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FAQ's and More

First, some questions we get most often.
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Q. How quickly can you start to work on my event?
A. Almost immediately. We need a little time for prep work with you and to pull together a digital team and assign roles.

Q. Do you always have a team?
A. If your event is occurring in Memphis, we work directly on your event in all modalities,
except on your own web site in which case we work with your own designer. Otherwise the size of
the team depends on what you want to have done in promoting your event.

Q. Can you do all this anywhere in the country?
A. Yes, even the media. Our services can be delivered separately or as a package.

Q. What are your rates?
A. Rates start at $600. However, there are so many elements in prepping promotions for a special event,
we will give you a solid figure after we have first meeting.

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The extended script...

If you have a special public event coming up, let me lay out some broad promotion tactics that I've used over the years. I'm sure you've already thought of most if not all of this but I've put them into a strategic package with a timeline. This is just a guide. This video walks you through my marketing process for special events. Now, let's take a look at BENQQ'S SPECIAL EVENT PROMOTIONS.

Remember, your event is a SPECIAL event. To make it special, first give it a unique theme so you can have a real marketing angle. Then think about possible attractants that would get people to your event.

Now, in the next few minutes, I talk about a promotion timeline, media and post event strategies in my standard work plan. Now, let's look at a general promotional timeline first:

A GENERAL PROMOTION TIMELINE

You can but its not required to activate ALL the 8 categories of tools available to you. Within those categories are dozens of other tools as well. For now lets talk about the general categories and the order of using them in a promotion plan.

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1. Social Media--Start promoting your event in social media posts at least 8 weeks before its date with at least 3 posts per week with increasing frequency until the day of  the event.  Of course you can make references to your event long before that. Remember, social media posting is not paid advertising that I touch on below. And remember, you can use your event to develop your ongoing social media presence as well.

2. Direct Mail--Then 2-3 weeks before your event do a direct mail campaign.  Mail, at 48 cents even for a 4x6  postcard is expensive but effective especially when well designed. If you have a high value item, direct mail may be the best for you.
3. Paid Digital Advertising--Start 3 weeks before your event to run continuously until the event. You can stop your campaign a day before. With digital advertising, more local eyes can be directed to  your event.
4. Your own email sendouts--or campaigns--Start 2 weeks before with sendouts, then 2 weeks later and then 2 days prior to your event. That's 3 sendouts before your event. If you have collected customer emails, certainly get ready to send them, meaning write, design and schedule them for automatic sendouts. Or do it yourself if you and staff have time, which of course becomes less available with each day. My advice, create your emails with increasingly good incentives, set them up automatically to send out and as an added benefit set up a CRM to follow up with a post event offer. You've established new customer relationships with your event, start developing them.

Don't have emails or text SMS addresses stored? My advice here is to first start collecting them and second, rent them.

There are reliable email and SMS services you can use to get addresses to send to your preferred demographics in your local market. Depending on the value of your offers, you not only should generate event attendees but a bank of new customer emails who responded to your mass emails.

Just don't expect email and SMS rentals to yield as much as your organic list that you may have built up. But, as I just said you can start from a rental list and build from respondents to your mailing. The respondent emails are yours. They are gold. Finally, you know not double send if purchasing a single send list.

5. News Releases and Media Advisories--send about 2 weeks out with advisories of interview opportunities. So don't forget local newspaper, radio and television media. A well placed media pitch with great editorial content with evocative still and video pictures, that you provide or is made available, is hard to  ignore. Be willing to provide expert content with statistics, experts and real people for interviews.
6. Radio ads. 15 seconds ea. 3 days out. Unless your event is a regional one, I don't recommend television ads. People generally don't remember your dates or location. Give them a way to look you up later like your web site.
7. SMS texts--2 days out, including the day of your event. Remember, texts are opened more than anything. Suggestlon: make a special offer to text receivers, like "Visit the ___________ Grand Opening and receive a free ________"
8. It goes without saying, use your web site as the first promoter of your event. With email campaigns, you can direct people to coupons and freebies that are located on temporary splash pages.

YOUR PRODUCED MEDIA BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR EVENT

What is that single biggest incentive to get most people to attend your event? Think how that might be presented in your own produced media-that is, video, stills, advertisement copy, slicks anything else that can be put on a platform for people to see.

Your media should be exciting and promise an irresistible value to your best, broadest customer demographic. Your event should deliver that promise. Decide now what the spine of your event is and how to  promote it in your produced media to your most preferred audience.

Finally, PRODUCE your event TO work for you year long not only to yield a large number of attendees on a single day.  You want to be able harvest image captures that include stills, video and people making great quotes about your business or organization. These are long term multi-use assets. But be sure to have subjects sign a release or have your shooters compose non-identifiable shots.

Why do this? Because you can use these visual assets in your social media year long. Second, you can use these event media to build other types of  advertising and promotions. In fact you should end up with a post event treasure trove of images and video that you can use in all of your platforms, including your web site.

If you capture enough, you could use fresh imagery year round in social media depending on your release schedule. My advice: think of activities in which people love to get their pictures taken.

Also regarding event producing, if you'd like celebrities or experts in your field to speak or demonstrate, call us. Such performers provide great sourcing for additional attendees and media pickup.

Now we do all of what I talked about in single units or as a complete package.  I hope some of this has given you a new idea or two, one of which I hope is calling me direct with your questions or requests.

So, have an event coming up? If so, I'd love to speak  with you. Give me a call. Thanks.

Post Event: Emails, Campaigns and Podcast

Followup to your old and new audiences with emails and new marketing campaigns in which you can now do A/B testing and a podcast in which you make new offers.

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Wrapup

Now we do all of what I talked about here in single units or as a complete package.  I hope some of this has given you a new idea or two, one of which I hope is calling me direct with your questions or requests.

Hey, if you've already had your big event and didn't do many of the things I talked herein, never fret, we can pick up your pace in marketing as well. Shoot me an email and I'll be glad to send you an email that jump starts your marketing anew.

And if you do have an event coming up, we'd like to support you anyway we can. We have lots of resources and people who can help make your event a success. Give me a call. Thanks.

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Ben "BenQQ" Harrison

mymarketpopups.com@gmail.com

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