The Association of Boarding Schools<\/a> (TABS) to help it market study abroad fairs in Vietnam. Read on to see how we used digital marketing to produce packed events, filled with relevant attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe event should deliver real value<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The success of your digital marketing efforts depends in large part on the concept behind the event itself. The event, especially if there is an entrance fee, needs to provide something of real value to your audience that they can\u2019t find elsewhere. That value usually comes in the form of information or entertainment (coincidentally two of the pillars of good content marketing). Make sure that when you plan your event, you stay laser focused on the unique value that the event provides to your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TABS\u2019s study abroad fairs provided a unique value to its target audience of wealthy Vietnamese parents with teen children: the fairs offered families an opportunity to meet directly with a large group of admissions officials who traveled thousands of miles to Vietnam, and thus the chance for families to get information and make connections they couldn\u2019t otherwise find elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collect contact information and use it to follow up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Trust but verify. People who register online for free events may have been excited when they entered their email and phone number into the sign up form. But, three weeks later when the date has come, they will have likely forgotten or have found something else to do. It\u2019s crucial to collect valid contact information and to use that information to remind your registrants about the event in a systematic, coherent way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working with TABS\u2019, we focused on collecting the two most crucial pieces of consumer information in Vietnam: email addresses, and more important, phone numbers. We then planned our multi-channel followup calendar in a strategic way to release emails and text messages on specific days with reminders and additional information, culminating in direct phone calls on the day of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Messaging should be clear and concise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Like any product, events should be branded in a consistent manner that appears coherent to the casual attendee. From advertisement, to email to signage in the ballroom itself and the uniforms that staff wear, everything should be working together. By creating coherence between your event and your marketing campaign, you create a memorable experience that can more easily be replicated in the future. Colors and names should be chosen carefully to create something unique and memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With TABS, we helped select an event theme, geared around an airplane, and then used a bold, blue color to anchor both the marketing campaign and the physical materials. We created an easily searchable and instantly memorable event name so that when guests arrived, they enjoyed a seamless experience that started with an advertisement and ended with a conversation with an admissions official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Digital can do a lot, but it can\u2019t do everything<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The challenges of digital marketing for events serve as an excellent reminder for other projects you might work on, which is that you should never get your head too far down the rabbit hole of the digital world to imagine that it can do everything. Campaigns need to be anchored in reality. Bear that in mind, and don\u2019t neglect the offline components of your projects, including the people involved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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