Your conference was a hit. The compliments are pouring in faster than you imagined they would. You did it, you pulled it off.
No better time to take a break, right? Well…not exactly.
Having a strong post-conference marketing plan is an important tool in building brand awareness and setting attendee expectations for next year. Below are some examples of post-conference marketing efforts that we’ve seen pay off in a big way for hosts.
Keep the Experience Going
The lights may be off and the doors might be shut, but attendees should still be able to access conference resources. The key to this is planning ahead. Way, way ahead. Brainstorm with your team on what you want to share after your conference wraps. This could include educational content, high quality photos and videos to remind attendees of their memorable experiences, sponsor and attendee testimonials to reinforce their reasons to attend, or all of the above.
To achieve this, create a plan for how you’re going to collect these materials but please make sure to budget appropriately. Gathering materials is critical, yes, but you need to be sure you’ve allotted the appropriate funds to do so. Depending on how you plan to collect your presentation materials, you might need to invest in photographers, videographers, or special software.
Close the Loop
Surveys are essential to helping attendees have an even better experience at your next conference. Unfortunately, survey emails are often ignored. To avoid bugging attendees with multiple follow-ups, find some ways to incentivize them from your very first request. For example, you could provide access to on-demand materials as a reward for completing the survey. This could include exclusive materials that weren’t available during the conference, such as having your keynote speaker give a pre-recorded, 15 minute follow-up presentation that only survey respondents can access. The key here is “get creative and people will notice.”
Show Your Gratitude
Don’t wait too long to reach out and thank your sponsors and exhibitors. You deserve all the compliments and high fives you’re getting, but taking the time to tell sponsors and exhibitors that you couldn’t have done it without them will go a long way. Pro-tip: personalize these messages. They have to really come from the heart and speak to the impact their contribution makes.
Plan Way Ahead
To properly pull this off, it’s important to have a plan in place well before your conference begins. Post-conference marketing is all about reminding attendees what they loved and what they can expect when they come back, so dig deep now and start figuring out which of the above on-demand materials and incentives will help you achieve your conference and meeting goals.
And that is a wrap! We hope you enjoyed our blog series on Pre-, On-site, and Post-event marketing. There are so many options out there based on your objectives and resources, so reach out to us and we would love to brainstorm how to take your event marketing to the next level.