More Related Content Similar to The Nonprofit Event Success Formula (20) 2. what you‟re going to learn
• planning your nonprofit event
• promoting your nonprofit event to:
– create buzz
– increase registration
– maximize attendance
© 2012
3. increase charitable funds
“I used your Event
Marketing tool to
promote a wine festival
to benefit charity. We
ended up attracting
7,800 attendees and
raising $150,000 for
cancer research.” -Roland
Davis, Event Chairman
© 2012
4. grow your audience
“We are able to keep
members and
communities engaged
and connected with our
Community Chamber
Events.” -Brad Hall,
President & CEO
© 2012
5. save valuable time
“I had been using
spreadsheets to keep
track of who had
accepted and declined
invitations, but it was a
nightmare. Now, I can just
print out automatic RSVP
lists.” - Lisa Smith, Founder
© 2012
7. why are you having an event?
3 top reasons
nonprofits host
goal measure
events:
what do you want to what are the measurable
achieve? results from your event? 1. educate
what is success (ROE)?
2. generate awareness
is there a target possible measures:
audience? 3. get donations
increased mentions on
possible goals social media, web traffic
increased donations
increase awareness for
your cause high satisfaction, increase
in volunteer sign ups
drive donations
solicit volunteers
- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, 2010
© 2012
8. why should they attend?
goal measure main takeaway of
what is in it for the how will you calculate if the event should
attendee? the attendees achieved be reflected in
–the tangible benefit for their goals? your promotional
spending my
activities
time/money.
possible measures:
what motivates for
participation? satisfied comments in
what do they learn? survey and social media
possible goals increased donations and
volunteers
enjoyable time
help a charity
© 2012
9. Chesapeake Wine Festival
goal
sell tickets >50% of
tickets in advance
raise money for cause
get more attendees
than previous year
measure:
85% of tickets sold in advance
raised $150,000
7,800 attendees
© 2012
12. create buzz (5-6 weeks)
email newsletter
event directories
website
calendar
© Constant Contact 2012 12 © 2012
14. use your website to drive awareness
• promote all your upcoming events on your website
just set it and forget it!
− add it once
− automatically updates
− one-click away registration
© 2012
15. display upcoming events
• make it easy to find date and time that works
Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
60%
decline due to
date / time /
location.
-According to 200K RSVP declines
link from:
website
email newsletter
email signature
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
© 2012
16. list your events publicly
• expand your reach with event directories
− event directories
− Events in America
− SocialVents
− local paper
− local event calendars
− co-marketing
© 2012
17. increase registration (3-4 weeks)
registration form
social media posts
event homepage
paper mail invites
email invites
social sharing
Facebook app
© Constant Contact 2012 17 © 2012
18. event homepage
• provide them all the information they need
• one-click registration
• easier than updating
your event website
• link from:
− website
− social media
− email
© 2012
19. make the most of your invitation
• make it easy to RSVP right from the print mailing
• offline
– provide a phone number
• online
– QR codes
− http://qrcode.kaywa.com
– Bit.ly link
− http://bitly.com
© 2012
21. does this invite work?
• no easy way to RSVP
• very little branding
• no map
• no way to share event
invitation
© 2012
22. event invitations Subject Line: Save 10%, register before 9/15
• get noticed in the inbox
subject lines
− emails with a date in the subject
line generate a 24-29% higher
open rate - Worldata Email Usage Study Q4 2010
give them the info they need
− event info, including a map
make it easy to respond
− clear call to action with RSVP
© 2012
24. look professional with branding
• match the look and feel of your organization
logo
colors
fonts
images
© 2012
25. event invitations Subject Line: Past attendees get an exclusive invite!
