This is a guest post from Emily Wiseheart, a content manager at Constant Contact.
Whether you are just starting to plan your next event, or are already in the depths of logistics, you need to promote it to as many potential attendees as possible.
Promoting your event with email marketing can be done in multiple ways, but your efforts are only as good as your list. Luckily, growing your email list is something that can be done at any stage of your event. Just know: the sooner you get started, the better.
Easy and effective ways to grow your email list
The best way to ask for someone’s personal information, like an email address, is to offer an incentive in return. When reading the below list of approaches to collect email addresses, be thinking of ways you can entice people to sign up. For example, in exchange for their email address, offer a 10% discount on their next ticket purchase, or a coupon for merchandise.
Here are the five best ways to grow your email list.
1. Add a sign-up form to your website
As a best practice, one of the first steps you should take to build up your email list is to add an email sign-up form to your website. If someone has taken the time to find you online, they may be interested in staying informed about your upcoming events. Make sure that your sign-up form is somewhere visible and easy to find.
You can even take this one step further by adding a pop-up sign-up form that presents itself to your website visitors when they browse your site. This way your visitors do not have to go searching for it.
2. Text-to-join
A quick and easy way to collect new email subscribers on-the-go is to set up a “text-to-join” option. This way, if you are out in the community, at an event, or meet someone who may be interested in keeping in touch, they can just pull out their phone and join your mailing list.
This approach works by texting a specific keyword to a specific number. For example, a concert venue may have prospects text “MUSICROCKS” to 123456 to be automatically enrolled on their email subscriber list.
You could even print the keyword and number on a business card to hand to people as you meet them so they can sign up at their convenience.
3. Add a sign-up link to your emails
Not everyone who sees your marketing emails will be on your email list. That’s because people may be forwarding your emails to their friends and family. If that happens, chances are those friends and family are interested in your content. Make sure they have the chance to receive more of it!
To make it easy for your email readers to sign up, add a “Join Our Mailing List” button to the footer of your marketing emails.
Also, you and anyone who represents your business should add a link to sign up for your email list in your email signature. That way, whenever you are communicating with prospects, they will be able to sign up right from your email.
4. Use Facebook to collect signups
Social media, and Facebook in particular, is a great way to engage prospects and collect email addresses. First and foremost, make sure you have a link to sign up to your email list on your Facebook page. Like on your website, this link should be easy to locate.
Next, you can set up a Facebook Lead Ad. This is a type of ad that appears to a set audience of prospects that you determine on Facebook and collects signups. To make it easy, when Facebook users click on your ad, they’re presented with a sign-up form that’s pre-filled with contact information that they’ve publicly shared on Facebook.
These ads are not free but are great for any size business as you can set the budget and duration for how long they will run.
5. Add registrants from past events to your email list
If you are not already using former event registrants to promote future events, you are missing out! These people are perfect prospects as they have shown interest in your events in the past and you probably already have their information, especially if you use event management technology like Eventbrite to plan your events.
To streamline this collection process, integrate your event management technology with your email marketing platform. This will enable you to pull the emails these people used to register for past events into your email marketing system, where you can reach out to them directly to promote your next event. Just be sure they’ve opted in to receive marketing emails from you in the future.
Grow your list to grow your event
The best way to grow your list is by making sure signing up for it is easy to find, and hard to say “no” to. By offering valuable content and an incentive for joining, your list will be full of relevant and interested prospects that are ready to hear about your events.
Once you have your email list, it’s time to send them emails! Use these 7 Email Copy Templates to Sell Out Your Next Event to keep your list engaged.
