1. EXPONENTIALLY GROW REVENUE
WITH ONLINE MARKETING
KENDRA WRIGHT
CASSIE ROBERTS

2. YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE NOTES
• Give us your business card at the end of the
presentation.
– We’ll send you our slides.
– We’ll send you The Dirt free online marketing tips.
– We’ll invite you to upcoming educational webinars.
• Come to our Hollywood Happy Hour in
room 2232 from 5 – 6:30 pm

3. INTERNET WINS POPULARITY CONTEST

4. MOBILE IS GOING TO WIN TOO
Source: Morgan Stanley Research

5. ARE YOU FOLLOWING THESE TRENDS?
ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS?

6. PRESENTERS
Kendra Wright Cassie Roberts
President Manager, Sales & Partnership
• First job managing events for • Received BS Public Relations, &
non-profit Masters Sport Management, The
• Began building websites in 1995 University of Texas
for Fortune 1000 company
• Started own company in 1998 • Born in Central City, NE
• Brings big-company experience • United States Olympic Committee
to the event industry • Rodeo Austin

7. HISTORY

8. SAFFIRE CLIENTS

9. SAFFIRE CLIENTS

10. SAFFIRE ASSOCIATION PARTNERS

13. PALAMINO FEST

15. Our goal is to elevate the event industry
by enhancing its most important virtual
front door – its online presence.

16. LET’S TAKE A VOTE
• How to prioritize SOCIAL MEDIA
• Tips and trends for marketing on FACEBOOK
• What to do about TWITTER
• The latest TRENDS and what to do about them
• Prioritize how to make your WEBSITE better
• Maximize your MOBILE presence
• Important STATISTICS TO WATCH and what to do with the info
• How to make more money with EMAIL
• Tools to market your event FROM YOUR EVENT GROUNDS
• Your GAME PLAN for when you get home
• Specific ONLINE MARKETING IDEAS

17. YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRIORITIES
• Spend 70% of your time on Facebook
• Use an app that tweets when you post on Facebook (adding
10%)
• Spend 15% on YouTube
• Spend 5% between Pinterest and Instagram (photo
sharing)

18. WHAT TO SHARE & WHERE
What to Share Where
Short blurbs Facebook, Twitter
Longer stories Facebook (and/or link to website or blog)
Photos Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram
Videos Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
Contests Facebook, Twitter (website)

19. FACEBOOK

20. FACEBOOK
• Your top social media priority
• 901 million monthly active users
• One in every seven humans on earth is an
active Facebook user
• Facebook trends to know
– People use it on mobile
– People use it for photo sharing

21. FACEBOOK COVER PHOTO
• Be creative! Use this space to make big announcements,
i.e. event dates and upcoming performers.
• Change it daily during your event to highlight the day’s
activities.
• You can’t put links on your cover photo.

22. FACEBOOK PROFILE PICTURE
• Don’t forget the profile picture!
• It will appear “solo” throughout Facebook; it needs to be
able to stand alone and represent your brand

23. FACEBOOK MILESTONES
• Facebook’s timeline
automatically creates a
history of your event.
• Call out important
photos and events by
clicking the star on a
post to expand the
photo to a widescreen
view.
• You can even pin
content so it will remain
the top post for 7 days.

24. COOL FACEBOOK COVERS/PROFILES

25. COOL FACEBOOK COVERS/PROFILES

26. TAGGING IN FACEBOOK
• Take pictures of the crowd at concerts,
post them and encourage them to tag
themselves
Your photo appears in
their Facebook feed!

27. TWITTER

28. TWITTER
Your 2nd priority for social media
• 530 million accounts
• 340 million tweets a day
• 1 million accounts added
to Twitter every day

29. WHY TWEET?
• Twitter is best for up-to-the minute
important news and cultural happenings.
• Ramp up your publishing frequency, and
make timely content the focus of your
Twitter activities in order to satisfy
information-hungry users.

