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For those of you wanting to know how to do events for your books like I have been doing this year please find some answers to some commonly asked questions below.
Where do you do your seminars eg. what venue do you choose?
I have a corporate arrangement with Accor so either Novotel’s or Mercure’s generally (depends on what they have in the location).
As it is a free seminar does this mean the perceived value must be huge to fill it up?
Yes you are right which is why I choose venues that have a high perception of value as your choice of venue says as much about you as any other part of your marketing.
I understand you use your events as a platform to speak to your market. Is this correct?
Yes this is also correct. I find getting someone to pay for an event when they have never heard of me before is near impossible however I find after speaking to someone for an hour or so, answering all their questions and providing them with some invaluable giveaways (so they can begin applying their learnt knowledge straight away) it is not only easy to move them to the next natural step in my product range but also allows them to leave a raving fan and this is an invaluable referral source for me.
What is your investment to put on a seminar in relation to your expectation in regards to return?
Local events are good as there is no flight or accommodation costs. I use mostly free to low cost marketing techniques eg. website/SEO, email marketing/database, flyers/networking, cross promotions/joint ventures and referrals from previous expressions of interest/registrants/attendees/customers etc. My big spends re: advertising is I always run a radio campaign in the area 2 weeks before the week of the event in the local area and I do an adwords campaign 1 month before. All of the above methods could be tailored to any budget.
For the event itself: I staff with either volunteers or my team members, rent lapel, hand held mic, cd player, sound system, projector screen and venue and provide tea, coffee and water facilities only as it is not a catered event. Approx cost for mini catering, venue and equipment hire averages around $2500 per event. Once again this could be adjusted to any budget based on choice of venue and how much catering and AV equipment is used.
My expectations for return is nothing as I have found it the past if you expect something in return for giving something away for free then you weren’t really giving it away for free in the first place. If you heart is in the wrong spot eg. not genuinely wanting to help people you will not make money. If the money is irrelevant and the focus correct than the money just naturally flows as a result of the event.
Does this model generates income?
Yes it is very effective. Everyone who comes on the night on averages buys a book for themselves and a friend eg. $40 per person who attended for free (covers the costs). If they buy what I actually want to sell my average sale is $10,000 so 1 customer is worth putting the event on as that is already a 300% return on investment. Regardless what my close rate is on the night though my events tend to have the following results within 2 weeks after the event. 100% of the audience raving fans and referring clients to me I otherwise wouldn’t have had. 25% started some kind of project with me (even if they just paid a small deposit and went on time payments that provides me with ongoing cash flow). I average 50 people at an event so the returns are good. Just make sure you present people with an irresistible offer and give them an easy way to finance it.
To see what I personally do in action register for my next event and check it out for yourself by clicking here.
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