com/publicationname) Tip: This strategy allows you the ability to track web traffic. In this case, setting up a unique URL for each publication allows us to see how many visitors come to the site from each ad placed.

3. Continue the conversation. When prospects are motivated by a promotion to visit your web site, it can be jarring to land on a web page that doesn’t relate to what was presented in the original promotion. Some will be confused and leave. Others may find their way to the seminar page, but by the time they do, they’ve lost their interest in what you were saying.

Continuing the conversation can be as simple as making sure that your landing page promotes the same thing that was offered in the original promotion. In other cases, you may want to go deeper. For example, if one ad plays up your seminar’s ability to boost revenue, make sure that copy on your landing page also plays up this benefit. Ads that highlight a different benefit should point to a different landing page with matching copy.

If you’re working with a finite budget, you want to make sure that every dollar counts. By using these three tips to create a more seamless customer experience, you’ll eliminate the unncessary loss of web site visitors, as well as increase your chances of seminar success.

When promoting a local seminar, newspapers seem like a logical choice for reaching your target audience. After all, newspaper readers are local. And they are interested enough in learning new information that they’re willing to pay for and read a paper, right?

But as many new seminar promoters quickly learn, promoting seminars via newspaper advertising isn’t as easy as running an ad and filling the room.

For starters, your ad has a lot of competition — and not just other ads. Every story on the page as your ad, as well as every story in the paper, is competing for attention. In such a busy environment, it’s easy for your ad to be overlooked.

Here are a few pointers to help you get the most bang for your buck when promoting seminars via advertising in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals:

• Ask about demographics. If the readership doesn’t match your ideal prospect profile, don’t buy into the advertising representative’s hype. Take a pass instead — there are plenty of places you can spend your advertising dollars.
• Drill down into demographic data. The publication’s readership may be diverse, and your seminar may only appeal to a certain portion of the readership. So ask the advertising rep for specifics. For example, newspapers may be delivered across dozens of communities, and your audience may be more likely to live in one community vs. another. Don’t be afraid to ask about having your ad run in only certain editions of the paper or magazine.
• Investigate all advertising options. When you think of advertising in a newspaper or magazine, your mind probably went straight to a display ad. But many publications offer numerous ways to advertise. Classified advertising is an option, of course. Others include flyer insertions, coupon bags, front-page sticky notes, and belly bands (an advertisement that is wrapped around the publication). What gives you the best chance of standing out?
• Remember, frequency is key. You will not fill your seminar by running one ad one time in one publication. You may not even get a single phone call! Repetition is key to advertising success. Most studies agree that customers need to see your promotions at least 7 to 9 times before acting.
• Test ad sizes. If you’ve ever shopped for ad space, you know that it get pricey in a hurry. When first starting, invest in a small ad that’s run frequently vs. a large ad that’s run only a time or two. As your ad produces results and you generate revenue, reinvest some of the proceeds onto bigger ads.
• Go for leads, not sales. Convincing a stranger to register for your seminar based on an ad will be difficult. Instead of trying to make a sale in a tiny space, direct readers to your web site or phone number to get details about your event. Better yet, promote a free resource or gift related to your seminar topic. Promote your seminar when you follow-up with people who request the free resource.

Advertising can gobble up your marketing budget in a hurry. Use these tips to help maximize the number of leads you receive, while minimizing your marketing risk.

“What’s the best way for me to promote my seminars?”

This question easily makes the top five list of challenges I hear from newer seminar promoters, as well as those who aren’t satisfied with how their events are performing.

Their uncertainty is understandable. Because when you’re doing your own marketing, growing a business and delivering the content, you want to make sure that every dime and every minute you invest into your promotions will pay off.

The frustrating thing, of course, is that you can’t guarantee that everything you do will be a winner. Some promotions fizzle. It’s the nature of the game.

When you’re promoting seminars, workshops and other training events, there are some things you should do when marketing. For example, having a web page — if not an entire web site — devoted to your event is typically a good idea. That way, you have a marketing tool available around the clock to help prospects make the decision to attend your seminar.

Going hand in hand with the web site is email marketing (to your own opt-in list of course).

Beyond that, my rule is “if you feel inspired to try it, try it!”

If you think that knocking on doors and introducing yourself to local businesses will help, give it a shot. If you want to hang flyers on bulletin boards, it’s worth a try. If listing your seminars with a event listing service strikes your fancy, sign up to get your information into their database.

Then supplement your creativity with a bit of practical planning:

1. Be sure to customize your marketing approach to best leverage the opportunity. If you’re going to talk to business owners, stress how the organization will benefit by investing in training rather than talking only about how the attendee will benefit.
2. Track the source of every registration. That way, you won’t have to guess which marketing tools are working for you. You’ll know without a doubt whether it pays to pound the pavement while passing out flyers.
3. Use multi-channel marketing. The more ways you reach out to your audience, the more likely you are to reach a greater number of them. Plus, you’ll be less affected if one tool stops working.
4. Watch ROI. You may find that all of your marketing tools are generating registrations. But filling seats is not enough. Ultimately, you need to make money from your registrations, or your business will sink.

For some seminar producers, this means that the tuition generated must outweigh the cost of generating the registrations. Other seminar providers can lose money on the seminar itself because they will make money selling products and services at the event. But ultimately, they must make money.

When working with a finite budget, watch the return on investment generated by each marketing channel. If you find that one approach costs too much in time or money, drop it and redirect your resources to another channel that is producing a better return.

What’s the most unusual approach you’ve tried when promoting seminars and workshops? Share your thoughts below.