30. THE ART OF THE HASHTAG
A hashtag (#) is how Twitter users organize themselves.
People start including a hashtag when tweeting about a
topic.
It becomes easier to find that topic in search.
It is more likely to appear in Twitter’s Trending Topics.

31. ENSURE ADOPTION OF A HASHTAG
You can’t!

32. WHAT YOU CAN DO
POST it – relevant places on your
website/blog
PRINT it – event materials, signage,
scoreboards, etc.
PUBLICIZE it – Twitter feed, regularly and
consistently

33. MANAGE YOUR TWEETS

34. TAKE IT A STEP FURTHER

35. GO ABOUT YOUR DAY
• Install Firefox extension

36. EVEN WHEN YOU’RE MOBILE

37. TWITONOMY

38. TARGETING TRENDS

39. 50% of all web content is…

40. YOUTUBE
• Customers exposed to videos
are 437% more likely to
engage in your brand.
– Engagement = Purchases
SAFFIRE RECOMMENDATION
Make your videos raw and not too produced to help
customers identify with your brand.

41. YOUTUBE
• 3rd in your social media
priorities
• 4 billion videos/day viewed
• 800 million unique users visit
YouTube each month
• 44% of YouTube’s users are
aged
between 12 and 34

42. What is the fastest growing
website of all time?

43. PINTEREST
Pinterest was the first site to get 10
million unique visitors in a month.
Pin event photos (and more) and
invite your customers to follow your
boards!
Not your highest priority, but do it!
It’s fun!

44. PINTEREST

45. PINTEREST

46. INSTAGRAM
• Mainly for mobile
• Known for image
“doctoring”
• Trends younger

47. TEXT MARKETING
• Your customers are texting.
• Consider joining the conversation.
• Judiciously text deals and special announcements.
SAFFIRE RECOMMENDATION
Start offering people the opportunity to sign up for text,
even if you don’t know what you’ll do with them.

48. OTHER PARTIES TO ATTEND

49. 2013: THE YEAR OF THE…
Story!

50. VISUAL STORYTELLING
A marketing technique that can bring you
increased exposure, better customer engagement
and retention, and more sales.

51. THE KEY TO SUCCESS
Create visual features that
tell a story about your event.
Share them everywhere.

52. EMAIL MARKETING

53. WHAT’S COOL ABOUT EMAIL?
NOT COOL:
One of the oldest
online marketing tactics

54. WHAT’S COOL ABOUT EMAIL?
COOL:
67% of global marketers rated
email the most successful
digital marketing tactic
• Source: CMO Council, May 2012

56. COMPELLING REASONS TO EMAIL
• Email is the top revenue generator for
many companies (even above social
media)
• Email gives some of the fastest
results, often within 24 hours
• Email is the most cost-effective
marketing tool

57. ANATOMY OF SUCCESSFUL EMAIL
A Big Email List
Lots Opened
Lots
Clicked
$$$

58. GUIDE TO EMAIL MARKETING
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

59. STEP 1: MAKE A GAME PLAN
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

60. MAKE A GAME PLAN
Plan for:
• How often will you say it?
• Unless you’re big, don’t publicize schedule
• What day of the week will you say it?
o Tuesday (try Wednesday or Friday for fun!)
• What time of day will you send it?
o Mid-morning

61. STEP 2: CREATE A LIST OF RECIPIENTS
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

62. GATHER YOUR LISTS
• Outlook contacts
• Board of directors
• Volunteers
• Sponsors
• Exhibitors
• Past purchasers
• Etc.

63. EMAIL SIGNUPS ON EVERY PAGE

64. GET ADDRESSES ONGOING
• Online
– On every webpage
– When people share an event photo
– When they complete an online form
– On Facebook, offer Like and email signup
– On Twitter, promote by teasing pending campaign
• Offline
– Door prize or signup at events
– Any time they purchase something

65. EMAIL ARTICLES: THE FORMULA
• Headline
• Image
• Text (short, with links)
• Call to action
– Consider “Click here to enter now!”

