HOW TO ATTRACT MORE. Learn how to use technology, persuasion, and data to attract and convert prospects into students. GoSignMeUp

Transcription

1 HOW TO ATTRACT MORE Learn how to use technology, persuasion, and data to attract and convert prospects into students. GoSignMeUp

2 Contents. 03 INTRODUCTION 04 CREATE A CLASS LANDING PAGE 04 SEND MARKETING S 04 SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA 04 ASK OTHERS FOR HELP 04 PERFORM SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION 04 IMPROVE CONVERSION RATES 04 SEND NOTIFICATION S 04 SEND FOLLOW-UP S 04 ANALYZE YOUR DATA 04 IMPROVE AND REPEAT 22 CONCLUSION

3 INTRODUCTION G---Story introducing the importance of marketing. Who do you know more about X or Y? Well, most of of us know Y, even though experts agree that X was better. Why the difference? MARKETING oal: Full house, No seats left empty How is event/registration marketing different than other marketing efforts? Time, location, and capacity constraints. Are you hearing crickets during your events? Are you nervous that no one will attend? (what % of events fail to achieve sufficient turnout to break-even?) Don t be. The event marketing industry is booming (Stats to validate). Hosting offline events doesn t mean your marketing efforts shouldn t be online.

4 How to attract more students 03 1 Create a class landing page The hub of all of your offline and online promotional efforts should be the class landing page. The class landing page is a single page on your website dedicated to only one class. Not only should it provide essential details regarding your class, but ideally it can also accept online registrations, and payments if applicable. A landing page is like your homebase/command station for your offline and online marketing efforts, you want as much as possible tying back??? Make a compelling landing page that converts visitors into registrants by including these elements: Description: Clearly indicate the topic, time, place, price, who should attend, and how to register and what date you will no longer be accepting new registrations. The description should include specific benefits for each type of attendee. Make it brief and scan-able. Be sure to also highlight how your offering is unique.

5 Bios: The Who can be more persuasive than the What. Show a picture of the instructor s face and a list of their credentials. Images: Content is more persuasive when text is accompanied by images. Consider using pictures of a room full of past attendees, a profile picture of the instructor, or a visual aide used in the class. Some sort of visual cue that evokes awareness regarding what your topic is about and the benefits of attending. Questions?: Make it easy for people to know how they can contact you if they have questions. It could be as simple as displaying your phone number or online contact form. Availability: Show how many spots are still available. If the number of seats available is filling up fast, make people aware of this so they can register before it is too late! Online registration: Failure to provide an online class registration and payment solution is like fishing with bait but no hook, you aren t going to catch much. But having a solution isn t enough, the register now button and call-toaction also need to be clearly visible in order to get adoption. Social media sharing: Make it easy for visitors to post the class to their social media accounts. Don t forget, classes are social occasions that people like to attend with friends. So they want to share their interest and attendance in these events with others. So may it easy for them.

6 Additional scheduled times: If you offer the same class at multiple times, then display these additional times on the landing page. That way visitors can easily find and register for the class the works best with their schedule. Otherwise, you may be attracting people who want to register for your class but see only one scheduled offering of that class and it doesn t work with their schedule so they don t register and never come back to you website to check it out again. Capture customers on their first visit or they may never come back. Tip Also check out this blog post about additional persuasive elements you should try to incorporate into your landing page to increase the number of visitors who register. Also, how fast you respond to inquiries matters. According to a recent MIT study, the first person to contact a prospect had a 238% greater chance of registering that prospect. To help increase your response time, consider using a live chat solution, like the one offered by Olark, so you can have real-time conversations with prospects online.

7 2 Send marketing s If you have a list of s, great, marketing is pretty cheap and effective. If you don t have a list, you can purchase one. You may also ask partners or friends to mention the class in their s. Often your best list is the list you already have. Don t forget about past customers or people who expressed interest in the past. An effective marketing contains the following: Subject line: Studies have shown that subject lines that inspire awe, anger, or anxiety lead to higher open rates. Lukewarm emotional content doesn t. Don t forget, the goal of the subject line is to convince someone to open your . Opening line: To help capture interest, consider opening your by: Asking a question Sharing an anecdote or quote Invoking the mind s eye Using an analogy, metaphor or simile Citing a shocking statistic

8 Body: Incorporate the most important content from your landing page. Make sure you answer the what, when, and where. Don t forget to add images as well. This is also a great way to announce and distribute discount codes Call-to-action: Make sure you provide the url to your landing page and include a register now button. Frequency: Plan to send marketing s several times. If you are offering discounts, just before the discount ends. Don t forget to notify people how much time is remaining before registration closes. When: Generally, research suggests that you should send s around 11am on Tuesdays or Thursdays. However, your audience (professionals, students, housewives) can have a huge impact on your success. Just send s at different days and times of the week and see what works best with you audience. Unsubscribe: Due to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, you need to abide by certain regulations before sending direct . In particular, your should include an unsubscribe option to people you send mass s to. Tip According to MaryEllen Tribby, 60% of your marketing success depends on your list., 30% on your offer, and only 10% on your copy.

