Top 7 Marketing Tactics For Conferences

Most people attend a professional conference at least once per year. A professional conference is a unique marketing opportunity because it gives you face-to-face contact with hundreds, if not thousands, of professionals who could use your services or refer clients to you.

What marketing tactics do you usually use when you attend a conference?

Network, you say?

Yes, but there’s much more. And even when you network, it’s the add-on’s that make your networking memorable; otherwise, you're just another face in the crowd. Try my Top 7 Conference Tactics to generate more clients and revenue streams.

Top 7 Conference Tactics

1. Offer to do a presentation at the conference. Where else could you get a captive audience of folks interested in what YOU have to say in a room that you’re not even paying for?

These people CHOSE to attend your session! This is the easiest form of niche marketing you have available! Give it everything you’ve got so that your presentation is absolutely stellar: top quality information delivered in a way that keeps your audience’s attention. Exceed their expectations!

2. Contact the person who is handling registrations and find out who is going to that conference that you can connect with prior to the conference. Make your connections ahead of the conference so that you can develop them further when you are at the conference.

You want the registration person to identify folks who:

a. live in your geographical area OR

b. specialize in the same sub- specialty you do OR

c. are also in partnership with others OR

d.are solo entrepreneurs

You choose the criteria important to you. All you need is a short list of people who meet that criteria.

Let's say you wanted the names and phone numbers or email addresses of people who live in the same city as you. Contact them to establish a relationship and make plans to meet at the conference.

3. Order web cards to take to the conference with you. Go to web-cards.com and get a screenshot of your web site taken to order postcards. Take a pile of those postcards and stamps with you so that when you get back to your hotel room at night you can write personal notes and address postcards to people you met that day. That way, they'll have your postcard with all of your contact information on it when they return home from the conference.

4. Plan at least 1 handout for a presentation you'll be giving at the conference. You should give your audience at least 1 handout they can take notes on during your presentation. That handout must have your name, contact info, vision/mission at the bottom of every page. If the back side of your handout will be blank, consider a simple design for your vision/mission that will be memorable for people. You don’t want too much copy on the back side of a handout, just something memorable that fits your topic.

5. Print on the back of your business cards attraction questions, a quick 3-question survey, or something that makes your practice memorable. How many business cards that you collect at a conference do you throw away when you get home? That won’t happen to yours if you make the back of your business card memorable.

While you're at it, get your business cards up to date and in sufficient quantity. Never, ever give out a business card that has numbers crossed out or an address change. There’s just no excuse for unprofessional looking business cards so plan ahead to have yours re-printed, front and back.

6. Request table space to set up your books, audiocassettes, brochures, business cards and anything else that will promote you. There are good and not-good ways to set up materials at a conference. Learn what those are and organize your promotion plan before you get to the conference so that you’re ready when you arrive.

7. Volunteer to staff a section of the conference. Helping to staff an area of the conference will help the conference run better and provide you an excellent opportunity to meet many people. Exchange business cards and send these individuals a web card as follow-up.