1

Strategies For Attracting &

Growing The Right Audience

About You

2

1. Bucket participant types

by attendance

justification.

2. Consider approaches to

identifying top segments.

3. Discuss how experience

design can improve

relevance for attraction

and loyalty.

Shotgun Approach

All things to all

people

Laser approach

Highly amplified

Coherent focused beam

• What audience groups do you

segment and market differently

to today?

9

1. Bucket participant types

by attendance

justification.

Attendance Loyalty

12

Not all registrants created equally

• Feel obligated to attend

• Tattoo on the arm

• Measure success not in years, but in # of badge ribbons.

• Board members, retired/life members, committee participants, chapter leaders

• Justification story is based on volunteerism, passion and status.

The Lifers

• Commonly found at meetings where speakers, speak to speakers.

• Academics seeking points for tenure or being published.

• Meeting often has posters as consolation prize.

• Their ticket to the meeting.

• Exhibitors and sponsors view them as influencers.

The Professors

• Primary goal is thought leadership.

• Sometimes guilty of doing a sales pitch.

• May consider upping their ante after getting on the program.

• Big play for consultants and freelancers.

The Content Marketers

• AKA companies that should exhibit

• Interested in networking & BizDev

The Ambushers

• Get ‘em when they’re young

• Students, Residents, etc.

• Exhibitors don’t value

• Low contribution margin

The Rookies

• Expo floor only

• Low investment

• Aisle density

• Good candidates for nurturing & upselling

The Window Shoppers

• True buyers of your networking & education experience

• Rarely attracted by CEU’s

• Segment here and design education to attract them

• Others will follow

Investor Participants

• What are possible obstacles

for a segmentation approach

with your annual conference?

20

2. Consider approaches to

identifying top segments.

22

Customer or Attendance Centricity

strategic advantage.

Focusing on the right customer for

Budget Maker vs. Spender

Identify Channels of Influence

Future Leaders - Sustainability

3. Discuss how experience

design can improve

relevance for attraction

and loyalty.

People will pay for content if it is so unique

they can’t get it anywhere else, so fast they

benefit from getting it before anyone else,

or so related to their tribe that paying for it

brings them closer to other people.

Seth Godin

Message Map

Design meeting environments that support the latest in brain science around Andragogy, the art & science of Adult Learning. Director of Learning Experiences to lead the charge. 33

“The art of communicating with

your customers and prospects

without selling.”

Content Marketing Institute

VIP EXPERIENCE – INVITE ONLY VIP EXPERIENCE

*INVITATION ONLY*

Promotion Focus Prevention Focus

Are one of these Mindsets more dominant?

Marketing messages that resonate are polar opposite.

*Source – Columbia University Motivation Science Center

Approach Pleasure

Avoid Pain

Prevention vs. Promotion

39

What other experience design

and attraction strategies work

for you?

Others will follow

Attract the right fish…

• Flickr.com

• blog.jerodsandto.net

• www.businesscapturemastery.com

• www.chiefmarketer.com

• Totalmarketexposure.com

• gigaom.com

• empowernetwork.com

• francisgouillart.com

• Marketcopywriterblog.com

• suescaletta.com

• cflaeaglesnets.com

• Picasa. web.google.com

• Commons.wikimedia.com

• www.home-designing.com

• Mayabankovic.wordpress.com

• Blogs.mprnews.org

• www.aiard.org

• Darnwallpapers.com

• Sewanee

• Evomag.com