So you're planning an event to help market your brand; great choice! One of the first big questions facing any event marketer is: how do I feel these seats with people? And even more importantly, how do I make sure they're the right people? In this e-book, we'll give you the tools to bolster the size and guarantee the quality of your audience with a straightforward, three-pronged approach.

1. Dana Larson
VP, Content Strategy | Opus Agency

2. WHAT TO
EXPECT IN
THIS EBOOK
» Introduction: Mastering Audience Acquisition
» Audience Acquisition in Three-Part Harmony
1. Strategy
2. Design & Implementation
3. Tracking, Measurement & Optimization
» Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION:
MASTERING
AUDIENCE
ACQUISITION
If you’re planning an event, you’re probably already
thinking about how you will get prospective attendees
to register. In fact, the number of registrants and
attendees is probably one of your primary key
performance indicators (KPIs).
This book outlines best practices around the
three main phases of audience acquisition:
1) Strategy, 2) Design and Implementation, and
3) Tracking, Measurement & Optimization.
It provides thoughtful considerations for ensuring
you’re not just acquiring an audience, but acquiring
the right audience.

4. PHASE 1: STRATEGY
The foundation for successful audience acquisition
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5. STRATEGY
DISCOVERY
As you begin your audience acquisition planning,
you’ll want to give yourself a good foundation of
information before you dig into the strategic
recommendations. Gather and review all information
that can be used to inform your strategy, including:
» Past event surveys and polls: Discover how attendees learned of the event,
what content resonates, and how attendees feel about the event
» Registration run rates YOY: Identify patterns and trends in registration timing;
overlay past acquisition efforts to identify promising channels/tactics
» Event/session attendance data: Learn what % of registrants actually attend;
gain insights for areas of focus
» Mobile app: Identify highly engaged event alumni for potential audience
segmentation
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6. STRATEGY
KPIs
Know How You’ll Measure Success
Now you’ll want to identify your KPIs, so you
can measure the success of your efforts. As
mentioned previously, tracking the number
of people who register/attend is an important
KPI. But you’ll want to make sure you have
a well-rounded set of KPIs for audience
acquisition that map to your event goals.
Here are some examples of other audience
acquisition KPIs:
» Total # of registrants/attendees
» # of alumni registrants/attendees
» # of new registrants/attendees
» # of registrants/attendees in specific target
» # of registrants paying full price
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7. Here are some ways you might segment:
» By experience level (e.g., C-suite, management,
contributor)
» By event attendance status (e.g., alumni, first-time
attendee)
» By relationship (e.g., customer, prospect, partner)
» By product interest or usage
STRATEGY
AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION
Know Who You’re Targeting
Next, you need to identify who you’re targeting.
Not all attendees have the same interests and
goals. Take the time to segment your audience
and then identify what makes each segment
unique. You’ll be able to better craft your
messaging to ensure it resonates and find the
most qualified attendees for your event.
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8. For example:
» Technical audience: “Register now for free
certification training worth $200.”
» Director audience: “Register now to hear the latest
trends in retail technology.”
» C-level audience: “Register now to join our VIP
roundtable on cybersecurity issues.”
STRATEGY
MESSAGING MATRIX
Plan What to Say to Each Audience
Now you need to develop those messages. One
of the keys to audience acquisition is finding
unique ways of connecting with each of your
target audiences. Increase relevancy and drive
conversion by creating a messaging matrix that
maps relevant topics and messages to target
audiences.
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9. of ticket purchasers say the Internet is the
main source for live event information.
64%
QUICK FACT
Source: http://blog.bizzabo.com/five-statistics-that-point-to-the-future-of-the-events-industry

10. Most comprehensive audience acquisition
plans will include elements from a
range of channels. Keep reading to learn
about common channels and their most
effective use.
STRATEGY
MESSAGING CHANNELS
Decide Where You Will Market Your Event
And then you’ll need to decide what channels
to leverage for marketing. If this is not the first
year for your event, look into your past data for
insights on channels that performed well.
Typically, email is a primary channel because
it is direct, customizable, and close to the
registration call to action/event website. You
can start with your last email list and build
from there. Your sales team and your partners
also represent a gold mine of possibilities worth
prospecting.
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11. There are nearly as many people talking about an event
on social media before the event as during it (40% and
42% of total posts, respectively).
QUICK FACT
https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-event-marketing

