Tips for Effective Audience Building

Does Consistency = Strong Participation? Let’s discuss the views of consistency as it relates to attendance. A common thought about hosting events, is that they all events start out small, and then as you go they build up attendance. This theory can be confusing, especially when key connections are not made. Truth: Consistency does not equal strong participation. Nor does it equate to success. Consistently hosting events just means that you have held a lot of events. Whether they are successful or not. To receive strong participation and attendance, you don’t need to host regular events; you need to host quality events. I have met plenty of event planners who have been hosting for more than 10 years, and although they might have 7 or 8 regular loyal attendee’s, they never really get beyond that point. Like wise, I have met a few event planners who have only hosted a few events, and they are some of the most successful. Not because they hold their events consistently, but because the take the time necessary to hold a successful event every time, instead of just hoping for once in a while. The Role of Experience in Event Planning When you are starting out, you are not going to have much hands on experience, and you aren't really able to bargain your way into a good deal until you make a few mistakes first. This is where consistency pays off. Regularly hosting events at a safe and small location can help you get over your jitters, while branching out into many different locations and venue types can help you learn to deal with the many different types of venues and their staff. Hot Tip #96: Most venue owners contain the partial or full attributes of one of these astrological star signs: Taurus, Aquarius, Capricorn or Leo. You are likely to meet venue owners who are strong willed, intelligent, not easily swayed, patient, head strong and territorial. It appears to be some sort of genetic make up in business owners who are successful at operating venues. These characteristics can vary in amount of characteristics, but you will hardly find this to be wrong. Make your own observations and see what similarities you can find in the venue owners you connect with. Hot Tip #10: “Bookers” are your best connection. There are many reasons for this, first being that they usually have a better attitude than the venue owner (although this isn’t always true). Second being that they most likely know more about the schedule then anyone else at the establishment does. The booker is in charge of scheduling events in a venue. They call and contact event hosts and planners, as well as handling any incoming calls. Make them your best friend, and you are likely to get a good review from the owner and a strong contact with the venue in general. Hot Tip #16: Find good foot traffic. This is knowledge that is usually learned after a few years of exploring varies venues and trying many new tactics. 80% of your attendance is not usually going to be your guest list; it is going to be the available foot traffic outside your venue. Unless you already happen to have a pocket full of people willing to come to your event. If not, then you will need to focus on finding a venue with good foot traffic, or focus on creating strong foot traffic. What does build an audience? Reputation and promotion are going to be your strongest tools to building a strong audience that is looking for the type of event you are offering. Word of Mouth (WOM), is another great tool, and since the advent of the internet, it has only become a stronger strategy than ever. Audience Builder #101: Presence Your presence is ultimately going to draw the most attention to your events. The larger your presence in an area, the more times other business and potential clients hear your name or your business name. Presence can be built by working to gain a strong reputation for hosting fun, entertaining and educational events. Pictures are another big presence builder. By taking pictures of every little thing you do, you have a way of making sure people know you are around, and have been around. Video’s work well too, and you can post them just as easily as photo’s these days. Just make sure to get quality sound and picture, otherwise they really don’t help much. Besides online visual media, you can also develop a strong presence by working with local business owners to allow you to advertise inside their stores; so that you’re promotional tools don’t get tossed away in the morning trash when the clean up man clears away the telephone poles. Audience Builder #204: Evidence Using media to help build your presence is great, but what you are really after is “Evidence”. Proof that you have done all the great things you say you have, and proof that you have the ability to get people’s attention and get them to come out to your events. Audience Builder #302: Value No body wants to waste their money, and in the events game, everyone is guilty until proven innocent. Meaning that you have no value until you create value. You need to stay competitive, get creative and never stop finding new ways to add value to your events. If participants will learn something, CAPITALIZE on that. If they will meet lots of important people, CAP that! If they are going to learn to live happier mores stress free lives, than CAP that and tell the world! The more you have, the better your reputation will become and the faster you will develop a strong presence. Take the time to break down the value you are offering to the world, and then show it off! Audience Builder #411: Networking Networking is the art of making connections that can help you further your business. Sometimes it’s just one person who can contact another, and at other times it’s a direct contact with a person who can positively and directly impact your events. This is part of what makes Networking so important. Social networking, business networking, social marketing, etc… Work on building your skills as a networker in the main stream networks, and you are likely to see the Value being added faster than you imagined which will in turn build your audience! Audience Builder #522: Appeal If you’re events aren’t appealing, then who will want to go to them? If they don’t look like fun, or they don’t appear to have any value, then it is not likely that people will want to come to them. Remember that there are three levels of Appeal in event planning: -Venue Appeal -Entertainment Appeal -Popularity Appeal You have to have all of these to truly build a strong audience quickly. No body wants to go to a venue that is really far away from them, they don’t want to be board stiff (even if the event is educational), and they don’t want to be the only people attending your event! Audience Builder #609: Demographic Targeting Seasoned event planners understand the need for direct marketing, which requires a basic knowledge of demographic study and the ability to target the most likely potential attendee’s. The more you grow your demographic targeting skills, the faster you will grow your audience, and the stronger your rate of return clients will become. Audience Builder #704: Selective Promotion It is important to develop a strong promotional campaign that reaches out to those who have interest in your events, are located near your events or those who have a need for your event. By getting selective in your process to promote your events, you eliminate half of the guessing. Selective promotion does take some time and strong organizational skills to really get the hang of, but just like everything else, practice makes perfect! Audience Builder #868: Enthusiasm The more excited you get about your events, the more excited others will get. This is because enthusiasm and cheerful attitudes are contagious. It starts with you being excited and being so exited that you just burst with every opportunity to tell more people about the event you are hosting. Tell the store clerk, or the gas station attendant. Tell your librarian or tell the next person you chat with online. Tell everyone! Everywhere! As often as you can! And be Enthusiastic! 2009-10-16T01:15:47Z

2009-10-16T18:24:26Z

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tips-for-effective-audience-building

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Does Consistency = Strong Participation? What really creates strong attendance at events? What are some ways you can begin to build up your attendance and participation at your events? Check out this article for cool tricks, tips and info to get you going!

Tips for Effective Audience Building

2009-10-16T18:24:26Z