• don‟t batch and blast
– segmentation delivers a 7x
increase in open rates and a
14x increase in click-through
rates - Understanding ISP-Level Email Filtering
– „exclusive‟ in the subject line
generates an additional
24% open rate - Worldata Email Usage
Study Q4 2010
© 2012
26. send to non-responders
• contact people who haven‟t RSVP‟d
invite
invite to non-responders − only sent to those invitees that
have not RSVP‟d yet
− don‟t just resend the event
invitation
− provide an incentive to attend
− switch up your subject line
− try a different sending time
© 2012
27. engaging event invites
• motivate registrations with video
– video increases click-through
rates by 300% - Forrester Research
– 42% create and post event
marketing videos to YouTube
-Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, 2011
try videos featuring:
− guest speakers
− activities
− success stories
© 2012
28. sending for maximum impact
• dodge traffic by avoiding
peak sending times
– the highest spike was at 6AM
- The Science of Social Timing, Hubspot 2011
– online giving happens
largely between 9am-5pm schedule your emails:
5-6 weeks: send announcement
on weekdays -The Online Giving Study
3 weeks: send reminder
2 days: send “don‟t miss” email
© 2012
29. expanding your invite‟s reach
• reach your widest audience with Simple Share
– customize the message for each site
– include an image
– easily share to Facebook,
Twitter, and LinkedIn
© 2012
30. collect registrations easily
keep it short
• only ask necessary questions
charge a fee
• implies value
• most common reason people don‟t
attend is date/time, not fee
pay in advance
• increases likelihood of attendance
• it rained during Chesapeake Wine
Festival, but 85% of ticket sales
occurred ahead of time. Still had
7,800 attendees
© 2012
31. generate donations
• ask people who RSVP “no” to donate!
− take advantage of people who want
to help, but can‟t attend
− assign a suggested amount or allow
the donor to put in their own
donation amount.
− attendees aren‟t the only ones who
can donate to your cause
© 2012
33. promote your event on Facebook
• engage your fans with compelling posts
ask your Facebook fans to “Like”
– gets a 216% higher
interaction rate for pages - A
Scientific Approach to Facebook Marketing, Momentus Media 2011
ask them to comment too
– gets a 27% higher
interaction rate - A Scientific Approach to
Facebook Marketing, Momentus Media 2011
© 2012
36. promote your event with social media
• promote your event where your audience is!
– 77% are using social
media to promote events
and 74% think it's
effective - Constant Contact Event Marketing
Survey, October 2011
– 66% use Twitter and
37% create a #hashtag
- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, October 2011
© 2012
37. maximize attendance (0-2 weeks)
email reminders
tickets/confirmation
event homepage
social media
engagement
© Constant Contact 2012 37 © 2012
38. increase attendance with reminders
• don‟t just resend the invite
– include a link to a pre-event
survey or poll
– show event count down
– provide guest speaker info
– make it easy to share
© 2012
39. remind them to print their tickets
• ticket serves as a
tangible reminder
• makes the check-
in process a snap!
© 2012
40. update your event homepage
• get registrants excited about the event!
– use to provide
additional info about
your event
– useful for when you
are promoting on
Twitter and other
places without a lot
of real estate
© 2012
41. small organization use social media
70%
4 days prior to event (61%)
60%
50%
40% to get repeat attendees (39%)
to get more attendees (35%)
30% - Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, October 2011
© 2012
42. create buzz for your next event
email reminders
tickets/confirmation
event homepage
social media
engagement
social media
survey
homepage
© Constant Contact 2012 42 © 2012
43. continue the relationship
update your event homepage
• show pictures from event
• include any event collateral
• send a follow-up email
collect feedback with a survey
• ask:
– what did they like best?
– what could be improved?
– ask questions to measure your goal
– pull responses for future promotions
© 2012
44. collect feedback with a survey
what did they like best?
did you meet your goal?
pull responses for future
promotions
what could be improved?
© 2012
45. continue the relationship
• communication doesn‟t stop once the event is over
– stay top of mind
– keep them engaged with social
media
– thank them for attending
– post pictures from the event
– ask for feedback
– promote the next event
© 2012
46. takeaways
email newsletter, website, calendar, event directories
invites, registration form, social sharing & posts, Facebook app
reminders, tickets, update homepage, social media posts
update homepage, survey, follow-up email, social media posts
© 2012
47. take the next step
Sign up for a trial Check out our blog Call a coach!
Sign up for a free Check out our blog We’re happy to help!
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easy and free! event marketing efforts. answered
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constantcontact.com/blog
© 2012
