Employees Surfing the Internet Is Good for Your Business

I have a bone to pick with most business—small and large—when it comes to professional development. Specifically, it’s the lack of professional development that frustrates me. There’s an attitude in too many workplaces that reading trade magazines, going to professional events and so on are wastes of time, or at best something that workers should do on their own time.

That’s foolish and short-sighted. An employee who isn’t learning something new pretty soon loses their value. In our organization, budget doesn’t always allow for us to send employees to classes or events, but we do offer them time during the work week to pursue their own professional development. That means reading about new technology, freelance writing for other publications and even networking with their friend, family and so on.

Spending time on Facebook and Twitter accounts isn’t viewed as unproductive here. Surfing the internet is encouraged. So long as the work gets done when it needs to get done, the rest of my employees’ time is their own.

To those of you who are skeptical about whether this works, I’ll be upfront and say it doesn’t work on its own. It’s part of our office culture, and it’s something we manage as much as we manage any other aspect of the business. Here are a few things we do to avoid major problems when it comes to getting the work done:

Deadlines should come early and often.
It’s not enough to give an ultimate deadline and hope everything is done by then. Deadlines should be set on a weekly, if not daily, basis for things that need to get done in order for a project to be successful. We publish magazines, so there are deadlines for coming up with stories, conducting interviews, turning in stories, editing them and so on. The same goes for our electronic publications.

Be specific about the work that needs to be done and when.
Take the above example. It’s not enough to say “here’s a deadline for coming up with story ideas.” Try to be more specific: “This is the deadline for coming up with 10 story ideas, including potential sources and tentative headlines.”

Hire Hard Workers
I admit this is easier said than done. It takes a lot of sifting through potential employees to find ones who will work hard no matter what you throw at them. And also you have to be willing to pay them what they’re worth.

Filed under: Conference Marketing

Boost Your Event Publicity: A Road Map for Conference Directors

I’m going to share with you a very simple but effective strategy for getting your event more publicity. It’s a strategy that any-sized event can adopt, and if it’s executed correctly, this strategy will bring more attention and interest to your event than ever before. The idea itself is so simple, you’ll wonder why more event planners don’t take advantage of it.

But first, let me pose a question. How does your event generate publicity and awareness now? Do you rely on traditional press releases, brochures, websites and direct mail? Do you place ads in publications and hope to get mentioned in the editorial as well? These are the tactics that many conference directors still employ to get the word out and drum up interest in their events. Let’s look at some of the challenges with these tactics:

Traditional Press Releases: When they’re written for publications, they often contain nuts-and-bolts information. You’re at the mercy of the publications and readers who may or may not pick them up.

Advertising and Direct Mail: These forms of communication are only as good as the mailing lists that you own or the publication you advertise in owns.

The strategy I’m about to suggest is designed to perpetuate your message. It uses the power of the internet and social media to disseminate your message without boundaries, to more people than you or a publication could reach on its own. In fact, if you follow the steps below, you will stop having to spend so much time pushing your message out. Prospective exhibitors and attendees will come to you.

So what’s the secret? It’s simple. Your event is the source of valuable information and content that people want. Using the internet and social media in carefully coordinated ways, you can use this valuable content to promote your conference and ultimately convert prospects to attendees.

A word of caution: The strategy is simple, but many conference directors are afraid to share their valuable content with prospects. They’re afraid that sharing education presentations before the conference, for instance, will discourage people from attending. This is simply NOT TRUE!

The more content you share freely, the more it will be passed along and shared by networks of people interested in the information you provide. It will carry your event’s brand to people who didn’t know you existed. It will increase the available pool of prospects, and eventually many of them will convert to attendees.

Why is this so? Because there is no substitute for a live event. Sharing conference content ahead of time does not prevent attendees from coming to the show. In fact, it does the opposite, by exciting prospects and confirming that the event itself has value.

If you are new to this way of thinking, here’s a basic tactical plan of what you’re going to do:

1. Start a blog dedicated to covering your conference. At the very least, make sure the blog has an RSS feed, so people can keep track of updates without having to visit every day. Optional: Create advertising space and sell this blog as a sponsorship to exhibitors.
2. Post early, post often. Post photos from previous conferences. Interview session speakers and post the transcripts. Interview past attendees and ask them about their experiences. Post everything they say—the good and bad. Write a story about an attendee who found the product he was looking for at your show. Write about international attendees. The story ideas are endless, and there’s only one requirement: The content must be engaging and relevant! Avoid promotional copy.
3. Set up a Twitter and LinkedIn Account. Start building a network of followers. Post links to your blog. Update followers when new exhibitors buy space on the floor. Again, the ideas are limitless, so long as the content is relevant , useful and engaging. If you do this well, your network of followers will push your content to their network of followers.
4. Post content during the conference. If you publish a show daily, a blog is a natural add-on. Hire writers or use staff and attendees to post live content.
5. Post after the conference. Write a follow up story. Post as much content about sessions as possible. Include photos. You want as many people to review this information as possible.

If you follow these steps, produce good writing and stay focused on your publicity and marketing goals, this tactical template will take you far. Instead of having to push out press releases and brochures, other publications and prospects will come to your blog for information to publish. You are the source of information that people are searching for. Embrace this advantage and you will see awareness and attendance climb.

Filed under: Conference Marketing, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategies Articles, Conference Marketing, Content Marketing