Recommendations for Improving Event Pre-Registration for the Indiana State Museum
Apply Data-Analytics to Understand Target Audience and Their Journey
Collect raw data pertaining to:
-
Attendee demographics.
-
Engagement through email, website, and social media.
-
Event registration activity.
-
Event attendance and activity.
-
Attendee expectation and satisfaction (surveys).
Analyze raw data to derive the following insights:
-
Your target audience’s needs and desires.
-
What stage your target audience is likely at in their journey.
-
The best channels for engaging your target audience.
Tailor Marketing Content to Match Target Audience’s Journey in 3 Stages
Awareness Stage (more than 3 weeks out) – your target audience is not yet aware of your event:
-
Create a narrative for how your event will gratify their needs and desires in order to grab grab their attention.
-
At this stage, keep your message focused and concise.
Consideration Stage (3 weeks out) – you now have the attention of your target audience:
-
Demonstrate to them the true value of your event, over that of the competition.
-
At this stage, your message can be more detailed.
Decision Stage (less than 2 weeks out) – your target audience is not yet comfortable committing to your event:
-
Mitigate any concerns your target audience may have by showcasing aspects of your event which are most likely to excite them.
-
At this stage, your message should be focused almost entirely on the details.
Improve Email Marketing Effectiveness
-
Limit the frequency of emails to prevent subscribers from regretting “opting in”.
-
Provide purpose to consumers through informing, purposeful emails.
-
Balance other social media sites with email marketing to create diversity with clientele base.
Strengthen Social Media Platforms Presence
-
Create a bond with customers by engaging them, not persuading them, on social media platforms.
-
Invest in more designing on social media sites to grab customers attention and divert the attention to upcoming events.
Creating Consistent Design Elements
-
Create clear and concise summaries of events.
-
Give detailed information in a easy to understand way such as bulleted lists.
-
Keep a consistent design layout throughout different forms of delivery.
Creating the Right Impressions
-
Create content specific media through photos, videos, or GIFS.
-
Make invitations bright, cheery, and modern to retain attention.
-
Develop a positive first impression by creating tailored audience centered marketing.
Testing Multiple Different Marketing Strategies
-
Send out smaller messages on separate platforms to test best design strategies.
-
Create and send out a survey relating to which design elements are most and least preferred.
-
Test multiple design elements before settling on a common theme. Continue to change and evolve this common theme as the target audience continues to change preferences.
Promote Incentives for Early-Bird Registration
-
Promote financial incentives (i.e. discounts for first 20 to register, discounts for people who sign up before a given date, discount for ISM IMAX tickets).
-
Promote swag incentives (i.e. ISM T-shirts, ISM bumper stickers that comes with free parking, ISM coffee mugs), and special perk incentives (i.e. first 15 to register receive priority seating, special access to VIP rooms, direct recognition).
Appeal to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) When Marketing Events
-
Appeal to FOMO among young adults (i.e. photo or video recaps of event).
-
Talk up an event, talk about how fun it will be and how it can't be missed.
Expend More Time/Resources on Reaching Less Reliable Demographics
-
Attempt to reach young adults, who attend ISM events less frequently (i.e. host more events aimed appealing to young adults, and post lots of photos).
-
Use multiple channels to communicate and post frequently on social media.