66. CONSIDER A PYRAMID
one main
story
TEST
AGAINST
EACH OTHER
two smaller two smaller
features features

67. WHAT WILL WE SAY?
Don’t tell the whole story.
Goal: CLICKS!

68. STEP 4: INCLUDE GOOD IMAGERY
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

69. WHAT MAKES A GOOD IMAGE?
• The best email images are the ones that
make people click!
• Use zoom/cropping
• Use photos of people looking at the
camera

70. STEP 5: USE A STRONG SUBJECT LINE
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

71. STEP 5: USE A STRONG SUBJECT LINE
Good content and images lead to CLICKS…
But a good subject line
(sent at right time) leads to OPENS!

72. WHAT MAKES A GOOD SUBJECT LINE?
• Include something recognizable
• Use action words
• Not too spammy
• 50 characters or less
– Turn into Tweet, with 120 characters, # and
shortened URL
– Turn into Facebook, with 150 characters, graphic
and no #

73. STEP 6: TRACK THE PERFORMANCE
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

74. TRACK THE PERFORMANCE
Kendra’s Law:
If you’re not measuring marketing,
you’re not marketing!

75. WHAT TO TRACK
Per email
• Open rate
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Response rate – web visits, revenue
Over time
• House file size
• Churn (percentage who leave your list)
• Cost/email
• Revenue/email

76. SAMPLE OPEN RATES
Varies by client
• 9-15% on low end
• 30-35% on high end
Who has the highest open rate?
• Good subject line
• Clients who sell online
• Clients with a strong brand
• Sent at right time/day (Tuesday mid-morning)

77. SAMPLE CLICK RATES
Not as much variance
• Around 10-20%
Depends on call to action, so use action words
• Get More Info!
• Sign Up!
• Buy Now!
• More Photos!
Again, don’t tell the whole story!

78. STEP 7: LEARN AND REPEAT
MAKE A GAME CREATE A LIST WRITE THE INCLUDE GOOD USE A STRONG TRACK THE LEARN AND
PLAN OF RECIPIENTS MESSAGE IMAGERY SUBJECT LINE PERFORMANCE REPEAT

79. YOUR WEBSITE

80. YOUR WEBSITE... YOUR PARTY

81. WHY???
• It’s a medium we aren’t 100%
comfortable with
• We don’t know where to start
• Things are changing so fast…
It looked good a couple years ago!

82. HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR SITE?

83. YOUR WEB GUY

84. THE GOAL
To be the most successful
and to maintain your sanity,
you must be able to
market your event on your
website in real time.

85. THE REALITY
98% of anonymous online
prospects enter a website
looking for something…
yet still leave anonymous.

86. MAKE INFO QUICK TO FIND
• Don’t have more than 5-7 links in one place.
• Make your information hierarchical.
SAFFIRE RECOMMENDATION
Use categories and subcategories to organize your event information.

87. MAKE IT FUN
• Use photos to tell your story.
• Give people features to click.

88. Besides your homepage, where do
people go on your website?
(do you know?)

89. MAKE EVENT PAGES INTERACTIVE

90. MAKE EVENT PAGES INTERACTIVE

91. MAKE EVENT PAGES INTERACTIVE

92. MAXIMIZE SOCIAL MEDIA
• Facebook or Tweet your ENTIRE EVENT

93. MAXIMIZE SOCIAL MEDIA
• Facebook or Tweet an EVENT FEATURE

94. MAXIMIZE SOCIAL MEDIA
• Facebook or Tweet a PHOTO of an event feature

95. WHY DO ECOMMERCE?

96. ECOMMERCE = INSURANCE POLICY

97. ECOMMERCE = INCREMENTAL REVENUE

98. DETERMINING PRICE
• 80/20 rule
– Approximately 80% of the tickets you sell online will
be redeemed
– Offer 20% discount
– Come out even
• Free shipping or print at home
– ESPECIALLY when cheap to ship

99. MAKING IT MOBILE

100. MOBILE

101. APP OR MOBILE SITE?
0%
BlackBerry
24%
Android
Apple 46%
iPhone
30%

102. APP OR MOBILE SITE?

103. WHY MOBILE?
• Customers use mobile search to shop.
– 95% of all mobile searches are for LOCAL
products and services.
– 61% of all local searches result in a purchase.

