SeminarSavvy.com

When trying to identify a winning topic, most marketers and product-development experts will tell you to find a hungry crowd, discover what that crowd wants … and then deliver it.

Following this school of thought, you could pick any audience, find out what those folks want, then deliver a seminar, teleseminar or webinar to provide the information they are seeking.

But this approach overlooks a huge component in formula for success: YOU!

To understand why your passion is key to the success of your event, consider the fact that words make up a mere 7 percent of communication. The rest of the meaning is derived from nonverbal communication, such as body language and tone of voice. If you are not passionate about your training topic, your disinterest will shine through during your delivery.

Your lack of enthusiasm also spills over into your marketing materials. After 15 years in the marketing field, both leading projects and writing copy, I’ve seen firsthand how lack of interest leads to ho-hum marketing copy. To generate registrations, your copy must snap and pop, so that it grabs and holds your prospects’ attention. Likewise, if you’re using video or audio tools to promote your events, your lack of enthusiasm shines through, subtly communicating to prospects that your event is dull, not that great, and definitely not worth the investment of time and money.

Another reason to ensure you are passionate about the topic you choose: if you are successful, you will be delivering your training for a long time. Passion will sustain you over the long haul; a topic that bores you from the get-go will be torturous to deliver before long.

For the greatest success — at least, if you’re delivering the training yourself — do not search only for a hungry crowd. Instead, look for a hungry crowd with which you share a passion. Then develop the training programs they need and want. If the hungry crowd you already work with is craving a topic for which you have little interest for familiarity, find another speaker or trainer who has the experience and passion to deliver a knock-out presentation.

For example, my passion is promoting seminars. Although I’m often asked for advice in promoting trade shows, that’s not my passion or expertise. So I pass on serving that hungry crowd, knowing that there are other experts who are far better suited to take care of that niche. On the other hand, some members of my existing hungry crowd also need training on event management. Again, this is not my expertise. But because the topic is something my *existing* audience wants, event management training is something my company could provide if I brought in a trainer better suited to teach the course.

One note on the “find the hungry crowd” concept: You’ll often hear that you need to find a large crowd to justify the time you’ll spend developing a seminar, teleseminar or webinar. If people aren’t searching on your keywords, for example, there may not be a big enough audience to produce the revenue you want.

However, the size of your universe isn’t the most important factor to predicting the success of your event — the hunger of your crowd is. It’s far better to market to a smaller, tightly targeted crowd that’s starving for your training than a gigantic mass that’s merely looking for a snack.

This is, really, the definition of a niche — a small target group that has special requirements. The more tightly you can match your message to what they want, the greater success you’ll have filling your events.

Satisfaction guarantees are essential to convincing uncertain prospects to register for your event. It’s how you ease their fears about making a mistake in signing up for your seminar.

There are several types of guarantees you can offer. Which do you feel most comfortable with?

1. Lifetime guarantee: if participants become dissatisfied with their attendance at the seminar at any point, either at the event or even months later when they’re using the information, you’ll give them a total refund of their registration fee. Add even more power to your guarantee by also giving them a gift or cash bonus to compensate them for their trouble.

2. Total satisfaction or 100% money back with a time limit, say 30 to 90 days. You might require that attendees prove that they honestly tried implementing the information taught in the seminar. Attendees get to keep their seminar materials.
3. Total satisfaction or 100% money back, no questions asked. Prospects must speak up and ask for their money back by the end of the event. You may want to let them keep their materials, but you could require that they turn them in.

4. Partial attendance with a total-satisfaction guarantee. Participants can attend part of the event (e.g., the first morning or the first day). Then, if they’re not satisfied, they can turn their materials in at the registration table for a full refund.

5. Total satisfaction or you offer a partial refund. You withhold either a percentage or a specific dollar amount to cover your meeting room costs. You can use this with any of the guarantees above, though it’s more common with #3 and #4.

