Question

Topic: Strategy

Event Marketing:free Financial Training In Toronto

Posted by Anonymous on 11/5/2010 at 3:08 PM ET 250 Points
Hi all,

Would like to get some insight or any type of input as to how to successfully promote an event like this. Just to give you all some background info:

Location: Toronto
Target: HR Professionals and Talent Managers
Industry: Financial services
Event: Training on Fixed Income (Corporate bonds & funding) - that is not the title though
Event capacity: 16 (small venue)
Date: Monday, Mid November

So far methods used are telemarketing and direct email marketing. We had a list of around 500 emails, had around 30 warm leads in there from consultants who have talked to people. Only 6 registered so far. All our communications lead users to one registration link where they manually enter a few lines of information to register. Most recipients are from medium to large financial institutions - CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, HSBC, Bank of Canada etc. Only want to target large banks as we do high-end tailored training, and we cost a lot.

I've sent a formatted text email, so there is like bolding, table layouts , an image, an attachment, etc. Out of the 500+ emails we have around 80 bouncebacks. Around 120 opens. The rest could just be bad leads.

The reason we target HR ppl is because they develop the training programs for their finance professionals, so we want to give them a sort of taster so that we get a chance to become their trainers. Our company is really big in the UK but not really in Canada.

My contingency plan is to send custom sized post cards to help increase awareness to those who may have not received the email. What do you guys think? Any feedback would help me a lot. Thanks in advance!

Cheers.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/5/2010 at 4:05 PM Accepted
    I think you need to start by articulating the BENEFIT your target audience will get if/when they attend your event. You've told us about the features and the communication vehicles, but not WHY someone in your target audience might want to attend the event.

    Simply inviting them to the event isn't likely to get them very interested. Even telling them what subject you're going to discuss isn't likely to get them too excited.

    You need to tell them what's in it for them to attend. Will they all go home with a free iPad? Will you give everyone there a $100 bill? Will everyone who attends get promoted within 3 months because you teach them some great secret of success? WHY should they attend?

    P.S. "Free" isn't a benefit. It's a price ... the amount YOU think it's worth.
  • Posted on 11/5/2010 at 4:40 PM Accepted
    I'm a CPA and I am bombarded with information opportunities. Two things I look for: 1) is the info relevant and helpful in a broad sense versus merely being a sales pitch? 2) Can I get continuing education credit for the time spent?

    Both of these relate to what mgoodman posted above. Do your potential attendees have professional licensing requirements? It's too late for this meeting but perhaps you can look into obtaining the ability to award continuing ed hours for attendees.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/6/2010 at 8:16 AM Accepted
    If you got 120 opens and few sign ups, sending out postcards won't help. Why not follow up with some of the people you've already contacted and find out why they are or are not interested in what you're offering. You'll have the answer to what you should do next - better copy? better offer? better location?
  • Posted on 11/7/2010 at 7:21 PM Moderator
    I'll bet that a sharp market research professional could find out what your problem is in less than a week. Want a recommendation? Let me know.
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