104. THE PERFECT STORM
LOCAL Search
+
Mobile PURCHASE
MOBILE SUCCESS

105. REAL-TIME
MARKETING TOOLS

106. YOUR WEBSITE

107. YOUR WEBSITE

108. FACEBOOK

109. TWITTER

110. PINTEREST

111. YOUTUBE

112. ANALYTICS

113. GOOGLE ANALYTICS

114. GOOGLE ANALYTICS

115. 4 IMPORTANT THINGS TO WATCH
•Low visits?
Improve SEO or
SITE VISITS online marketing of
your site

116. 4 IMPORTANT THINGS TO WATCH
BOUNCE •High bounce rate?
Improve your
RATE homepage

117. 4 IMPORTANT THINGS TO WATCH
actions/ •Not enough action?
Make your website
conversion more compelling
rate (good rate: 2%)

118. ONE MORE THING TO WATCH
TIME ON •Low time?
Add interactivity and
SITE other “stickiness”

119. MAKE A GAME PLAN

120. WHAT WILL YOU SAY?
1. Determine Your Target Audiences

121. WHAT WILL YOU SAY?
2. Get your team together –
make sure to include all audiences

122. WHAT WILL YOU SAY?
3. Brainstorm all the reasons
people come to your event

123. WHAT WILL YOU SAY?
4. Come up with topics
for all these reasons

124. WHAT WILL YOU SAY?
Two things to tell people:
1. What we want them to hear
2. What people want to hear

125. PICK YOUR POISON
• Website
• Mobile
• Email
• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Blog
• Flickr

126. CREATE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR

127. SPECIFIC ONLINE MARKETING IDEAS

128. DEEP THOUGHT...
• Ask questions that get people
to talk about themselves in relation to
your event

129. GRAB THEIR ATTENTION
• Consider funny – tweets from mascot, etc.
• Personal/human interest stories get a lot of
hits
• Posts with photos get more views!
• Think about what YOUR AUDIENCE would
want to click!

130. MAKE PEOPLE FEEL LIKE INSIDERS
• Be the first to know about X via social
media!
• See behind-the-scenes looks at our
event!
• Your customers feel special, and they are
more likely to be long-term followers.

131. MULTIMEDIA
• Photo contests on website and Facebook
• Caption that photo
• Funny video upload
• Photos and video are naturally VIRAL and
give you more event photos!

132. GET PEOPLE TALKING
• Show live tweets on concert side screens
• Have a vote or quiz
– Answer on text, app, QR code, etc.

133. CONTESTS WITH PUBLICITY BONUS
• Have a contest for front row concert seats
– Text, tweet or post on FB page NOW = publicity
• Do giveaways with charitable tie-in
• Allow groups to get $ for their orgs for
advance sales; host trip for winners

134. CONTESTS WITH PUBLICITY BONUS
• Do giveaways with charitable tie-in
• Allow groups to get $ for their orgs for
advance sales; host trip for winners

135. FAIRS EVERYWHERE

136. FAIRS EVERYWHERE
1
2

137. FAIRS EVERYWHERE

138. FAIRS EVERYWHERE

139. TO REVIEW
• In this order, focus on this social media
– Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest/Instagram
• Prioritize email, especially during your event
• Get your website up to snuff
• Get on getting a mobile website
• Improve your tracking
• Create an editorial calendar

140. CAN’T GET ENOUGH SAFFIRE!
Today 4:15 – Online Marketing for Dummies
(for board members/volunteers)
Today 5-6:30 – Hollywood Happy Hour in room 2232

141. BULLS-EYE
Leave us your business card, and we’ll send:
• These slides
• The Editorial Calendar template
• A free subscription to The Dirt
• Follow us on Facebook (SaffireEvent) and
Twitter (@saffireevents)
• Ongoing webinars