Driving Attendance to your Marketing events - Part 1 of a 3 part series

Part 1 of a 3 part series

Ask any marketer... One of the most challenging pieces of event marketing is driving attendance... 

Face to face marketing via seminar events gives technology companies an incredible opportunity to drive multiple interactions with your target audience.  By designing an integrated campaign and leveraging the concepts I will talk about of this 3 part blog series, you can ensure not only attendance for your event, but that your pipeline is being filled, through the building your local partner network, using multiple touch points, building brand awareness and educating your target audience. 

INVITE KEY COMMUNITY PARTNERS IN YOUR AREA TO CO-HOST THE EVENT

 

1- Join and partner with your local Chamber of Commerce. Chambers are viewed as trusted advisors in the business community. They have a built in small - mid size business audience via their membership, and many times free meeting space.  Ask the Chamber to endorse your event and promote it to their membership. In return, give the Chamber an opportunity to talk about "chamber membership benefits" to the event attendees. 

 

2- Seek out local alliances for partnership and extended reach: National Microsoft alliances include: AT&T, Comcast, FEDEX Office and more… Also consider your own banker, insurance agent or accountant. All of these organizations are targeting the same audience that you are. Wouldn't it make sense to leverage each other, share marketing costs and gain access to new prospects? 

3- Team up with complimentary Microsoft partners, such as a Learning Centers or partners with a different core competency than your own... Microsoft Channel Builder and local IAMCP Chapters are both wonderful resources for connecting with other partners.

 

I encourage you to make the building of your local partner network an integral part of your marketing plan. The partnerships you form will lead to referrals and help you grow your business. But remember, like anything else you pursue, you will get out, what you put in... The partners I am working with that are truly using this grass-root formula are reaping the rewards of a BIG FAT PIPELINE, INCREASED REVENUE AND REFERRALS GALORE.

 

Sound interesting? Contact your Local Engagement Team BDM to learn about local partnership opportunities via chambers of commerce and alliance partners. We can also point you to solution focused content resources on www.mslocalpartner.com and complimentary give-aways and/ or door prizes for your event attendees.

In my next post - Part 2 of the series, I will talk about positioning your message and content to drive attendance.