A digital marketing plan is crucial for any event to come off without a hitch. As any event manager and marketing team who plans events year after year knows, capturing contacts or leads and converting them is only one objective that must be met when mapping out your digital marketing plan.
Strategize with the team and finalize what your end goal is. From there, you can build a successful digital forecast that will make any event shine from the pack.
For any newbies out there new to the digital space, jumping into digital marketing can seem overwhelming at first, so start with the basics and work your way up. Digital marketing is marketing of a product or service using a digital tool to reach consumers.
As an event planner, your key objective is to drive your brand through various digital channels to reach an extensive target audience, and help them connect with and build a relationship with your brand.
That’s What They Said
Who is the target audience attending the event? Once that question is answered, you have the keys to the kingdom. Begin building your content strategy. This is not a simple one-page email that goes out to 500 of last year’s attendees begging for them to return – it’s an actual plan. Include your PR team, social media manager, content writers and email marketing campaign mangers – it’s takes an army to fight a battle, and content is a battle in and of itself.
Create editorial calendars, set up social hashtags and schedule pre, during and post show social interactions, as well as email timeframes. Work as a team to keep the theme of the content for the event consistent and on point.
Remember your target audience and how they would prefer to be treated – do not over-communicate, and do not underestimate the way you sell an event ☺
The Inbound Approach
Plan for ways to earn your attendee’s interest, rather than buying it. In a velocity inbound marketing approach; there are several key factors that come into play when designing your digital plan. Identify your attendee’s needs, wants and desires for the specific event, and then nurture those needs through inbound marketing.
A few best practices are through word of mouth, email campaigns, advertising, content syndication, social media and PR, and search engine marketing. Once you find the best ways to nurture attendees through all of these key areas, and keep in mind your content strategy comes into play here – your digital plan will be on the move!
Don’t Waste Your Efforts
Measure and track – two key words to live by for any marketer. All of your online efforts will go to waste if you do not set up reporting across all areas before you hit the green light on your digital marketing plan. Be sure your team is prepped and well equipped to track in the areas you want to measure on. For emails, use an automation tool to report on email open rates, bounce rates and see who unsubscribes from your mailing list.
These are important stats your team should meet on weekly as you work to plan the event. You need to figure out what worked and what did not for any event, and then leverage those numbers for your next event.
Events never end when it’s over – all events are on repeat and will require your team to consistently be on the clock working their magic to make sure you’re pulling the levers and tracking what’s really working in order for it to continue to be a success year after year.
In Conclusion
Planning a digital marketing plan is one of the most important steps in designing a successful, fun and creative experience for any event attendee. By constantly measuring your event results, your team can determine more about your target audience, and how to leverage communication efforts for upcoming events.
Stay in the know, and check out new tools that are being talked about – implement what is right for your team and the strategy that fits your event and digital plan. Good luck planning!
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The post Unlocking the Key to a Successful Digital Marketing Event Plan by Holly Krenek appeared first on http://www.EventManagerBlog.com