relevent/ marketing ideas
Retargeting is a form of online advertising that allows you to target past anonymous website visitors and re-display your marketing offer to them. When a potential attendee visits your website, they get tagged through a pixel and a cookie is set in their browser. The browser cookie (not a cookie of the Oreo variety) is then used to trigger ads to appear as the person browses other websites. The entire process is unobtrusive and seamless.
Another option is list-based retargeting, which allows you upload your entire member email list or past attendee lists onto the advertising platform, and specifically target these people as part of your advertising campaign. Because an existing customer is much easier to sell to than a new one, combining email and retargeting ads creates a powerful mix that can seriously boost your registrations.
Most prospective attendees will not register on their first visit, essentially abandoning their “shopping cart”. A cart abandonment campaign is a tried-and-tested method for generating conversions, regardless if your event is free to attend or not.
You know these prospects have shown an interest in your event because they have visited your event landing page. The reason why they didn’t register right away is not immediately important; after all, everyone needs a little reminder sometimes. What’s crucial is to not let this valuable segment slip away.
With retargeting you could deliver ads to everyone who visited the registration page but didn’t complete it, and remind them to do so. You can also combine this with your event timeline, and create distinct ads announcing registration opening, speaker reveals, early bird discounts or last-chance registrations. According to recent statistics, up to 60% of respondents say retargeting would encourage them to make a purchase they initially abandoned.
Once you have created your retargeting audiences, whether pixel-based or list-based, you can create what are called “lookalike audiences” on platforms like Facebook. A lookalike audience lets you reach new prospects who might be interested in your event because they are similar to your past attendees.
A lookalike audience is an audience that is similar to your source audience. For example, let’s say you uploaded your email list onto Facebook and are ready to run a retargeting campaign. Facebook will examine everyone on your list and try to identify their online behavior, patterns and interests. It will look for new people who share those very same markers in order to create the lookalike audience .
This can be incredibly useful, not only to help you keep acquisition costs low but also to scale up your potential audience size. It’s almost like doubling your entire email list all at once.
No-shows are a real thorn in the side of many meeting planners. Some report no-show rates of as much as 50% for free events, while the no-show rate for paid events hovers at around 10%.
Retargeting allows you to re-engage your registrants and get them to make further micro-commitments, in turn reducing no-shows. These campaigns can come in the form of accommodation discounts, app downloads or even 1:1 meetings with speakers and exhibitors. Anything you can do to add perceived value contributes to increased commitment. Give your event a “personal price tag” through such commitments.
Instead of letting your potential attendees slip through the cracks, event retargeting gives you a second chance to appeal to them wherever they are online. Whether they are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, or reading a news article, you’ll be there too nudging them to give your event another look.
Retargeting has significant benefits for your brand awareness, but most importantly it will give you a better return on your paid social media ad dollars. That’s because by targeting people who have previously shown interest in your event, they are more likely to convert, hence lowering your acquisition costs and increasing your event registration. A well-executed event retargeting campaign can deliver exceptional ROI.
Imagine combining inflluencer marketing, a powerful tactic for expanding your event’s reach, with retargeting, a proven technique for selling out your event. That’s what you’ll get with snöball!
Your event marketing strategist will analyze your event influencer marketing campaign results in real-time and help you grow even further through landing page retargeting along with other initiatives. See how snöball event influencer marketing can supercharge your event!
Vlad is a Digital Strategist focused on data-driven marketing performance campaigns that combine PPC, Social, SEO, and Analytics to drive growth for clients across Canada, UK and the US.
