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Physical events such as the education fairs were one of the first hit as the global pandemic began to plummet industries across the globe. However, many institutions were quick to adapt to the online spectrum by transforming their teaching methods to a completely virtual environment. While the teaching was done online, many were grappling with how to conduct education fairs in a way that doesn’t affect the public at large, and online education fairs came as a reliable and effective solution.
However, after the advent of the global pandemic, there has been a barrage of webinars and online events being conducted day in and day out, and to be honest, not every event is a roaring success. There are a lot of metrics that matter for the success of an event, and one of the most important aspects is how you get more prospective attendees excited about the event to not just sign up, but also show up on the said event date.
In this competitive landscape of the education industry, you need to know the ins and outs of marketing to stand out from the crowd.
But fret not, because our experts at Wiz365 have devised a marketing plan that when followed would increase your attendee count to a whole new high.
1. Create an Attractive Landing Page
A landing page is more often than not, the first point of contact for your audience. It should essentially be treated as the face of your event and must be designed in a clever manner. To put it in simpler terms, you need to treat this space as your elevator pitch. 10 seconds is all you have got to capture your audiences’ attention, and if you fail to do so, chances are, you are never getting them to sign up.
Basic human psychology is tuned in such a way as to think, “what is in it for me?” You need to make sure that you address this question to your potential target audience. Here is a checklist that might come in handy while designing your landing page.
- A crisp, attractive, and inviting headline
- The date and time of your event.
- The event’s agenda that entails your schedule throughout the day, say webinars, AMA sessions, etc.
- Make sure you include your sponsors with their brand logos to build more credibility and authenticity to your event.
- Write a brief note about the event so the attendees know what to expect
- Have a detailed FAQ section addressing all the questions that your prospective attendee might have in mind.
- Plan your landing page’s content and visuals that work in tandem with your agenda.
- Lastly, make sure you include an engaging video to attract and convert your traffic into registrations.
Also, even while there are no hard and fast rules, it is wise to set up your landing page 3 - 4 weeks before your event commences to attract more audience to your event.
2. Leverage Social Media Marketing
Social media is no longer just about remembering your long-lost friend’s birthdays. Rather it has become a strong tool to connect directly with your audience and especially when hosting an education fair, students and your prospective attendees are constantly engaging on social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Your choice of social media platforms may vary depending on the audience you are targeting. Typically, for an education fair, it is wise to use Facebook and Instagram where students and young audiences often set up their tents.
As a standard practice, it is great to have a mix of paid and organic posts with remarketing. Particularly, Facebook and LinkedIn use their web technology to track the people that visit your landing page without having converted. You can leverage the platforms to aim targeted ads at your prospective visitors who could be convinced to attend your event.
Here are some tips that you could use before planning your social media campaign:
- On average, it is good practice to post 3-4 ads per week
- Give a great hashtag for your campaign. This can also be repurposed to run a contest.
- Integrate relevant keywords into your captions.
- Try using a consistent and dynamic design layout and try not to misplace your logo in every post.
- Set a relatable and interactive tone to engage with your audience on a personal note.
3. Capitalize the Power of Email Marketing
Email marketing often comes as a boon in disguise for developing a rich pipeline of your audience segments. As a matter of fact, according to the Events Industry Benchmark Report, around 40% of marketers believe that email marketing is the most effective way for event promotions. But the question that hangs around is, where do we start? For starters, in case you are lucky enough to have an already existing customer base, it’s always wise to start with them. After all, it’s always easier to pick the lowest-hanging fruit, right?
However, in order to fully utilize the power of email marketing, you need to plan it out carefully. Here are a few things that you should consider when planning an email campaign.
- Audience segmentation is key - dissect your audience into different sections, think about your event and derive who will benefit from your event. For instance, for an education fair, your audience segmentation can widely be students, teachers, consultants, and parents. Once you have segmented your audience, tailor the email to each category.
- Plan the number of emails you plan to send your prospective attendees in such a way that you don’t spam them.
- Write a compelling subject line - a lot of studies have revealed that an email with a strong subject line often has a higher opening rate.
- It is wise to conduct A/B testing to check which works best for your audience.
- Most importantly, make sure you add a strong Call-to-Action, for instance, say, Register Now, and link it to your landing page.
Conclusion
An education fair, no matter how top-notch or informative it might be, the first step towards your event being a successful one depends on a lot of factors: and one of the most important aspects is attracting and getting as many registrations as possible. A cleverly thought out and a well-charted marketing plan in place doesn’t just maximize your registrations but also improves your overall traction.
Planning to conduct a one-of-a-kind education fair? Get in touch with our experts today!
