It's SHOWTIME, Seriously! Part II

I'd like to continue on giving you insight on BrightBlue Marketing's Event Planning Web Seminar series with the Oracle Academy and the Oracle Accelerate Office to help their partners sell in the midsize space. The second of the three-part series is called "Will They Come? Driving Attendance." The title of the entire series, "Showtime Seriously," reminds everyone that you must take an event seriously, but at the same time you want to entertain, educate and be memorable. A few tips from "Will They Come?" are:

* The first step in driving attendance is your database. It's the foundation for all marketing activities, especially events
* Next, start building a BUZZ! Drop hints in your outreach campaigns, newsletters, tell clients that your "marketing department" is up to something big, but you are not sure what it is. Come up with teaser headlines that lead up to the event that you include in Twitter, e-mail news bulletins, and on your website
* But make sure what you are doing is worthy of the buzz! Going back to seminar One, make sure the event addresses the big "So What?"!
* There is both Art and Science that goes into crafting an invitation. Do a Quality Assurance Test. Look at your invitation and ask: Who, What, Where, Why, When and How? Make sure none of that information is left off. Then apply art and creativity with fun shapes, images, paper and words
* "Piggybacking" is what I refer to as building on an existing event. If you don't have the budget or the time to create your own event, hop onto an existing event
* Think out of the fishbowl when driving attendance by reaching out to your customers in unique ways. Maybe have a contest with employees to see who can drive the most prospects. Give a prize to the attendees if they bring a large quantity of guests or coworkers with them. Include a link to share with a friend in e-mail invitations
* Post the event on online technology groups. Work your memberships: Ask the head of an industry association of which you're a member to make an announcement about your event. Pick a unique venue that will be a draw. Ask others to hand out your event flyers to their contacts
* Create a Legacy - Find ways to make your event live on and on and on. Post videos of the event on You Tube. Take your web seminar and turn it into a series. Or how about write about it in your blog? Start a discussion around the featured event topic!

In order to be successful, you must reach out with event reminders on a regular basis leading up to the event. And don't forget to end with a Call to Action: Sign up for the event! BrightBlue's call to action - FOR YOU, RIGHT NOW! - is to e-mail us if you are interested in watching the web seminar series and we will gladly send you an invitation: info@brightbluemarketing.com BrightBlue Marketing will be rebroadcasting the event web seminars next month. For Oracle partners, the web seminar series is posted on the OraclePartnerNetwork. These web seminars expand on the above providing you with examples and fun stories!

Stay tuned for next week's tips: The Details that Make an Event Successful