Slam-dunk conference promotion in the final seconds of the game

How Haines & Co. helped our client generate $200,000 in new business

Genevieve Haines

www.hainesco.com

 

A client came to us with a big problem.

He was hosting a conference in Chicago and only ten people were signed up.

 The goal? Get ten more people to attend the conference.

The challenge? The conference was seven business days away.

  Seven days?

Huh.

 The good news was that we had a good product.

The conference met a desperate need for practical information on a complex government program.

  The panelists were well-known (even if the conference itself wasn’t).

It was a high value conference and there was nothing like it in the marketplace.

  Haines & Co. started with the strategy.

  STRATEGY 1: Hyper-target.

Haines & Co. worked up a full pathology report on the most qualified prospects. We wanted to know who they were, how they got their information and what motivated them. We ended up with four audience groups. We developed four sets of key messages – one for each group.

  STRATEGY 2: Go paperless.

Mailings or print media outreach would be nice, but with seven days until the event, we needed to leverage the immediacy of the Web.

  STRATEGY 3: Geo-locate.

Since locals might have an easier time getting to Chicago on such short notice, we focused on the Midwest. Spillover was OK (and expected – online outreach tends to do that).

 Then on to tactics. (Of course, this all happened quick as a flash – tick tock!)

 First, sponsorship packages.

• Haines & Co. identified associations and publications that reached the target audiences.

• Then we screened that list for any with e-newsletters scheduled for distribution in the next few days.

• We negotiated sponsorship packages for three e-newsletters. As a bonus, we secured free visibility on their Websites.

 First, sponsorship packages.

• We also secured a free mention on the homepage of a national trade association.

 Then on to social media.

• A high-profile blogger interviewed our client for a story, plus we secured featured placement on the blog’s daily email distribution list-serv.

• We posted on LinkedIn™ and key online calendars.

 Next, media relations!

• Haines & Co. distributed a press release to targeted online media.

 Finally, opinion-leader outreach.

• Haines & Co. identified the leadership of a dozen groups that would most benefit from information presented at the conference.

• We personally invited each of them to the conference.

 Then it was white knuckle time.

 Reservations started to trickle in, and then pour in.

 In the end, we secured 40 additional participants.

That put us at 400 percent of our target of 10 participants. Woo hoo!

 From the conference, our client was able to generate $200,000 in new business.

 $200,000?

Not bad.

 The bonus? Visibility from the outreach positioned our client as an expert in his field, and more opportunities started to come in.

In his own words: “Don’t understate the non-financial benefits – the profile that I pulled away from that event was substantial.”

 We even got calls from qualified prospects unable to attend the conference, asking to be added to our mailing lists.

 Take-aways:

Narrow the audience, then “narrow in” on the audience. Spending time upfront to understand our qualified prospects meant not wasting any of our precious resources later (little things like time and money).

 Take-aways:

One conference, four sets of messages. Making it personal meant each audience was presented with a clear picture of the specific benefits they could expect from the conference.

 Take-aways:

Outreach with surgical precision. By focusing on tools that were highly targeted, we didn’t waste resources reaching those who WEREN’T qualified prospects for the conference.

 Take-aways:

Be tool-agnostic. Haines & Co. selected the blend of tools (sponsorship, social media, etc.) that made sense, and skipped those that didn’t (mailings, print media).

 Take-aways:

Of course, work quickly. With only seven days until the conference, we worked as if huge dogs were chasing us.

 Rest assured, we’ve been promised more lead-time for the next conference.

Imagine how many participants we might secure with more time…

 We’ll see!

Find me, learn more:

Genevieve Haines

www.hainesco.com

ghaines @ hainesco.comTwitter: @genevievehaines