9 3 Share on social media Classes are social occasions. So of course, you should use social media. Take advantage of any excuse to connect, mention, post, tweet and link. Here s how to promote your event with social media: Post: Post the class on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. But don t forget, unlike , most posts are missed as they flow through the social streams of your audience. So post early and often. Here s a list of reasons to post before the class. Registration opens Early-bird registration is ending soon Countdown: Just X days until the class! Reminder of time and location See you at the class! (mention registrants) Thanks for sharing, posting and re-tweeting (mention anyone who shared) Testimonial quotes about the instructor Thanks for registering! See you there! (mention registrants, especially social media influencers)

10 Follow people: Follow a few people who may be interested in the topic of your class. When you follow someone, you might get their attention and they may notice the class. It s best to follow people when you have a compelling class promotion at the top of your stream. Contact influencers: For example, use Twitter s advanced search to find people who are interested in your topic and live nearby. Tweet to them directly with a friendly invite. Incentives sharing: For example, say something like Invite your friends! If we get X number of registrations for this class by XX/XX/XXXX, then everyone who attends will receive a free!

11 4 Ask others to help You aren t alone. There are plenty of established organizations that want their members to attend your class and are willing to promote it for free. They see it as a win-win situation, so don t be afraid to ask. Here s how to capitalize on this opportunity: Industry associations: Industry and trade associations may also allow you to submit your class. If the class is relevant to their audience, ask if they will accept, post or promote classes from outside organizations. Chambers of commerce are often happy to promote classes relevant to their members, especially if you, or someone in your organization, is a member. Local media outlets: Many media sites, especially the hyper-local news sites, let you post classes directly to their website. Find these by searching Google for event calendars or class calendars in your city. Craigslist is a great starting point. Businesses: If there are businesses that employee a large number of people who would benefits from your class, like hospitals have hundreds of nurses that need to take CPR or other medical related classes, ask them to promote your class to their employees. Tip Don t just people to help with promotion, make it easy for them. Write a list of compelling messages and send them along in an

12 5 Perform search engine optimization People may be looking for your class right now! Make it easy for them to find you by doing some search engine optimization to your class landing page. Follow these basic instructions to search optimize your class page: URL???? Target a keyword: First, you need to choose a relevant keyword. The target keyword should combine the class topic, the word class, and the name of your city. Examples: French cooking class Irvine, CPR class Houston or Yoga in Salt Lake City. Title tags and headers: Use a title tag and header that include your target keyword. In the title tag, it s best to put the name of the class last, so the keyword appears first. This helps indicate relevance to Google. For example, a class for chefs in Irvine may benefit from a website with a title tag such as French Cooking Class in Irvine MasterChef Irvine.

13 Search-friendly description: The class landing page should have a nice, detailed class description, which includes the keyword several times. If it s long, break up the text into short, concise paragraphs. Use lots of formatting, including headers, sub headers, internal links, bullet lists, etc. Linking: Links are important for search engine rankings, so make sure to link to the page from other pages on your site. This will guide visitors to the page, but also help search engines know that the page is relevant.

14 6 Improve conversion rates Conversion rate optimization is about increasing the percentage of website visitors who end up achieving a conversion event (registering, submitting a contact form, joining a newsletter, social media sharing). This could be by improving the quality of traffic you are receiving or by improving your copy and design so people feel more compelled to act. In some cases, an extra minute/dollar spent improving conversion rates can have a greater impact on success than an extra minute/dollar spent increasing traffic. Please note, this is a more advanced step. So if you have a really large number of unfilled seats or if you will be offering this class on a recurring basis, then this is something that is definitely worth your time. Otherwise, consider bypassing this step until one of those factors are met. Install Google Analytics Event tracking Adwords..easier to track 1 Keyword 2 searches

15 7 Send notification s Show people you don t just want their money, but that you want them to attend your class by sending confirmation and reminder s. Confirmation s: Registrants need a record of what they registered for in order to get a reimbursement from work, taxes, and as place they can refer back to in case they forget or become uncertain about the details related to when your class is. Confirmation s that also allow you to add the event to a calendar are an additional bonus are likely to get utilized because most people use their providers calendaring system. Reminder s: Send a reminders s with the date and location of your class 5 days and 24 hours before the class is set to start so remember to attend. Some class administrators may say, If they already registered and paid, why should I make it my responsibility to remind them to show up? Something as simple as sending reminder s shows people that you believe in your product and sincerely like helping others. And if registrants feel they have that emotional connection from you, then they are more likely to help you out and tell others.

