Are you on top of your marketing and promotion, consistent with your social media and have an effective referral program in place yet still having difficulty getting clients or potential clients to your virtual, live or in-person events?
If so, you might be embracing a common misperception that too many business owners are following. That is thinking that marketing and promotion are enough to fill your virtual and live and in person workshops or events.
Sure, there was a time that a dedicated email could do the trick, but those days are long gone.
I have heard from many business owners who have become frustrated because they have been promoting an event all over and get little response.
Here is the guiding principle to use: personal invitations or promotions work every time.
Keep this in mind and consider the following to get you much better results:
There are several ways to personally invite someone.
You can make a personal phone call, send a personal email or even a personal Facebook message, Instagram message or Linkedin® message.
Plus, a post card with a quick personal handwritten note will get you more action.
Texting is also available to you but reserve that only for people you really know. By the way, never send a group message or group email. You will lose many more friends than you will gain.
Promotion is impersonal.
Realize that people now receive hundreds of emails and see thousands of promotional messages each day.
Posting on social media and listing your event in groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, sending email campaigns to your list is not personal and does not capture the attention of the person you are reaching out to the way something personal does.
Even if someone has seen a lot of promotion for something, they will give it far more consideration when they have also received a personal invitation.
Use promotion to get the word out; however, to get people to sign up in far greater numbers you have to extend a personal invitation to them.
Making invitations is personal.
When you pick up the phone and call someone inviting them to an event or inviting them to have a conversation with you about attending your workshop or event, you are making a personal invitation and that builds influence and supports you in deepening your personal relationship that can result in more business.
Personal invitations evoke a decision.
Promotion and marketing inform people about what you are doing. It even garners people’s interest; however, it does not evoke a decision. Personal invitations do.
Everyone gets informed of many events every day though email, social media and ads. Still the sea of events are all the same because even when people take the time to click on the link and take a good look at the event page, they rarely decide to attend. After all they have to check their calendar to see if they are available and determine if they can take the time away from their other priorities.
When you personally invite someone, most people feel obligated to respond. To let you know if they are going to join you or not, they must make a decision.
To see the numbers at your workshops soar, embrace the idea of using personal invitations. Start to employ this strategy consistently and you will see more smiles in the squares on the screen at your virtual events and full chairs at your live and in person events.
This personalized strategy will support your business growth with ease.
Warmly,
Caterina
About the Author, Caterina Rando, MA, MCC
Caterina mentors women in business on a mission. Visit here for free resources and tools to support you to thrive. Join her for a free virtual workshop on business building topics. For more business building ideas listen to Caterina’s Expand Your Fempire Podcast here or download the free Expand Your Fempire app. for your phone.
For more information, reach her at cat@caterinarando.com.
