the nonprofit event management success formula

© Constant Contact 2012 1

#NPSuccess

Today We’ll Be Discussing

Planning your nonprofit event

Promoting your nonprofit event to

Create buzz

Increase registration

Maximize attendance

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#NPSuccess

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#NPSuccess

#NPSuccess

Increase Charitable Funds…

by Running Affordable Events


Customer:

Chesapeake Virginia Wine Festival

Success Looks Like… Encouraging advanced ticket sales, so that more

fundraising dollars could go to fighting cancer.

Her Success Formula:

Streamlining the work involved in planning and managing

a wine tasting by using affordable, online registration

tools.

What’s Working:

“I used your Event Marketing tool to promote a wine festival to

benefit charity. We ended up attracting 7,800 attendees

and raising $150,000 for cancer research.”

Grow Your Audience…

by keeping them engaged.


Customer:

The Southeast Kentucky Chamber of

Commerce

Success Looks Like… Increasing the chamber’s membership

from 375 to 500 in less than a year, but

keeping membership engaged and

informed.

His Success Formula: Using online surveys to gather

feedback about important local

legislation, social media to build a

community. keep members involved

with upcoming events.

What’s Working:

“We are able to keep members and communities

engaged and connected with our

Community Chamber Events.”

Keeping Playdates Official, Professional… and Fun


Customer: Chase’s House, New York City

Success Looks Like… Seeing attendance for playdates grow by 300% in one

year and still managing it all as a team of one.

Her Success Formula: Using event and email marketing to keep track of

families coming to each event.

What’s Working:

“I had been using spreadsheets to keep track of who had accepted

and declined invitations, but it was a nightmare. Now, I can just

print out automatic RSVP lists.”

#NPSuccess

The 3 Top Reasons

Nonprofits Host

Events:

- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, 2010

Why are You Having an Event?


What are the

measurable results

from your event?

Measure

Possible Measures:

Increased mentions on social

media, web traffic

Increased donations

High satisfaction, increase in

volunteer sign ups

Goal

Possible Goals

Increase awareness for your

cause

Drive donations

Solicit volunteers

What do you want to

achieve?

What is success

(ROE)?

Is there a target

audience?

1. Educate

2. Generate

__awareness

3. Get donations

Why Should They Attend?


Measure

Possible Measures:

Goal

Possible Goals

How will you calculate

if the attendees

achieved their goals?

Satisfied comments in

survey and social media

Increased donations and

volunteers

Enjoyable time

Help a charity

What is in it for the

attendee?

– The tangible benefit for

spending my time/money.

What motivates for

participation?

What do they learn?

Main takeaway of

the event should

be reflected in

your promotional

activities

Goal

Sell tickets >50% of

tickets in advance

Raise money for cause

Get more attendees

than previous year

Chesapeake Virginia Wine Festival


Measure:

85% of tickets sold in advance

Raised $150,000

7,800 attendees

#NPSuccess

Communication Schedule


Create Buzz (5-6 Weeks Ahead)


Email Newsletter

Website

Calendar

Event Directories

Leverage Your Email Newsletter


Take advantage of the communications you already send!

Use Your Website to Drive Awareness

Just set it and forget it!

Add it once

Automatically updates

One-click registration


Promote all your upcoming events on your website

Display Upcoming Events

60% -According to research on 200K RSVP declines


Make it easy to find date and time that works for them

Link from:

Your website

Email Newsletter

Email signature

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce

Decline due to

Date / Time /

Location.

List Your Events Publicly

Event directories

Events in America

SocialVents

Local paper

Local event calendars

Co-marketing


Expand Your Reach With Event Directories

Increase Registration (3-4 Weeks)


Event Homepage

Paper Mail Invites

Email Invites

Social Sharing

Facebook App

Registration Form

Social Media Posts

Event Homepage

One-click registration

Easier than updating

your event website for

each event

Link from:

− Website

− Social media

− Email


Provide them all the information they need

Make the Most of Your Invitation

Offline

Provide a phone number

Online

QR codes − http://qrcode.kaywa.com

Bit.ly link − http://bitly.com


Make it easy to RSVP right from the print mailing

“50% of people who receive direct

mail invitations prefer responding

through URLs.”

- Direct Marketing Association

Does this Invite Work?

No easy way to RSVP

Very little branding

No map

No way to share event invitation


Subject Line: Save 10%, register before 9/15

Event Invitations


Get noticed in the inbox!

Subject Lines:

“Emails with a date in the subject line

will generate a 24-29% higher

open rate.”

- Worldata Email Usage Study Q4 2010

Give them the info they need

Event info, including a map

Make it easy to respond

Clear call to action with RSVP

Look Professional with Branding


After Before

Look Professional with Branding

Make sure to insert your:

Logo

Font

Colors

Images


Match the look and feel of your organization

Event Invitations

Chesapeake sent invitation to past

attendees first


Don’t blast your invite out to everyone at once

Subject Line: Past attendees get an

exclusive invite!

“Exclusive in the subject line generates

an additional 24% open rate.

