3 Golden Tactics for Smart B2B Event Outreach

New companies often come to us asking for a "quick fix" to help with their upcoming event. Most of the time, it's either the registration numbers are lower than expected, or their team is having trouble getting final RSVP confirmations. Both of which take time and careful strategy from the get-go.

Sure, there are always a few last-minute tricks we can try. But, after supporting thousands of events, we've learned that the success of yours really comes down to these 3 golden tactics.

Find Your Target Audience

Even if all of your buyer personas could find value in attending, the actual target audience of your event should be narrowed to who will best help you acheive your goal. For most B2B clients we work with, the goal is revenue. This means you need to spend your resources focusing on prospects who are most likely to buy. Use the data you already have in your CRM and other marketing/customer platforms to understand:

• Your past audience analysis
• Current customer data and trends
• Demographic and psychographic information
• Messaging structure, and more.

We've put together a free guide that's meant to help you better organize the data as you dive into it. You can download it here.

Personalize Your Invite Process

The default event invitation process for most companies is the same, create an email and blast that email out to your entire contact list. After all, "who wouldn't want to attend this fun event?!" And while the intention is genuine, people need some sort of an incentive.

Serious Question - Why should your prospects take time out of their day to network with strangers and listen to a sales pitch or two when they could be home with their animals?

You don't need to give out free ipads to anyone who stops by your sales table or have a celebrity appearance, you need to make your prospect feel valued. The event isn't about you, it's about what they gain from going to it.

So, how do you do this?

Since you've already gone through the process of uncovering your event's target audience, you now know information such as:

• What actions an attendee took before deciding to register for your event
• What days and times they are most likely to engage
• What type of content and events they engage with
• How long it typically takes an event lead to close and how many touches
• Likes, dislikes, hobbies, and interests
• Pain points and job aspirations

From the planning stages to the actual outreach, you should be using this information to create custom messaging that resonates. This might mean you will need to segment contacts based on similar data points in order to create the best possible invite. Some of the top personalization methods include:

• Tokens: Including someone's company name, job title, and other information in your invite - beyond their first name!
• Similar Interests: Notice that a large percentage of your target audience is passionate about dogs? (who isn't?) Then make a version of your invite that includes a picture of a dog or something to draw their attention. The goal is to build a human connection.
• Pain Points: All of your target prospects have the same pain point in common; because if they didn't, they wouldn't need your solution. Focus on highlighting not just the benefit of using your product, but what your prospect's lives could look like if they do...show them how great your solution really is!
• Insider Information: What other information do you have about your target prospects that links them all? Maybe you're targeting all local residents and there's a reference to the city that only they would know. Or perhaps all of the previous attendees who closed asked to review a specific product sheet before hand, and you can speed the process up by sending it along now. Use these insights when possible!

Send Reminders

Finally, keep the excitement for your event strong by sending custom reminders to your registrants and making phone calls. Focus on the value that they will learn, any new updates to the schedule, and other fun content that will help encourage attendance.

Tip: Text messages are a great way to send a fast and simple event reminder. Also, not many companies are taking advantage of this feature yet, so you'll stand out!

Interested in hearing how Banzai helps companies utilize these tactics to increase event ROI? Book a call with the team today.