The competition for your event is no longer just other events. You are competing with packed agendas, deadlines, and even social media. How do you make sure your target audience is willing to clear their busy schedules to visit your event? Spoiler: it starts with a conversation.
What do you really know about your target audience?
To create FOMO for your event, you should first and foremost be aware of your target audience. However simple this may sound, it is crucial to be mindful of what is happening in their (professional) lives. If you don’t know: ask! Ask your clients or customers, and consult other departments (like Marketing and Sales).
What drives your target audience? What are their ambitions and biggest challenges at the moment? Collect this information and draw a complete picture to create a good starting point for your event.
The relationship to your target audience
The next step is to understand your relationship with your future attendees. Is there frequent interaction? And how do they perceive your organisation? As a thought leader, a new kid on the block, or a key player in the market? Are they used to the fact that you organise events? And if so, how did they value your previous events? This information helps you explain to them why they should not miss out.
The trick is to align your relationship strategy with your event’s program. For example, if your target audience is a company’s big investors and the event objective is to strengthen this relationship by networking, your event should leave plenty of room for conversation. In this case, a round table or exclusive dinner might suit best. If your target audience is potential future clients, maybe a (product) presentation followed by a Q&A might suit best.
The event should contribute to their needs (and therefore to yours)
Before sending out the invitations, you translate the ambitions, challenges and other insights from the audience analysis into a proposition for the event. In other words, what can you promise them? How will the event solve their challenge or contribute to their needs? This promise is the reason why they will sign up for your event. The more specific you can explain what your target audience will ‘take home’ after the event, the bigger the chance they will register.
The event is a dialogue
The evaluation of one event is the starting point of the next, in a constant loop. Each event is a dialogue: keep the conversation going! This is the only way to remain informed about your audience’s needs and keep your events relevant and interesting.
Remember there are many moments to start and continue the dialogue: the registration form, update mails, social media posts (and their comments), polls and questions during the event, networking moments at the venue, and an event survey afterwards. The more you use these moments, the closer you get to your relations.