12. STRATEGY
MARKETING CHANNELS
The Marketing Channel Consideration Set
» Email: Nurture your database of existing prospects; obtain
purchased list for new contacts
» Direct mail: Reinforce with tangible invitation, especially for
high-end and VIP events
» Online: Broaden your reach with the target audience by using
banner ads on your own websites as well as on other paid sites
that offer relevancy
» Sales team: Tap into strong existing relationships and use the
power of persuasion through one-on-one communications
» Internal communications: Amplify your reach
with employee advocacy initiatives and PR
» Social media: Increase awareness and nurture
relationships with consistent, engaging content
» Search engines: Optimize for SEO for increased
findability and consider buying search ads
» Telemarketing: Increase attendance at the event
with last-minute phone reminders
» Mobile: Utilize SMS and mobile apps for updates
and reminders
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13. 25% of ticket purchasers who view an online video as part of
their research find that it affects consideration.
QUICK FACT
Source: http://blog.bizzabo.com/five-statistics-that-point-to-the-future-of-the-events-industry

14. STRATEGY
ACQUISITION CONTENT TACTICS
Plan Your Marketing Content
Now that you know who you’re targeting,
where you’ll reach them and what you want to
say, it’s time to determine how you’ll do it by
identifying marketing topics. These may end
up being emails, social media posts, blog posts,
etc.—it just depends on your overall plan. The
more specific you can be to your audience and
your event, the more successful you will be.
There are a number of standard topics to consider:
» Save the date
» Register now
» Registration incentive (e.g. early bird)
» Agenda announced
» Speakers announced
» Speaker Q&A
» Inside the event (video is ideal)
» Top X reasons to attend
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15. STRATEGY
ENGAGEMENT CONTENT TACTICS
Plan Your Engagement Content
Once you’ve planned how you’re going to reach your
audience and what you’re going to say, you should consider
adding another layer of content—engagement content.
Engagement content—whitepapers, webinars, videos, case
studies, blogs, infographics—showcases your thought
leadership and provides additional information around key
ideas to drive conversion. Integrate this content into your
overall plan to create a comprehensive approach.
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16. 61% of B2B marketers say white papers are the most effective
digital content tactic for generating leads.
QUICK FACT
White Papers
Webinars
Case Studies
Blogs
Videos
Infographics
Not Sure
Mobile Apps
61%58%
44%
32%
29%
25%
16%
5%
Source: http://createyournextcustomer.com/2016/03/21/24982/

17. STRATEGY
CALENDAR & TIMING
Put It All Together
Now it’s time to document all your great planning into
a calendar. This is an important step as it will be the
unifying roadmap for all team members across
various groups.
Include the topic, audience, channel and timing for each
outreach. Ensure all teams have input into the roadmap
timing, including creative services, social, technology, etc.
Careful up-front planning leads to more efficient audience
acquisition efforts.
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18. STRATEGY
NUTS & BOLTS
Don’t Forget the Details
It would be easy to jump right into design once
you have your content calendar complete, but
you’d be missing some key details that will
need to be addressed. Be sure to address these
before moving forward.
» Media buy(s): If your plan includes paid media,
you’ll need to determine who is making the buy
and begin the negotiations.
» List management: You may have an email list
from previous years, but want to augment it
with new prospects. Or this might be your first
year for this event. Or maybe you’re planning to
leverage sales and partner contacts. Whatever your
situation, you’ll need to determine the source(s) for
your contacts.
» Marketing automation: Determine what level
of integration will be needed with marketing
automation/CRM systems (e.g., Marketo, Eloqua,
Salesforce).
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19. PHASE 2: DESIGN
& IMPLEMENTATION
The emotional connection that drives conversion
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20. DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
THEME
Determine the Personality of Your Event
You want your event to be unique and
memorable—and your event brand will play
a key role in achieving that goal. In fact, your
event brand should be synonymous with the
way you want people to think of you. That’s
why it’s critical to carefully craft an event
theme that is authentic, meaningful and
exclusive.
Start by developing an event brand
promise that builds on the face-to-face
connection that live events offer. From
there, create an event theme that is true
to your goals but also makes an emotional
connection with customers. Research from
Harvard Business Review has shown that
emotionally engaged customers are more
loyal, satisfied and ready to proceed with a
new purchase.
Source: http://createyournextcustomer.com/2016/03/21/24982/
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21. Emotionally engaged customers are:
QUICK FACT
At least three times more likely to
recommend your product or service
Less likely to shop around (44% said
they rarely or never shop around)
Three times more likely to re-purchase
Much less price sensitive (33% said they
would need a discount of over 20% before
they would defect)
Source: https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/09/19/nine-ways-brands-can-improve-emotional-connections-with-customers/

22. DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
LOOK & FEEL
Determine the Visual Personality of
Your Event
Once you have a verbal representation of your
event brand, you will need to translate it into a
visual personality.
This may include designing an event logo,
providing guidelines for the logo/theme
lockup, defining a color palette, and creating
iconography and supporting graphics.
Together, these elements convey the
spirit of your event brand in a way
that when one sees a piece of event
marketing—whether email, social
media post, banner ad or signage—they
immediately recognize it as yours and
feel a connection to it.
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23. Products are made in the factory,
but brands are created in the mind.
–WALTER LANDOR, FOUNDER, LANDOR ASSOCIATES
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24. DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
CAMPAIGN ELEMENTS
Create the Marketing Campaign
Now it’s time to package up all that strategic
planning, audience messaging and brand
design into campaign elements you can use to
attract your audience.
Begin your campaign development, including:
» Design and lay out event website
» Create email layouts/templates
» Design infographics
» Create video
» Design web banners
» Create supporting elements (e.g., email signatures,
PowerPoint templates, social platform headers, etc.)
» Prep all digital elements in appropriate format for
delivery (e.g., HTML, OFT, text)
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25. DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
BEGIN MARKETING
Start Your Marketing Push
Whew! You’re in the homestretch now.
If you’ve documented your strategy and created a content
calendar, this step is as easy as following a recipe. Just be
sure that you’ve incorporated all of the appropriate tracking
needed for reporting and measurement. Then begin
pushing out your marketing per your plan.
Most likely, you’ll have planned a slow ramp up that builds
into a crescendo as the event nears. Use that gradual start to
gather insights and adjust accordingly.
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26. PHASE 3: TRACK,
MEASURE & OPTIMIZE
Your opportunity to capitalize on what’s working—and fix what’s not
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27. TRACK, MEASURE & OPTIMIZE
WHAT TO MONITOR
Put Your KPIs to Work
Remember back at the beginning of this
book, when we mentioned how important it
is to determine your KPIs? Here’s where you
start to track and measure against those
KPIs.
Some event metrics you may want to track include:
» Track email open and click-through rates:
See how many recipients have opened and clicked on
your emails
» Registration velocity: Track registration numbers to see
if they’re on target with past metrics and current goals
» Channels driving traffic to registration: Determine
which channels are most successful at driving traffic
and qualified leads
» Registration abandonment points: Identify areas
prospects are dropping out of the registration process
» Target audience segmentation goals: Discover which
audiences may need additional acquisition tactics
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28. TRACK, MEASURE & OPTIMIZE
MAKE IT BETTER
Learn From Your Efforts
Once you begin to send emails, post to social media,
go live with web banners, and other trackable
events, you can begin to see what is and is not
working. You’ll also be able to see how you’re
performing against goals to determine if any
additional efforts are needed.
Some ways to make it better include:
» Identify areas where content edits/additions may help
drive conversion in the registration process
» Learn what subject lines are resonating with your
audiences and follow those positive clues for future
emails
» Determine if additional topics and/or tactics may be
needed to acquire the desired audience
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29. AUDIENCE
ACQUISITION
THAT DELIVERS
As you can see, there’s quite a lot of planning and
strategy that goes into acquiring an audience for
an event. However, laying that strong strategic
foundation and connecting with your audience will be
the keys to reaching your audience acquisition goals.
Need help? Opus has full-spectrum event content
strategy experience—from audience segmentation
to audience acquisition, event messaging to keynote
design, and so much more—and we’d love to help. If
you’re interested in partnering, contact EVP of Global
Accounts Kristin Waters.
“Learn the key steps to acquiring an audience
for your next #event with this @OpusAgency
#eBook. bit.ly/eventaudience #EventProfs”
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30. DANA LARSON
Drawing on more than 20 years of content and marketing experience, Dana is
responsible for developing digital and content marketing strategies, enabling Opus
clients to optimize their conversations with their audiences in and around events.
A highly regarded thought leader in the world of content marketing, Dana has
written articles on content strategy and marketing that have moved industry
players into taking sides and taking action. She has spoken at key industry events,
including the Gilbane Conference, and at corporate-wide marketing events for
industry leaders such as McKesson. Delivering winning content strategies for
clients such as Alaska Airlines, Farmers Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Stanford
Health Care, Verizon Wireless, Symantec, Wells Fargo, Visa, and many others
continues to fuel her passion. Contact Dana Larson for more information.
Opus Agency is a brand events and marketing agency. We create and manage
hundreds of events and campaigns every year, all over the world, including things like
strategic executive-level summits, immersive brand experiences, and conferences with
20,000 attendees. We have amazing people that share strong values, and a specific
methodology that ties everything we do to Customer Success. We call it TeamCS™.
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31. OPUSAGENCY.COM