Besides social media, content marketing and listing your event, how else do you get people in for your event? Have you already planned your email marketing strategy in an effort to drive the attendance you need? Have you tried and applied the 5 Simple Tips for Effective Email Marketing yet?
There are so many events out there, conferences, tradeshows, concerts, meetings, product launches, and the list goes on. But just how do you put together a special invitation email that will ensure maximum engagement of your potential attendees and have them do something about it?
Let’s look at a small and simple guide as to how you can put all the odds on your side, assuming you already have your promotional timing and email campaign sequence in place to be more effective.
Before anything
Make sure you have already established a connection with your audience over a period of time. Do not expect that just one irresistible email and a call-to-action will get them to sign up. Also, be sure that they have agreed to receive your emails from you.
Pay close attention to your company name or your name and email you are sending the emails from. They should be easily recognizable.
Next is the subject line – they ought to be kept short (35 characters or less) so that the viewer can see the subject on the mobile devices easily. You want to avoid the first line (first impression) to be cut off or not seen entirely.
Avoid using all caps, exclamation points, signs or words such “important message” and “free” and any deceptive subject lines; the subject line must accurately reflect the content of the email.
The Email
As a guide, for an invitation email, keep your paragraphs short with sub-headings, easy-to-read words and phrases, bullet points and lists. Also, do write in a style that your target audience will recognize.
Now, start drafting:
- Include a Title followed by a subtitle indicating the topic and/or the benefit of attending.
- Set the Background/Context and introduce a lead into the topic, explaining why the topic is important (include statistics if any to support any claims)
- Objectives: While you may not list them straight in your copy, it is useful to remind yourself as you prepare and write your email.
- Target audience: To whom exactly is the event directed? This must be clear and as specific as possible with the target groups or age, demographics such that the person on the other end feels that this is specifically designed for him or her and that he or she feels compel to attend.
- Why attend? Your potential attendees need to know why they should be there – what are the benefits, what will they gain by attending, what are they going to discover that will help them improve their business, their experience and/or their lives?
- What are they going to take home? What will they physically take away? Is there anything? It can be in the form of a memorabilia or an actual handbook or a contact list…
- The content of the event: What is going to be the content? List down in bullet points the topics covered at the event or the outline of the program.
- Information about the speakers: The list or the main speakers or highlights of the event with their expertise, background, experience and with some pictures.
- Information about the organizer: Who is the main organizer of the event? Including any credentials and track records or past events if any.
- The Event information: When is it going to be, dates and time? Where is it going to be held? Any travel arrangements offered if needed.
- The Cost: How much will it cost? Include details about early bird discounts or any other incentives for group bookings.
- How to book? – call-to-action: Clearly indicate contact numbers and email address for enquiries. Online booking available and where – include the link for more information. Make it customer-friendly and easy steps to follow to book.
Once you have your content ready, you can count on one of the following email marketing tools and platforms (MailChimp, Constant Contact or Vertical Response) to further aid and craft the best out of it. With their suggested templates, they will help format your email invitation in the best way to include graphics, colors, pictures and clear layout and are easy to use.
It is important to remember to keep your attendees engaged following the event. Don’t forget to send an email to thank them for attending and provide any post-event recordings for their reference in the form of a downloadable link and set forth what they look forward next.
