How to Attract Your Ideal Clients to Your Next Event
Marketing for In-Person Events
In season 3 of the Social Savvy Geek Show we are focusing on marketing for in-person events. Today we’re covering How to Attract Your Ideal Clients to Your Next Event.
I’ve talked quite a bit in seasons 1 and 2 about the importance of creating an ideal client avatar aka buyer persona. I’ve touched on how doing this exercise:
People began replying to my emails as though I had written it personally to them... amazing!
Amazing Changes
And that is ALL TRUE.
Now imagine the power of getting room full of people who are ALL versions of your ideal client. It can happen! The focus of today’s show is how to use online marketing to attract your ideal clients to in-person events. By clearly defining exactly who you are trying to attract, calling them out, and pre-qualifying them you can fill rooms full of exactly the right type of people!
It’s important to craft your marketing message in a way that feels as though you’re speaking directly to one person. This requires that you’re crystal clear about who you can best serve through your event and exactly who you are attracting through your messaging.
Defining your ideal client will help you create better, more actionable content both for your event itself and for the marketing materials used to fill your event. The more targeted your audience is, the easier it is to create content that establishes you as an authority in your niche AND attracts a group of like-minded people.
When you’re hosting a live event, you want to make sure the people you attract will feel like they are in exactly the right place! They should look around and feel like they are surrounded by their peers.
Have you ever been to an event where you felt like you were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time? THAT is the feeling you want your attendees to have… and getting the right people in the room starts with the messaging you use to attract your audience!
Download your Avatar Workbook to drill down and empower yourself to change your entire business!
How to Use Your Avatar
Use the information you’ve gathered about your Avatar to create the perfect experience for them…
Keying in on your ideal client will impact virtually every aspect of your marketing and sales process for your event including...
Marketing Calendar – What is the ideal timing for your event? When is your ideal client most likely to attend? (Time of year, weekend vs weekday, time of day)
Planning Your Event – What solutions is your avatar searching for right now? What need or gap can you fill? How can you present this in a way that appeals to your avatar?
*Marketing won’t fix a broken idea, so providing an appropriate solution at the end of your funnel is pretty important!*
Community Building – Making your avatar feel like they are part of a movement or larger purpose can be the motivation they need to show up in-person. The opportunity to meet like-minded people in-person is huge!
Content Marketing – What blog posts, videos, podcasts, content upgrades, etc. should you create to attract and convert your avatar?
Paid Traffic – Which ad platforms should you buy traffic from and what targeting options should you use?
Copywriting – How should you describe your event in your email marketing and ads in a way that speaks to your avatar and compels them to attend?
Email Marketing – Which avatar should receive a specific email marketing campaign? Is this event something that would appeal only to a local audience? How far would your ideal attendee be willing to travel? A one hour workshop is likely to attract a hyper-local audience while a 3 day workshop often can attract an international audience.
How can you speak directly to your avatar so they feel like you wrote just to them?
This partial list is just the tip of the iceberg! Each part of your marketing and sales process that touches your customer will improve when you know exactly who your avatar is and how you can best serve them.
In the end, it’s a human being - one individual person- that buys your products and services. When you know exactly who you are talking to, it allows you to speak or write definitively and with passion. Your energy and enthusiasm will not only attract your ideal client, but also other people who identify with your message.
Generic messaging attracts only low hanging fruit. To level up in your business you need to be decisive and bold! Do not be afraid to niche down and ask for who you really want… you may just get them to love you!
My favorite Avatar is named Julie!
Here is how knowing Julie helps me to market events:
She is our primary ideal client. Julie is the perfect candidate for VIP events. Knowing her backstory allows us to speak directly to her in our marketing this is especially effective when writing email copy and Facebook ads. Putting Julie “across the table” or on the other end of the message makes writing much easier and more effective. Whenever I am reviewing copy, whether I wrote it myself or had it written on my behalf, I ask, “Would Julie like this? Would she take action?” If the answer is NO then we don’t use it.
In your free workbook, you’ll notice that the categories are flexible. The included worksheet is a tool to help you get real with your avatar.
Of Julie’s Interests the ones that inform marketing for the VIP events include: Business, Entrepreneurship, and Motivational Speaking
These are the topics that we want to call out in our marketing.
