10 Steps to Promote a Program: 3rd in a series

Regardless of how much your community needs your event, they won’t come if you don’t promote it. Planning and developing promotional event is not hard, but it takes time. Here are three steps to promote a program series that will attract your ideal clientele.

1. Set a promotional event date eight weeks from when you’ll begin preparations. Your paid event should follow within a week or so. Note any holidays or vacation times that might affect your ability to reach people and gain good attendance. Right now, Fourth of July, summer vacations, and Labor Day delay my launch date.

2. Set up a landing page on your website to sell the free webinar. The landing page is hidden to regular website visitors. Only the people in your webinar will receive it. To set up a landing page, use your WordPress settings to remove all navigation menus, links to other pages, and sidebars.

If you don’t have these settings on your website, you can buy a new domain name specific to the title of your event and use that as a landing page. Some people prefer a dedicated name anyway to attract people using search engines.

3. Make sure you have Google Analytics or a similar program set up to record visits and registrations. This is how you'll know which websites and partners are most successful and which are less so. You may already have this set if your landing page is on your website. If you use a separate domain, you’ll have to create a Google Analytics report for this new site.

4. Write two landing pages, one for the free event and one for the paid one, that emphasize the benefits of all the event components. For example, my free event will provide details for a six-step system to create and market a successful ebook. Participants will also get writing tips, a chance to ask questions about their projects and get answers, and a downloadable graphic of the entire system. The landing page for the paid event that follows, will go beyond the benefits of the system and offer guidance, support, ideas, camaraderie, and accountability through various features of the program.

5. Set up a link in PayPal or another payment system and add it to the paid event landing page.

6. Write three or four newsletters and posts that only talk about the free webinar. Briefly describe the event and its benefits. Tell people to click the link for more information and to register. When they do, they will read your landing page, and register for your session.

7. Write various paragraphs for your regular newsletters that also include the free event landing page link.

8. Write e-mails to other Internet businesses who serve the same clientele. Describe your event and ask them to mention your free webinar in their newsletter and social media.  To save them time and effort, include an event description that emphasizes its benefits to attendees and a link to your landing page that these partners can use.

In addition to information about your event, tell your partners how offering this webinar to their subscribers and followers will benefit them. If you’re starting out, you might write to colleagues and mentors who already support you. Later on, you can write to those you don’t know and offer them a percentage of your sales.

9. Have your e-mails, landing pages, and printed items to download professionally proofread, or at least give it to someone you know who can see your writing with fresh eyes. I’m always amazed at the mistakes I find in my writing days or weeks later.

Save all your emails and landing pages to use as templates for future events. These old pieces will give you an outline and you can reuse some of the language. You'll save a lot of time for next time,

All these steps need careful planning and writing, so all your communications are effective and sent at the appropriate times.

Questions for Reflection and Comment

  • Exactly when will you hold your promotional event? Remember, allow six to eight weeks for planning and promotion. If this is your first time, allow eight to ten weeks.
  • When will your paid event start?
  • When will you start planning?

See the previous articles in this series, 7 Steps to Create a Coaching Program and How to Promote a Webinar.

My next article will focus specifically on how to plan the timing of  your launch.

Please share and comment below.

 

2 Comments

  1. Naomi

    Great articles. Great information!

    • Holly Genser

      Thank you, Naomi! I appreciated your post on Facebook today. I worked with a lot of college youth who fit this description as well.

      I'm glad you're on my mailing list. I have a good article coming out early tomorrow morning on why people upgrade for the 4 Keys to Quality Interaction.

      Regards,

      Holly

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