- Worldata Email Usage Study Q4 2010

“Segmentation delivers a 7x increase

in open rates and a 14x increase

in click-through rates.”

- Understanding ISP-Level Email Filtering

Send to Non-Responders

Only sent to those invitees that

have not RSVP’d yet

Don’t just resend the event

invitation

− Provide an incentive to attend

− Switch up your subject line

− Try a different sending time


Contact people who haven’t RSVPed

Invite

Invite to Non-Responders

Event Invitations


Motivate registrations with video

“42% of small organizations created and

posted event marketing videos to YouTube.”

-Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey

October 2011

Take those videos and use them

in your event invitation!

Video increases click-through rates by 300%.”

- Forrester Research

Try videos featuring:

Guest speakers

Activities

Success stories

Sending Your Event Invitation


“The highest spike was at 6AM.”

- The Science of Social Timing, Hubspot 2011

Schedule your emails:

5-6 weeks: Send announcement

3 weeks: Send reminder

2 days: Send “Don’t miss” email

“Online giving happens largely

between 9-5 on weekdays.”

-The Online Giving Study

Network for Good and TrueSense Marketing

Send your invite when people want it

Dodge traffic in the inbox

by avoiding peak sending

times

Sharing Your Event Invitation

Customize the message

for each site

Include an image

Easily share to all your

Facebook, Twitter,

and LinkedIn profiles


“51% of small organizations use

their social networks 4 weeks before

their event.”- Constant Contact Event

Marketing Survey, October 2011

Reach the widest audience with Simple Share

Registration Form

Keep it short

Only ask necessary questions


Charge a fee

Implies value

Most common reason people

don’t attend is date/time, not

fee

Pay in advance

Increases likelihood of

attendance

It rained during Chesapeake

Wine Festival, but 85% of ticket

sales occurred ahead of time. Still

had 7,800 attendees

Registration Form

Ask people who RSVP “No”

to donate!

Take advantage of people who want to help,

but can’t attend!

Assign a suggested amount or allow the

donor to put in their own donation amount.

Attendees aren’t the only ones who can

donate to your cause


Registrants Can Share on Social Media Registrants can spread the word about the event

by sharing on Facebook or Twitter


Promote Your Event on Facebook

Ask your Facebook fans to

“Like” your post


Engage your fans with compelling posts

“Gets a 216% higher interaction rate for pages.”

- A Scientific Approach to Facebook Marketing,

Momentus Media 2011

“Gets a 27% higher interaction

rate.”

- A Scientific Approach to Facebook Marketing,

Momentus Media 2011

Ask them to comment too!

Promote Your Event on Facebook


Use the Facebook App to promote 24/7

“89% of small organizations use

Facebook to market their events.”

- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey,

October 2011

Promote Your Event with Social Media


Promote your event where your audience is!

“77% are using social media

to promote events and 74% think it's effective.”


October 2011

“66% use Twitter and 37%

create a #hashtag for the event.”


October 2011

Maximize Attendance (0-2 Weeks Ahead)


Social media

engagement

Event

homepage

Tickets/Confirmation

Email reminders

Increase Attendance with Reminders

Include a link to a pre-event

survey or poll, then show

results

Show event count down

Provide guest speaker info

Make it easy to share with

“Forward to friend” link and

Social Share button


Don’t just resend the event invite!

Remind Them to Print their Tickets

Ticket serves as a

tangible reminder

Makes the check-in

process a snap!


Update Your Event Homepage

Use to provide

additional info about

your event

Useful for when you

are promoting on

Twitter and other

places without a lot of

real estate


Get registrants excited about the event!

Social Media Engagement

39% of small organizations

use social media to get

repeat attendees


“35% use social media to get more

attendees.”


October 2011

“61% use their social networks in the

days prior to the event.”


October 2011

Don’t just link to the registration page!

Use Follow-Up to Create Buzz for Your Next Event


Social media

engagement

Event homepage

Tickets/Confirmation

Email reminders

Homepage

Survey

Social media

Make People Want to Come Back

Update your Event Homepage

Show pictures from event

Include any event collateral


Send a follow-up email

Collect feedback with a survey

Ask:

− What did they like best?

− What could be improved?

− Ask questions to measure your goal

− Pull responses for future promotions

Make People Want to Come Back

Stay top of mind

Keep them engaged with

social media

Thank them for attending

Post pictures from the

event

Ask for feedback

Promote the next event


Communication doesn’t stop

once the event is over

Reminders, Tickets, Update Homepage, Social Media Posts

Update Homepage, Survey, Follow Up Email, Social Media Posts

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Takeaways

Email Newsletter, Website, Calendar, Event Directories

Invites, Registration Form, Social Sharing & Posts, Facebook App

#NPSuccess


Take the Next Step

Check out our blog Learn more about how event marketing can help small business and nonprofits optimize event marketing efforts.

blogs.constantcontact.com

We’re happy to help!

Call us: Toll-free: 855-816-6508

Set up an appointment with a

personal coach to have all your

questions answered:

http://bit.ly/eventmarketing

coach

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