|
Make a Fortune with Seminar Marketing
by: Larry Klein
Seminar marketing is under-utilized by most business and professionals. Simply,
seminar marketing is the process of getting a crowd in a room to hear a
presentation of interest. The prevalent paradigm for sales in the U.S. is
individual calls from a sales person to a buyer. With seminar marketing,
the seller can talk to 50, 100 or even 500 buyers at a time.
Logistics of seminar marketing
Generally, business people will not travel more than 60 minutes to attend
a seminar and the public not more than 20 minutes. So the list you rent for
your seminar should cover only the relevant radius. Know the habits of your
market because if the seminar is not at a convenient time, your attendance
will be poor. For example, business owners will find a breakfast or lunch
meeting close to their office convenient. Seniors will want to attend during
the day will people working won't have time until after work.
Every library has a copy of the SRDS direct mail list source. Use it to find
any list you desire. You can typically rent names for under10 cents each
unless the list is very specialized. The best location is a restaurant and
this does not mean you have to feed people a meal. However, a meal will
significantly boost attendance. Many restaurants will require coffee as minimum
service. The next best location is a hotel.
Assuming you're using mail to invite attendees, you want to mail close to
the event (e,g, one week) if you're inviting the public, and longer is you're
inviting business people. Experimenting will reveal the optimal time for
your particular audience. Because you don't want your invitation to arrive
too far in advance, timing is critical. As such, when marketing a seminar,
you need to use first class mail because bulk mail cannot be reliably timed.
Seminar Marketing Economics
Let's assume you use direct mail, the best method for marketing a seminar.
You send 3,000 pieces and get a 1% response.
Mail preparation will run $.70 cents each including first class postage =
$2,100
If you serve a meal, that's 30 attendees x $18 = $540
For under $3,000, you can have a room full of prime prospects at your business
seminar. Financial advisors use seminar marketing as a routine method of
gaining clients. Of the 30 buying units that attend the seminar, a good
presentation and closing script will get you face to face appointments with
50% of attendees= 15 appointments. The average financial advisor will do
business with 10 of the 15 and earn $3,000 per person or $30,000. So a $3,000
investment returns $30,000 of revenue, typically within 60 days.
The same or even greater economics can be achieved by accountants, attorneys
or any professional or business owner. A typical client may be worth far
more than $3,000 to you.
Tips for Seminar Marketing Success
Just like a headline is the most important part of an ad, your seminar title
is the most important part of your invitation. You cannot use a title that
addresses your agenda or interest “The new tax laws for 2006” but
rather, addresses the prospect's agenda “Four Ways to Slash Your Tax
Bill Using the New 2006 Tax rules.” Below the title, list several bullet
points of items you will discuss. These bullet points should be so compelling,
you could have used them as titles.
Include a great biography and the best picture you can have produced. Make
people want to come not only because of the information they will get, but
also to hear a local “star.” Most importantly, realize that the
seminar is not just a way to convey information, your ultimate goal is to
get people to like you. If they like you, they will desire to meet with you
individually. The easiest formula for having people like you is to entertain
them: tell jokes, do magic tricks, tell interesting stories, recite poems,
even turn your presentation into a game show. This may sound flip, but the
entertainment component is critical to your seminar marketing success.
The most important part of marketing your seminar is the last two minutes
when you close for appointments. You must have a script that gives your attendees
an incentive to meet (some payoff) and also removes their fear (of being
sold). Once polished, you can expect at least 50% of the attendee to set
appointments with you. Simply have them fill out an appointment card that
you provide as part of your image packet that attendees receive as they enter
the meeting.
More
Articles
|
Web
Development
