April 2015
Unleash The Power of Word of Mouth 


Attendance Acquisition Evolves From 4 P's To 3 E's

If your marketing spend is greater than 6% of your direct conference expenses, your fan base and positive word of mouth (WOM) marketing is lacking. Authentic WOM marketing, received from a trusted colleague, is hands-down the most powerful form of marketing. Conversely, , negative WOM can kill your conference.

 

We really like the 2nd article below from Forbes. The author does a great job of explaining the shift from marketing's traditional four P's (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) to today's more effective three E's (Engage, Equip, Empower). To successfully implement a WOM strategy, conference organizers need to first earn trust and then provide share-worthy content. The most effective WOM strategies will activate the individual, not the company.

 

Lots of people think that the rise of social media provides incredible opportunities for growing WOM. The experts are saying that most WOM still happens off-line (one to one). Sure having a high Klout score adds credibility, but don't count on that juice to significantly convert premium conference participants.

 

This doesn't mean that you should ignore social channels. They'll definitely help improve your reach and amplification through ease of sharing.

 

How can you better use WOM to grow your conference attendance?

 
For Your Conferences And Events

What if you could create a volunteer army of true believers who spread the word about your conference? Would you? Sure you would. Creating customer evangelists is a more efficient and profitable approach to acquiring and retaining customers than traditional marketing...

 

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM). Isn't this really the original social media platform? I grew up with the famous Faberge commercial that showed a woman who "told 2 friends" about the product and how "they told 2 friends ... and so on ... and so on". Hasn't WOM always been a powerful way to influence business results?
anchor3Why Social Transmission Relies on Face-toFace Interaction

People trust word of mouth much more than they trust ads. So if you see an ad that says, "This conference is great, you should go check it out," you are well aware that of course the ad will say the conference is great. The ads are always glowingly positive; the comments they put up from attendees are always going to be positive. Word of mouth is much more nuanced. We know that our friends and colleagues will tell it to us straight.


 

article4Results Worth Talking About: The ROI of WOM

 

We're wrapping up SXSW Interactive, and if you aren't attending live in Austin, you surely know it's taking place from all of the Tweet-sized insights, humblebrags, and other social word of mouth from event attendees. One of the most insightful sessions came from WOMMA itself, and focused on its latest research, the Return on WOM Study. Here are five key findings from the report with panelist insights from Discovery Communications, AT&T, House Party and Spredfast.

 

 

article5Why Your Conference Needs To Focus On Building A 

Loyal Proprietary Audience

 

Quick: What is the most important asset of your conference today? Sponsors? Exhibitors? Your brand? Your events team? Your history? The venue? Your vendors? The content? Your speakers? Your technology? Yeah, all of these are likely responses. However, there's one asset that most conference organizers and hosts constantly miss when responding to this question: audiences.


 
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