7 Insider Tips for Successful Conference Marketing

May 21, 2024 Praggya Joshi

A conference, often referred to as a "meeting of minds," is an invaluable tool for business development. If it’s well organized, your brand awareness and visibility within your industry increase significantly. This is why companies go to great lengths to ensure their conferences are successful. In the US alone, over 1.5 million meetings take place annually, with nearly 85% of business owners considering them crucial for organizational success. 

So, how can you make sure your conference stands out and achieves goals? The key is effective conference marketing. Implementing creative marketing strategies tailored to your target audience is essential for increasing attendance and making your event a success. 

Let’s explore innovative methods for successfully marketing your conferences.

How to Market a Conference – Key Strategies

1. Understand Your Audience Segments
To ensure your conference attracts the right attendees, start by identifying the key segments of your target audience. Focus on those most likely to attend and benefit from your event. For a B2B company, this means pinpointing your ideal customer profile to analyze which audiences would be most interested.  

Leverage firmographic data—details about company size, industry, and revenue—and technographic data, which reveals the technology or services your leads use and how they use it. Additionally, review your website and social media traffic to identify whom to target. Researching your competitors' audiences can also provide valuable insights into potential attendees you might be missing.

2. Create Personalized Conference Marketing Content
Once you understand your audience segments, their preferences, and behaviors, create personalized content to engage them effectively. Tailored messaging will boost brand awareness, drive engagement, and increase conference attendance. Your content strategy for conference marketing should include: 

• Tailored Emails: Send customized emails to different audience segments. 
• Interactive Social Media Quizzes: Use quizzes to engage and educate your audience. 
• Drip Content: Release content gradually to keep new customers informed and interested. 

Additionally, publish press releases and blogs about the event to build anticipation. Share recorded content from previous conferences to give new attendees a taste of what to expect. For existing customers, include conference details in your regular emails and newsletters.  

To streamline this process, you can use a conference management solution. It helps you manage email campaigns and target specific audience segments. The platform can also send invitations and reminders to your targeted attendees, ensuring no one misses out.

3. Promote Your Conference on Social Media
Harnessing the power of social media is one of the most effective ways to market your conference. Here are some strategies to maximize your reach: 

• Create Dedicated Hashtags: Generate awareness and encourage engagement with event-specific hashtags. 
• Share Teaser Posts: Announce the date, location, and key speakers to build anticipation. 
• Upload Compelling Videos: Highlight speakers, topics, and panelists through engaging video content. 
• Leverage Sponsors and Speakers: Provide promo images and blurbs to your sponsors and speakers and encourage them to share these on their social media channels. 
• Use Instagram Stories: Offer sneak peeks into conference preparations and behind-the-scenes activities. 
• Share Exclusive Content: Release research findings, case studies, or previews of innovative products that will be featured at the conference. 
• Host Live Q&A Sessions: Engage your audience with live Q&A sessions featuring your conference speakers on your social media channels. 

4. Highlight Networking Opportunities
One of the main draws of attending a conference is the chance to learn, meet like-minded individuals, and build professional relationships. Highlighting these networking opportunities can significantly boost attendance. Here are some tips: 

• Create Event Pages: Set up dedicated event pages on LinkedIn and Facebook. This fosters interaction even before the event. Utilize LinkedIn’s Invite feature to send up to 1,000 invites per week. 
• Post Detailed Schedules: Share comprehensive conference schedules, included in your marketing content, outlining sessions, post-session discussions, and activities. This helps potential attendees see the value in terms of networking and learning opportunities. 
• Promote Volunteering Opportunities: Encourage engagement by offering volunteering roles at your conference. Share these opportunities through emails and social media, highlighting how volunteering can facilitate natural interactions and connections.

5. Build a Conference Website for Maximum Attendance
An online presence is crucial for conferences, just as it is for any event. Gone are the days when conference marketing relied solely on print journals and noticeboards. Today, a dedicated website is a decisive way to market a conference. 

Use an event website builder to design a website that highlights your key messaging and objectives. Ensure it clearly communicates the value attendees will gain. The website should serve as a hub for real-time updates, including schedule, venue details or changes if any, key speakers, and sessions. 

A fully branded website with persuasive copy and interactive elements can build anticipation and excitement. Potential attendees will be eager to join and experience everything your conference promises. Also, include multiple registration options, past reviews, and testimonials from previous conferences to enhance experience.

6. Find and Onboard Influencers
Engage influencers to talk about your conference and generate interest. Research thought leaders in your domain through web searches or LinkedIn. Use social listening tools to identify top public profiles in your industry. Influencers often use hashtags to connect with their audience, so look for trending hashtags on Twitter and Instagram to find influential personalities with large followings. 

Once you partner with influencers, have them create buzz about your conference on their social media channels, blogs, and podcasts. Consider collaborating with them on a pre-conference webinar to further boost interest.

7. Offer Incentives to Boost Attendance
Offering incentives can significantly enhance your conference marketing efforts by creating a sense of urgency and adding value. Here are some effective incentive ideas: 

• Early-Bird Discounts: Encourage early registration with discounted rates. 
• Group Discounts: Offer special rates for groups to attract more attendees. 
• VIP Packages: Provide exclusive perks and experiences for VIP attendees. 
• Referral Programs: Implement programs with attractive rewards such as discounts or free tickets for those who refer others. 

By integrating these strategies, you can maximize attendance and ensure your conference is a success.

Conclusion
You’ve put a lot of effort into organizing an insightful conference, and you want to see that hard work pay off, right? Without effective marketing and promotion, achieving your KPIs can be next to impossible. The conference marketing ideas and tips mentioned above will not only help you increase attendance but also enable you to acquire valuable leads and gain a deeper understanding of your target audience. Align these strategies with your conference objectives and captivate your audience like never before.  

Planning your next conference? Explore Eventcombo’s all-in-one platform to streamline everything, from registration and pre-event promotion to onsite engagement and post-event analysis. https://bit.ly/3R9bkuP