© 2012

the nonprofit event management

success formula:

planning and promotion

© 2012

what you‟re going to learn • planning your nonprofit event

• promoting your nonprofit event to:

– create buzz

– increase registration

– maximize attendance

© 2012

increase charitable funds “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.” -Roland

Davis, Event Chairman

© 2012

grow your audience

“We are able to keep

members and

communities engaged

and connected with our

Community Chamber

Events.” -Brad Hall,

President & CEO

© 2012

save valuable time

“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.” - Lisa Smith, Founder

© 2012

planning your event

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why are you having an event?

3 top reasons

nonprofits host

events:

- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, 2010

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

© 2012

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

© 2012

Chesapeake Wine Festival

goal

sell tickets >50% of

tickets in advance

raise money for cause

get more attendees

than previous year

measure:

85% of tickets sold in advance

raised $150,000

7,800 attendees

© 2012

promoting your event

© 2012

communication schedule

© Constant Contact 2012 11

© 2012

create buzz (5-6 weeks)

© Constant Contact 2012 12

email newsletter

website

calendar

event directories

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leverage your email newsletter • take advantage of the emails you already send!

© 2012

use your website to drive awareness • promote all your upcoming events on your website

just set it and forget it!

− add it once

− automatically updates

− one-click away registration

© 2012

display upcoming events • make it easy to find date and time that works

link from:

website

email newsletter

email signature

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

60%

decline due to

date / time /

location. -According to 200K RSVP declines

Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce

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− event directories

− Events in America

− SocialVents

− local paper

− local event calendars

− co-marketing

• expand your reach with event directories

list your events publicly

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increase registration (3-4 weeks)

© Constant Contact 2012 17

event homepage

paper mail invites

email invites

social sharing

Facebook app

registration form

social media posts

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event homepage

• one-click registration

• easier than updating

your event website

• link from:

− website

− social media

− email

• provide them all the information they need

© 2012

• offline

– provide a phone number

• online

– QR codes − http://qrcode.kaywa.com

– Bit.ly link − http://bitly.com

make the most of your invitation • make it easy to RSVP right from the print mailing

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50% of people who receive direct mail invitations prefer responding through URLs.

© 2012

does this invite work?

• no easy way to RSVP

• very little branding

• no map

• no way to share event

invitation

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event invitations • get noticed in the inbox

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

subject lines

− emails with a date in the subject

line 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

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look professional with branding

before after

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look professional with branding • match the look and feel of your organization

logo

fonts

colors

images

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event invitations

• don‟t batch and blast

– segmentation delivers a 7x

increase in open rates and a

14x increase in click-through

rates - Understanding ISP-Level Email Filtering

– „exclusive‟ in the subject line

generates an additional

24% open rate - Worldata Email Usage

Study Q4 2010

Subject Line: Past attendees get an exclusive invite!

© 2012

send to non-responders • contact people who haven‟t RSVP‟d

invite invite 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

© 2012

engaging event invites • motivate registrations with video

– video increases click-through

rates by 300% - Forrester Research

– 42% create and post event

marketing videos to YouTube -Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, 2011

try videos featuring:

− guest speakers

− activities

− success stories

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sending for maximum impact

• dodge traffic by avoiding

peak sending times

– the highest spike was at 6AM - The Science of Social Timing, Hubspot 2011

– online giving happens

largely between 9am-5pm

on weekdays -The Online Giving Study

schedule your emails:

5-6 weeks: send announcement

3 weeks: send reminder

2 days: send “don‟t miss” email

© 2012

expanding your invite‟s reach • reach your widest audience with Simple Share

– customize the message for each site

– include an image

– easily share to Facebook,

Twitter, and LinkedIn

© 2012

collect registrations easily 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

© 2012

generate donations • 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

© 2012

registrants can share on social media • registrants can spread the word about the event

© 2012

promote your event on Facebook • engage your fans with compelling posts

ask your Facebook fans to “Like”

– gets a 216% higher

interaction rate for pages - A

Scientific Approach to Facebook Marketing, Momentus Media 2011

ask them to comment too

– gets a 27% higher

interaction rate - A Scientific Approach to

Facebook Marketing, Momentus Media 2011

© 2012

promote your event on Facebook • use the Facebook app to promote 24/7

© 2012

89% of small

organizations use

Facebook to market

their events

- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, October 2011

© 2012

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 - Constant Contact Event Marketing

Survey, October 2011

– 66% use Twitter and

37% create a #hashtag - Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, October 2011

© 2012

maximize attendance (0-2 weeks)

© Constant Contact 2012 37

social media

engagement

event homepage

tickets/confirmation

email reminders

© 2012

increase attendance with reminders • don‟t just resend the invite

– include a link to a pre-event

survey or poll

– show event count down

– provide guest speaker info

– make it easy to share

© 2012

remind them to print their tickets

• ticket serves as a

tangible reminder

• makes the check-

in process a snap!

© 2012

update your event homepage • get registrants excited about the event!

– 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

© 2012

- Constant Contact Event Marketing Survey, October 2011

30%

40%

50%

to get repeat attendees (39%)

small organization use social media

60%

70%

to get more attendees (35%)

4 days prior to event (61%)

© 2012

create buzz for your next event

© Constant Contact 2012 42

social media

engagement

event homepage

tickets/confirmation

email reminders

homepage

survey

social media

© 2012

continue the relationship 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

© 2012

collect feedback with a survey

did you meet your goal?

pull responses for future promotions

what could be improved?

what did they like best?

© 2012

– 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

continue the relationship

© 2012

takeaways

reminders, tickets, update homepage, social media posts

update homepage, survey, follow-up email, social media posts

email newsletter, website, calendar, event directories

invites, registration form, social sharing & posts, Facebook app

© 2012

take the next step

Sign up for a trial Check out our blog Call a coach!

Check out our blog

Learn more about how

event marketing can help

small businesses and

non-profits optimize

event marketing efforts.

constantcontact.com/blog

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