16 8 Send follow-up s Sending post-class follow-up s to attendees via is a great way to say thank you, solicit feedback, and request referrals. Link to a survey: Surveys are a great way to get feedback, but they re also a way to gather testimonials that you can use for future classes. Encourage social following: Some of your registrants may not be following your social media account. Never miss a chance to promote your social media accounts! Encourage social sharing: S Invite registrants to be notified of the next class: S

17 9 Analyze your data Why gather it if you aren t going to use it. Survey results, website analytics, analytics, marketing campaign roi Surveys: Surveys are a great way to get feedback, but they re also a way to gather testimonials that you can use for future classes. Website: Bounce rates, keyword click-through, adword click through, organic vs. direct, referral links Some of your registrants may not be following your social media account. Never miss a chance to promote your social media accounts! Encourage social sharing: S Invite registrants to be notified of the next class: S

18 10 Improve and repeat Foll Link

19 Conclusion Ready? Let s Do Some Class Marketing! We hope there are at least a few class marketing ideas here that you hadn t tried before. If this seemed overwhelming, don t worry. You don t need to do them all. But the more you do, the fewer crickets you ll hear. So get marketing! Have a condensed 1-page checklist people can print and use

20 Create a class landing page Send marketing s Share on social media sites Submit class to media and industry websites Search engine optimize your page Conversion rate optimize your page Send confirmation and reminder s Send post-class follow-up Analyze your feedback and data Make improvements and repeat

21 3 Keys to Persuasive Registration Marketing Imagine you are responsible for convincing homeowners to use fans to cool their home instead of air conditioning. Which of the following messages would you use to persuade people to make this change? 1. Save $54 a month on your utility bill by 2. Prevent the release of 262 pounds of greenhouse gases per month by 3. It is socially responsible to 4. 77% of your neighbors already Would you be surprised to hear that message #4 had the greatest impact on changing behavior? In a study published in The Wall Street Journal, several hundred residents received one of these four messages and were then tracked to see how their behaviors changed. Out of the four messages, message #4 had a 230% greater impact on behavior than the next best message. Want to know why it was more successful? The success of this campaign is attributed to the psychological phenomenon known as social proof, and serves as an example of one of many studies to conclude that psychological factors have a significant impact on how people make decisions. With that in mind, we wanted to highlight 3 psychological principles that you can use to persuade more people to register for your classes.

22 3 Persuasive Registration Marketing Principle 1 Social Proof People look to the actions of others to determine what they should do in a given situation. You can start applying social proof in your registration marketing by: Displaying ratings and reviews from past students Suggesting additional classes similar students registered to attend Showing the total number of people who have registered for a class Displaying the number of social media likes the class or organization has received

23 3 Persuasive Registration Marketing Principles 2 Scarcity People place more value on a product because availability is, or is perceived to be, limited relative to demand. Availability may be limited based on time, quantity, or both. You can use the principle of scarcity by communicating: How much time is left until early-bird specials or discounts ends How much time is left until registration ends How many seats are still available

24 3 Persuasive Registration Marketing Principles 3 Reciprocity People feel obligated to return a favor. When your expertise is your product, you can offer a portion of your expertise for free in the form of newsletters, blog posts, e-books, videos, webinars, online classes, or visual aides. The benefits of providing free online content are as follows: People feel obligated to return the favor and purchase your services. Improves your search engine ranking. Establishes the author and publishing organization as an authority on that subject matter. You can trade content for contact information. Doing so helps you get the foot in the door with people who may not have otherwise contacted you.

25 Contents 03 INTRODUCTION 04 CREATE A CLASS LANGIN PA (Introductory Level) 08 3 PERSUASIVE PRINCIPLES FOR IMPROVING CONVERSION RATES (Expert level really just depends on the landing page provider) 18 HOW TO DEFINE, MEASURE, AND TEST YOUR FUNNEL

26 Authors and Contributors???