Her Values could inform how the event is conducted and presented: Conservative/Libertarian, Christian, Modern Feminist, Equal Rights, Loves America, Crunchy
How is this pertinent? We would want to make sure that our ads lead to sales pages which make it clear that her values are in alignment. This could be subtle - including information about healthy snacks and on-site recycling would appeal to her crunchy nature. Providing information or links to local places of worship shows care for her if the event includes a weekend.
Her Sources of Information:
Knowing what she is already reading and listening to clues us into what language is already familiar and comfortable. Using similar wording in moderation can useful. Quoting her favorite people can also let her know that we have similar tastes!
Her Attitude: Bold, Outspoken, Confident, Enthusiastic, Giving, Natural Leader, Expert Networker
We need to use language that appeals to her. Since she is bold and confident, we can call her out and ask her to take action! As a natural leader and expert networker - we can expect her to invite others once she is committed, so we can give her the tools to do that effectively!
Her challenges and Frustrations - This is the KEY stuff we need to be focusing on when appealing to Julie. This is what will motivate her to take action:
She wants to do it all NOW.
Trying to juggle family/civic/work responsibilities.
Not enough time.
Not enough help.
Knows what they want and how to get it, but not how to implement steps/prioritize marketing effectively.
Needs support.
When we speak to these struggles and offer solutions… we all win.
Her Objections and Roadblocks - These objections are real but we may want to be a bit more subtle when addressing them in ads. Speaking to these in follow ups and reminders can be useful if done properly (with a light touch):
Too much business at once could lead to public failure.
Success could cause ostracism from friends/family or change in home relationships.
Her book won’t sell.
Secretly feels unworthy or not good enough - fraud.
Exposure
Censure
Humiliation
Loss of friendships
Loss of control
Her goals and desires: These need to be worked into ads!
Wants to be on National/International stage as keynote speaker and highly paid.
Wants books on NY/Amazon best sellers lists.
Wants exclusive high end clients.
Wants to serve with ease and grace.
Wants work and familial success.
Her dreams: This is the stuff of titles and subtitles!
Serving and living in ease.
Successful in home and business.
Ability to choose where to focus: civic/philanthropic, family, work.
Time to travel, live, write.
Home and family secure.
Legacy.
I hope that you can see how knowing what your avatar is thinking and dreaming about can help you speak to them so directly that they are nodding along… thinking yes, yes, that’s me… I need this… this is for me.. And thoughts like these can work for you. Think about a time that you’ve been looking at an advertisement or reading an email and it really “got you.” That is what happens when the person writing the copy really understands what you need and how you need to hear about it!
Speaking of ads… as you see good copy in email and ads, start a file with screenshots so that you will have them as examples when you need them! Keep an eye on what works. What do you like? What motivates you? What types of ads does your ideal client like?
Special Guest, Monica Gutierrez
Monica Gutierrez is a digital marketing specialist and the owner of Mariposa Marketing, a marketing agency that specializes in event promotion and Facebook Advertising for growing small and midsize businesses. She has a decade of marketing experience working with businesses ranging from real estate to veterinary medicine. She enjoys working with business owners and decision makers to build a strong marketing strategy and implement effective, measurable and cost-efficient marketing techniques into their businesses.
She’s a runner, yogi, outdoor enthusiast, and animal lover. She lives in the beautiful mountain town of Salida, Colorado with her husband, Kieran McCarthy, and their two fur-babies, Eli & Addison, two high-energy cattle dogs.
Find out more about Monica (and grab yourself a free printable event checklist) at MariposaMarketing.co
Unique Challenges
Marketing for in-person events presents its own set of challenges. In some ways it’s easier and more familiar to people than a webinar… in other ways it can be more difficult. You have to factor in people’s willingness to travel and the logistics of hosting a live event.
Regardless, honing in on the most effective language to engage your ideal client and convince them to take the actions of registering and showing up is that much easier when you know exactly who you are talking to and how they feel about taking these actions!
Do not skip developing your avatar!
It will save you time, energy, and money. As you run your events, make sure to ask for feedback so you can start using the EXACT language that your attendees use. This isn’t a one-and-done exercise. As you learn more and more about your audience and clients you can continuously improve your avatar and further develop their story. The more accurate it gets, the better your results will be!
- Question
- Answer
If it's your first event focus on filling the room. Trust that you've developed a solid avatar...
Once you have identified those attendees who engaged and converted well, then you can create a lookalike audience on Facebook to find more just like them!
I have a question for you.
Answer me in The Social Savvy Geek Facebook Group.
What is your favorite event that you have attended? Was it a workshop, conference, or summit? Why did you love it?
