Make a Fortune With Seminar Marketing
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.