Event Organizers: Playtime's Over

Playtime's over for event organizers, warns author and speaker David Nour in this month's edition of Convene.

It's time to get serious about social media marketing.

That means accepting "a core shift in buyer behavior" brought about by Web 2.0, Nour says. 

"In the past, meeting organizers educated these buyers with the medium—and at the time—of the organizer's choosing, piquing buyers' interest with a 'save-the-date' e-mail or direct-mail piece.  The search engine, however, has enabled buyers to call the shots."

Before ever hitting your Website, today's buyers have already vetted your organization, events, topics and speakers.  

As a result, when they finally do land on your Website, "you don't know if they are interested or available, let alone engaged," Nour says.

To cater to today's buyers, event organizers need to knuckle down:

1. Start to use LinkedIn to develop buyer personas and create a brand that actually appeals to your target audience.
2. Use social media to communicate a steady stream of benefits to buyers.
3. Engage all the "influentials" before your event.
4. Use real content to promote your event.
5. "Stir the pot" on social networks.

Basics First

While you toy with the bright and shiny, don't forget the tried and true.

Writing in USA Today, strategist Rhonda Abrams reminds business owners it's essential to cover the basics before investing in trendy, new "marketing options." Owners should be sure to:

• Attend industry conferences and join organizations;
• Set up free business pages on line;
• Contact your top 10 prospects every month;
• Build your brand with a logo, colors and typefaces;
• Repeat, repeat, repeat your message;
• Tell people what they get, not what you do;
• Publish an e-newsletter;
• Develop a tagline and use it;
• Exhibit at trade shows;
• Build a Website and learn social media; and
• Install a contact management system.

"Most important, make marketing a priority," Abrams adds.

Why Checklists Matter

Dr. Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto, makes the case for why experts need checklists.

The greater our expertise, he argues, the more we take things for granted.

As a result, we often communicate poorly:

• We omit critical information (we believe others already know it)
• We fail to be specific (we think others must know the specifics)
• We resist clarifying our statements (we don't want to insult colleagues)

Checklists can compensate for these failings, as Gawande explains in a Podcast on the topic.  Check it out.

What's It About?

In the 20th Century, branding was about presentation.

Now, it's about conversation.

That's according to a recent article in Inc., “The New Rules of Branding Your Business Online.”

The authors advise that the place to start is your "About Us" page, "where the world first clicks to learn about your company and the services you offer."

How can you capitalize on "About Us?"

• Write short, crisp copy that focuses on connecting with visitors.
• Include personal information in employees’ bios, such as hobbies and favorite activities; links to blogs and personal Websites; and e-mail addresses.
• Show visitors you want to hear from them and have nothing to hide.

Combating Bob's Law

Q: Why is marketing like dieting and exercise?

A: All three share the same enemy.  Boredom.

That fact underlies the one irrefutable law of marketing. 

Call it "Bob's Law:"

A marketer will become bored with his own content three years before his prospects even notice it.

Now here's the rub: surrendering to Bob's Law has consequences.

Early abandonment of marketing content (because you're bored with it) has the same effect as early abandonment of a diet or exercise regimen (because you're bored with them).  Namely, no effect.

B-to-B marketing guru Ardath Albee takes note of the effect in her recent blog post, "The Power of Monotony in Content Marketing. "Boredom affects all marketers for the worse, Albee says.  "We think once we've shared an idea with our target audience that they've latched onto it and understand all it implies."

But this belief is mistaken.  "Changing your focus on a whim, because something new and shiny comes along, only creates friction with your leads because they must now choose to make the effort to re-orient themselves with your new idea."

As a marketer, you must resist the overwhelming urge to abandon your content simply because you're bored.

In brief, you need to combat Bob's Law.

There are many reasons, Albee points out, why it's foolish to abandon content early.  Consider just three:

1. We understand our content much better than prospects do.
2. It takes up to 12 exposures for any new idea to stick.
3. 95% of executives say their top challenge is resistance to change.

The third reason is actually the most compelling.

As a marketer, you're not recommending benefits to one lonely prospect.  You're really suggesting organizational change.

"It's doubtful in a B-to-B complex purchase that only one person needs to be convinced to embrace change," Albee warns.

"Without cementing our ideas with our prospects, affecting change is made even more challenging.  Our marketing content needs to focus on making them so conversant with our ideas that their ability to persuade change is elevated."

When all's said and done, persuading prospects to change is the real reason to combat Bob's Law.