Need Help Marketing
Your Seminar?

Promoting seminars can be a real nail-biter. The closer your seminar gets, the more tension mounts -- will you get enough people in the room to cover your costs? To avoid looking like a fool? To product adequate sales from the stage to produce the revenue you're counting on.

Experienced seminar promoters know that normal registration curves show an upswing in the final days or hours before an event. The closer you get, the more registrations will come in. With virtual events, most registrations arrive in the last 48 hours before an event. With a live event, registrations increase in the last week or two before the event.

If you notice yourself becoming worried and anxious about your event, do your best not to hold onto the feelings of fear and anxiety. Feel your feelings ... then let them go.

Hold a firm  vision of success – picture your room overflowing with people who are eager to hear your message. Staying in a positive state will help you stay open to the opportunities that appear to help you fill your room. It will also enable you to act quickly in the days remaining before your event, rather than freezing with panic.

You're ready to start marketing your own seminars. But you have no mailing list, no promotional materials, and no teaching materials. Where do you start?

Here are 10 ideas for publicizing your first local seminar.

1. Put up a web site describing your seminar. Having a web presence allows you to send anyone you meet to your site to learn more about your event. A web site can also accept registrations for you. This may prove helpful as you will be exceptionally busy promoting your event and may not have time to field inbound registration calls.
2. Begin building a mailing list ... starting immediately. The best source of leads for your seminars is a database of people who already know, like and trust you. As a new promoter, this list will be small, perhaps even non-existent. Maximize the return on the investment you're making into marketing your seminar by using your efforts to also build a database of leads. For example, to fully leverage all of the traffic you send to your site, be sure to include at least one place where people can opt-in to receive a free gift or information from you, even if they decide not to register for your seminar.
3. Create a flier to promote your seminar. This tool will be handy as you are out meeting people and talking about your seminar. Include key details about your event -- enough to entice prospects and convince them to visit your web site for full details. Your flier should include the seminar title; short background about your event; a short description of who should attend, what they’ll learn and how they’ll benefit; your bio; and a link to your site.
4. Contact colleagues who can help you promote your seminar. Think about people within your circle of influence who already have relationships with prospects for your seminar. Offer them a commission for every registration they help to generate or reward them with free tickets to your seminar.
5. Approach organizations whose members or clients are your prospects. For example, if you are promoting a business-related seminar, contact local chambers of commerce. Ask if they will send your flier to their members. If not, inquire about whether you can place an ad promoting your seminar in their member newsletter or on their web site, or be a guest speaker at an upcoming event.
6. Network. Hit the pavement, get out into your community and meet people. Identify what type of events your prospects attend, and then show up. Check out chamber of commerce events, lead and networking clubs, meetings and events sponsored by industry associations and clubs, and local Meetups on topics of interest (search www.meetup.com). Bring a stack of fliers to networking events, hand them out, and talk about your seminar with everyone you meet. Encourage them to come, and ask them to spread the word.
7. Create a special offer. Don’t like selling to people? You may find easier to approach strangers (and create a more receptive audience) if you offer them a special deal. For example, offer the colleagues you meet at networking events a free ticket for a guest if they register for your seminar. You’re giving them a special deal that will help to motivate them to register – plus you’ll fill an extra seat.
8. Stay in touch. Gather as many business cards as you can, and ask the people you meet for permission to add them to your mailing list. Email a thank you within 24 hours of meeting your contacts. Then stay in touch by mailing reminders about your seminar as the event gets closer. Also periodically send out educational information so that your new acquaintances learn more about your expertise and come to see you as a valuable resource.
9. Send a press release to event calendars for your community and/or your industry. Calendar editors will welcome your listing – they need to know what is happening in the community for their calendars to have value. Many local publications provide calendars of community events. Start with them, and also conduct an internet search for other online community or event calendars for your area.
10. Send a press release announcing your new business and seminar. Local publications love to cover local business. Launching a business is news. In your press release, identify the problem you help your clients solve and explain what your seminar will teach. If editors understand how your news is pertinent to their readers, they’ll read your news release. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get mentioned in your local paper.

Launching a local seminar from scratch requires hard work and persistence. These 10 steps provide a solid starting point for your new marketing program. Use them, and take note of your results. As you promote future seminars, continue using the tools that work, and continue testing new marketing tools until you find the perfect combination to reliability fill your events.