Posted on July 5, 2023

Strategies for Boosting Conversions at Every Stage of the Event Marketing Funnel

Event marketing is a powerful tool for businesses to engage with their target audience, improve lead generation, and drive sales. However, an event marketing campaign’s success hinges on effectively navigating the marketing funnel; awareness, interest, decision, and action. 

While ticket sales and attendance play a vital role in determining the success of an event, there are still numerous untapped opportunities within the event marketing funnel. Given the considerable effort invested in organizing a successful event, your event team must construct a well-designed marketing funnel that can efficiently capture sales or leads at every stage.

By understanding the different stages of the funnel and employing tailored strategies, you can optimize your efforts to boost sales and achieve higher conversion rates, resulting in business continuity. 

In this article, we will explore practical techniques to maximize sales at each stage of the event marketing funnel.

Stage 1: Awareness

The awareness stage is about capturing your target audience’s attention and creating brand awareness. To boost sales at this stage:

Craft Compelling Event Messaging

Communicate the value and benefits of your event through captivating content, such as engaging social media posts, blog articles, and videos. Highlight what sets your event apart and why attendees should attend it.

You can tell a captivating story around your event that captivates your audience’s attention. Use storytelling techniques to engage their emotions and create a sense of anticipation. Illustrate how attending the event can transform their lives or help them achieve their goals.

Leverage Influencers

Regarding word-of-mouth and spreading awareness, working with influencers is a go-to. Similar to outreach to bloggers, influencers with massive followers can sway their followers’ purchasing behavior and thinking.

Collaborate with industry influencers and thought leaders to amplify your event’s reach. Please encourage them to share information about your event with their followers, increasing brand exposure and generating buzz.

Engage in Content Marketing

Create a content strategy that aligns with your event goals and target audience. Identify the most effective content types, such as blog articles, videos, podcasts, interviews, or shareable infographics. Plan a content calendar to ensure consistent and timely delivery of content leading up to the event.

Next, you can identify your target audience’s main challenges or interests related to your event’s industry or topic. Create content addressing these pain points and providing valuable insights, tips, or solutions. This positions your event as a trusted source of information and establishes your expertise.

Stage 2: Interest

Once you have generated awareness, it’s essential to nurture the interest of potential attendees. Here’s how to boost sales at the interest stage:

Personalize Communication

Utilize marketing automation tools to send personalized emails to prospects interested in your event. These tools allow you to gather and analyze data about each opportunity, such as their preferences, past interactions, and behavior, enabling you to create targeted and customized email content.

When personalizing your emails, consider segmenting your prospects based on their demographics, interests, or engagement levels. This segmentation allows you to tailor the content to their preferences and needs. 

For example, if a prospect has shown interest in a particular topic or theme related to your event, you can send them an email highlighting relevant sessions, workshops, or speakers.

Provide Exclusive Pre-Sale Offers

Providing exclusive pre-sale offers is a highly effective strategy to generate early excitement and encourage prospects to take action. It’s about creating a sense of urgency and offering enticing incentives, such as exclusive discounts or special perks so that you can motivate individuals to register for your event early. 

This approach rewards early adopters and helps you gauge the level of interest and generate early revenue.

So, highlight the benefits of registering early, such as securing preferred seating, access to exclusive sessions, or discounted ticket prices. Emphasize the limited availability of these offers to create a fear of missing out (FOMO) effect, encouraging prospects to take advantage of the exclusive benefits before it’s too late.

Host Webinars or Online Q&A Sessions

Webinars and online Q&A sessions provide a platform to engage with your target audience more deeply. From healthcare events to commercial and retail events, you can present relevant and informative content related to your event’s topic or industry, positioning yourself and your event as valuable resources. 

By sharing your expertise and insights, you build credibility and establish yourself as a trusted authority, which can lead to increased interest and registrations for your event. 

It would be much easier to engage with your audience, answer their questions, and use these interactions to demonstrate your expertise and build trust.

Stage 3: Decision

In the decision stage, potential attendees evaluate the benefits of attending your event and make a purchasing decision. To increase sales at this stage:

Showcase Social Proof

Share testimonials, case studies, and success stories from past attendees or notable industry figures who have benefited from your event. Social proof instills confidence and helps prospects feel more secure in registering.  

Potential attendees are more likely to register when they can see tangible proof of the benefits they can expect to receive, making social proof an essential component of a successful event marketing campaign.

Highlight Agenda and Speakers

Provide detailed information about the event schedule, agenda, and the expertise of your speakers. Demonstrate the value attendees gain from attending specific sessions, workshops, or keynotes.

The agenda serves as a roadmap for your event, outlining the sessions, workshops, and activities that will take place. By highlighting the plan, you provide potential attendees with a preview of the topics, themes, and learning opportunities they can expect. 

This generates interest and excitement, as prospects can see how your event aligns with their interests and professional goals.

Offer Flexible Payment Options

Make it easy for potential attendees to purchase tickets by offering various payment methods and installment plans. Different people have different preferences when it comes to payment methods. By providing a range of payment options, such as credit/debit cards, bank transfers, or digital wallets, you cater to potential attendees’ diverse needs and preferences. 

This convenience and accessibility make it easier for individuals to complete their registration without hassle or frustration. Removing barriers and offering flexibility means enhancing the user experience and increasing the likelihood of securing registrations.

Stage 4: Action

The final stage is where prospects convert into paying attendees. To optimize conversions at this stage:

Streamline Registration Process

Lengthy and complex registration forms can overwhelm potential attendees, leading to frustration and abandonment. Always try to minimize the number of form fields to only essential information to allow an easier and quicker way for individuals to complete their registration.

Also, consider asking for only the necessary details, such as name, email address, and contact information. Reducing the number of steps involved in the registration process helps to keep individuals engaged and motivated to complete their registration without feeling overwhelmed.

Send Reminder Emails

As the event date approaches, attendees may get caught up in their busy schedules and forget about the event. Sending reminder emails helps to maintain engagement and excitement by keeping the event top-of-mind for attendees. 

You can include teaser content, such as highlights of keynote speakers, sneak peeks of sessions, or exclusive event offers, to reignite their enthusiasm and anticipation. 

Encourage Social Sharing

Leverage social media to encourage registered attendees to share their excitement about the event. You can tap into the networks and influence your attendees, generating even more buzz and increasing event visibility. 

Create dedicated hashtags, provide shareable content, and incentivize attendees to spread the word to their networks.

Wrapping Up

A successful event can take your whole business proposal to the next level. And when discussing events, each funnel stage is critical to boosting conversions and maximizing sales. A well-executed event marketing campaign can lead to successful outcomes, from generating awareness and nurturing interest to influencing decisions and driving action. 

By understanding your target attendees’ unique needs and preferences, tailoring your messaging, and utilizing various marketing channels, you can optimize your efforts and achieve remarkable results throughout the event marketing funnel. Remember, continuous analysis, adaptation, and improvement are essential for ongoing success in event marketing.

Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).