Challenge
Return annual full-day conference attendance to growth with flat marketing budget. Eight weeks to plan and execute. Conference is one of many professional development opportunities for the target market.
Results
Registration goals achieved
Came in under budget for my time and paid placements
Articles and social outperformed organization and many industry benchmarks
LinkedIn followers increased by 5%, triple the monthly jump for the prior year
Learnings Delivered to Client
Mechanism to track conversion and performance on future event campaigns
Insight into types of original content that attract eyeballs and sharing (Technology is a broad category. Our audience was drawn to content with applicability to real life, like AI and telehealth, versus more niche stories.)
Fixed price ads in publications are better for awareness campaigns. For this audience, they don’t provide value on a pay-per-click basis.
Foundational Work
Identified opportunities for cleaner targeting and analysis using existing tech stack:
Mined insight from Google Analytics, Twitter and LinkedIn
Created analytics bridge to third-party registration sites to better understand conversion
Embedded Google tag for retargeting
Strategies
Engage primary contacts at big companies early to plan for their cohort
Equip influencers, primary contacts and other stakeholders with social content and invitations to build awareness
Deploy targeted digital and social campaigns for five weeks to hook new prospects and nurture those already in the pipeline
The Content
I followed a 4:1 ratio of informational to promotional content to keep the event and the organization top of mind while pulling prospects toward registration. The speakers were the lead story, to entice people to attend, and to maintain a platform for the most compelling concepts after the event.
The keynote centered on Accenture’s TechVision 2019 report. I teased the session on social media using snippets from the report
Articles about general interest sessions – cybersecurity, user centered design, AI and agile methodology – really attract clicks to the site
Fun posts about hands-on crowd-pleasers like self-driving cars, virtual reality and robots boost social engagement
Tactical Highlights
Used Job Titles to target ads on LinkedIn
Ad targeting manufacturing technologists highlighted relevant sessions. Drew 12,000 impressions with a 0.71% ctr, beating the benchmark of 0.19%
Made the speakers the star
Articles previewing the sessions attracted thousands of views. This one on telehealth and AI drew 3,000 viewers: 1/3 from targeted social ads and 2/3 from direct traffic. Read my article
ShowcaseD hands-on fun
Exhibitors provided compelling imagery to get prospects excited about the event and give them something fun to amplify to their own networks.