how to sell out your event in 10 minutes
TRANSCRIPT
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JUNE 2016
JULY 27, 2016 10:00AM PST / 1:00PM EST
HOW TO SELL OUT YOUR EVENT IN 10 MINUTES
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Kelvin Newman - Founder of BrightonSEO
@kelvinnewman
http://www.slideshare.net/kelvinnewman
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How it all started Once upon a time, I decided it would be cool to get a group of SEO mates together in a pub to talk shop.
The idea was to share ideas and chat about all the interesting stuff that we can’t really talk about with anyone outside the industry for fear of them falling asleep.
Word got out and more people showed up than we expected. So, next time we booked a larger room… again, more and more people showed up.
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We realised we might be onto something A free industry conference, talking about real issues, with practical advice from people who actually know what they’re talking about. brightonSEO was born.
Since then we have seen the conference continue to grow into the beautiful, if scarily large, thing we have today.
Taking place at Brighton Centre, we now have over 3,500 delegates scrabbling for tickets from all over the UK and further afield.
Of all the Search conferences in the UK & Europe, we reckon it’s biggest and also the most fun (but then we would say that wouldn’t we).
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Branching Out With such a high demand for tickets we decided to branch out.
2012 saw the launch of the Content Marketing Show in London (now sold to the Content Marketing Institute) and in 2013 we launched MeasureFest followed by Biddable World, Completely Email and Affiliate Huddle in 2014.
Most of our conferences are free to attend, with an option of paid training workshops the day before (for those that really want to get their hands dirty).
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What makes out events special
We’re about having fun, about being real, and, most importantly, educating as many people as possible on the ever expanding, fast-paced industry that is Digital Marketing.
If we had to sum our mission up in one sentence we say “Helping Digital Marketers meet, learn and do their job a little better”
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I’m willing to make a prediction…
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More events fail due to poor
marketing rather than poor event
management
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You may recognise some of these reasons
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“People didn’t know about the event”
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“Bookings were a little slower than we expected”
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“We didn’t have a big enough budget”
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“Our competitor is too established”
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These are reasons, they’re excuses
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But they can be
avoided
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We can sell out every event we organise, if
we have a right approach
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So no more excuses
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But I have good news…
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Ultimately we just need to persuade people to
attend.
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Someone has written the perfect book about being
persuasive.
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Six Key Principles of Influence.
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Reciprocity People tend to return a favour.
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Give before you take.
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How do you help them do their job?
(while still doing yours)
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Commitment and Consistency
If people commit, orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honour that commitment.
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Get the small buy in first, maybe a webinar or a
meet-up
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“So you’re coming along again” !
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Social Proof People will do things that they see other people are
doing.
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“We’re recommending this because your
competitor is doing it.”
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“We’re expecting attendees from…”
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Authority People will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are
asked to perform objectionable acts.
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Credentials in your proposal, Credentials on your email, Credentials
everywhere.
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Make the Hippos* your friends.
* Highest paid person’s opinion
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Liking People are easily persuaded by other people that they
like.
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Making them like you is as, if not more, important than
programming great content.!
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With every conversation, email, piece of direct mail, etc
think, how can I build our rapport?
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Scarcity Perceived scarcity will generate demand.
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Frame around opportunity cost.
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Never extend your earlybird or beg people to
register.
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If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their
language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think.
We try to write in the vernacular.
David Ogilvy
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SEO Tools useful to the event industry
They’re mostly free too!
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Google have come up with an acronym to describe this
phenomena
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Zero Moment of Truth
ZMOT
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ZMOT is that moment when you grab your laptop, mobile phone or some other wired device and start learning about a product or service you’re thinking about trying or
buying.
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A busy Mum, looking up head lice treatments on her mobile phone as she waits to pick up
her son at school.
An office manager at their desk, comparing laser printer prices and ink cartridge costs before
heading to the office supply store.
A student in a cafe, scanning user ratings and reviews while looking for a cheap
hotel in Barcelona.
A winter sports fan, pulling out a mobile phone to look at
video reviews of the latest snowboards.
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We can research and understand these moments
using free tools.
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Keyword Planner Tool https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner!
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Which gets more searches?
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Which gets more searches?
5,000,000!
1,500,000!
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Which gets more searches?
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Which gets more searches?
7,480,000! 20,400,000!
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Which gets more searches?
beach wedding dresses
designer wedding dresses
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Which gets more searches?
beach wedding dresses
designer wedding dresses 22,200
74,000
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Google Insights http://www.google.com/trends
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Which month of the year is the most popular to search for Gym
Membership?
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OK, what about a slightly harder one…
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What about the second most popular month for
Gym Membership?
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What about Contact Lenses?
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Why?
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Halloween?
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Answer the Public http://answerthepublic.com
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Buzz Sumo http://buzzsumo.com
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Which got more shares?!
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Which got more shares?!
28k!
27k!
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None of these tools cost a penny
But could teach us a lot
about potential customers
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QUESTIONS?