The stronger your guarantee, the better. It shows that you are 100 percent confident about the quality of your content and seminar. The more “weasel clauses” you put in — such as making people prove they’ve used the materials — the more it appears that you have something to hide and are not sincere about your offer. The most successful seminar marketers offer total satisfaction guarantees.

There is a chance that strengthening your guarantee will increase the number of refund requests that you get. If that happens, go back and analyze your numbers. What you’ll probably find is that although more people requested refunds, the stronger guarantee also helped you secure significantly more registrations. Even after you honor all refund requests, you’ll still have a larger net profit with the stronger guarantee.

Also recognize that the longer your guarantee is (e.g., a 30-day guarantee vs. a guarantee that expires the minute your seminar ends), the less likely it is to be invoked. If you tell attendees that they have to let you know by lunchtime whether they want their money back, they’ll feel pressured to make a decision about requesting a refund. If they have just the tiniest shred of dissatisfaction, the chances that they’ll ask for their money back will skyrocket. Extending your guarantee to 30, 60, 90 or even 365 days after the event takes the time pressure off of them. It also shows that you have their best interests at heart, because you want to give them a chance to put their skills to the test before they make the “final” buying decision.

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.

Address Unspoken Questions to Secure More Seminar Registrations

It often seems that for every person who signs up for a seminar, there’s at least one or two more who are undecided about attending.

Some are uncertain because they have financial concerns and aren’t sure they’ll receive enough value for their investment. Convincing these prospects to register takes highly persuasive copy and lots of follow-up.

But other prospects are easier to reassure. Emotionally, they are sold on participating. But the logical part of their brain needs to be set at ease about committing to participation in your seminar.

To move these individuals off the fence and onto your registration list, provide answers to common questions about your event. Questions that relate to the registration fee are top priority, such as “What is your satisfaction guarantee?” “What if I have to cancel?” and “What’s included in my registration fee?”

But don’t overlook questions that seem to be trivial, such as “What should I wear?” “What about meals?” and “How do I get to the hotel?” The more you’re able to help prospects visualize their entire seminar experience, the more at ease they’ll be … and the fewer obstacles will stand between you and another registration.

To make these details easy to find, post a list of frequently asked questions on your website or include a page of seminar details and common questions in your brochure. Sending a direct mail package? Consider including an insert with your seminar FAQs.

To register for a seminar, prospects need to be  convinced that the event will deliver an experience that is worth their money, as well as their time. Each additional detail you provide about your event could make the difference in convincing a prospect that your seminar is a must-attend event.

Whether you’re trying to figure out what keywords to bid on, what topics to write about when posting articles online, or merely what words to use when promoting your seminars, it’s key to put yourself in your prospects’ shoes.

Be your ideal customer for a minute … and think about:

• What do you really want? 
• What solutions are you seeking? 
• What dreams are you pursuing? 
• What problems are you desperate to solve?

The answers you come up with provide valuable clues about how to hook your prospects … and even position your event.

Some of your prospects might not know the proper terminology for what you offer and/or what they need. For example, I recently consulted with an expert who is new to the seminar business. She expressed relief at finally finding my website because she hadn’t known what keywords to use when trying to find someone who could help her. Listening to her describe her needs and what keywords she had used to try finding me gave me insight into other ways I can describe and market my services, products and events.

Other prospects may not recognize how big their need really is or what they need to solve their problems. Many promoters who contact me are concerned about how to improve their marketing materials, but don’t realize that their mailing list is just as critical to their success. If I talked only about creating a mailing list, my promotions would hold little interest for my prospects. But if I focus on what my prospects think they need, I stand a better chance of capturing their interest.

Talking to prospective customers can help you pinpoint the words and phrases they use when talking about their problems and desired solutions. Regurgitate their words when writing your copy to ensure your language resonates with them.

Want more ideas for writing killer seminar copy? Check out my home study course, How to Successfully Market Seminars and Workshops.

“I deliver a great seminar. But my prospects don’t see the value in taking a day from their businesses to attend my event.”

If this sounds familiar, it is possible that your event really isn’t worth the time investment participants would need to make to attend. Perhaps your seminar doesn’t deliver content that is timely, relevant to your audience, important to them, or critical to know NOW. It’s also possible that the content you’re delivering is readily available in other formats that are easier to access.

Most likely, though, you’re not adequately communicating the real value of your event.

If prospects read or listen to your promotions and don’t understand why attending is so important that they should schedule a day away from their regular lives, you need to do a better job of explaining what the event is about. The communication you’re sending is the only thing you have control over; you can’t force the recipients “get it.” If your message isn’t connecting, it’s time to tinker with your message.

Look at your promotions from your prospects’ perspective, and ask yourself the following questions to identify areas where you can improve your copy:

1. Do you understand why it’s urgent to attend now — why waiting a few months or a year to attend will be detrimental to your success … or even survival?
2. Is it clear how you’ll benefit by attending a seminar vs. obtaining this information via a teleseminar, report or simple online research?
3. Does the copy adequately explain what will be taught — and provide such an overwhelming amount of proof that you know with total certainty that you’ll gain a ton of valuable information by attending?
4. Do you have the impression that attending will give you a competitive advantage … and that not attending could put you at a disadvantage?
5. Do you understand how attending will give you the knowledge and skills to produce a positive return on investment?
6. Is there any indication of how big of an ROI you could potentially see … or how fast you’ll recoup your investment?
7. Are there testimonials from other people like you who have attended this training in the past?
8. Are you 100 percent sure that the seminar applies to you? Does the copy list your profession or title under “Who Should Attend”?
9. Does the copy describe the problem(s) the seminar will solve … and the solution(s) you’ll get by participating?
10. Is the seminar delivering significantly more value than you’ll invest to attend?

If, after reviewing these questions, you’re still having a hard time identifying where your copy could be strengthened, get feedback from people who aren’t familiar with your seminar.

For the most valuable input, seek out people who would make ideal prospects for your seminar. Ask them to share their candid feedback about your promotional materials, and invite their ideas for making your offer irresistible.

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.

For many professionals, a huge benefit of attending seminars is the networking they’re able to do with other participants.

If you want to leverage your audience’s desire to connect with other professionals to generate sales, however, you can’t assume that your audience will think of this benefit on their own. Make sure that your promotional materials play up this unique aspect of attending a live event.

Here are 3 ideas to get you started:

1. List networking as a special benefit of attending your event. Tell readers how many and what type of networking opportunities you’ll be coordinating (for example, extra long lunch hours).

2. Send out an advance registration list a couple of times before your seminar. Show prospects which individuals have already signed up and/or which companies are sending employees to your event.

If you receive a registration from a well-known attendee or industry expert, send out a special promotional email focusing solely on that individual. The opportunity to meet this individual might sweeten the pot enough to get some previously undecided prospects to register right away.

3. Include testimonials from past attendees who raved about the networking opportunties and quality of attendee. If you can get them to include specific results in their testimonial (“I struck a deal that put $50,000 in my pocket during the first morning’s coffee break”) … even better.

When you are marketing your first seminar — or assuming marketing responsibilities for a seminar that’s already been done before — it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all there is to do.

So what’s the very first thing you should do?

I start by researching the audience.

Read industry publications. Study your competitors’ marketing. Survey your audience.

If you work for a training company, talk to the trainers and other people who have helped market your events before.

And whatever you do, don’t forget to actually TALK to at least a few past attendees. Even a short telephone interview can provide tremendous insights into what your prospects want and need from your event.

Knowing what makes your prospects tick … what problems keep them up at night … how your seminar helps solve their problem … and what they want your seminar to deliver — these are the secrets that will help you create compelling copy and a smart
marketing strategy.