Understanding how your audience will discover and interact with your event for the first time is an important factor in converting a prospect into an actual attendee. To that end, before setting up an event on UNATION, or on other platforms, you will want to begin by placing yourself in the mind of a prospective attendee and to take into account their likely u201cuser-experienceu201d and decision-making process.
To give your event the best chance at success we suggest that you focus on two key components u2014 Event Branding and Layout.
Event Branding
Branding is an often overlooked aspect of event marketing, but extremely important in converting a prospect into an attendee. When establishing your eventu2019s brand, first think of your targeted demographic. This is important, as you want to make all of your possible event attendees u201cfeelu201d something when they first hear about and ultimately see your event online or in print.
One mistake that most event coordinators make is wanting to tell a possible attendee everything as soon as possible, which usually manifests itself in the form of a busy flyer or website that is very difficult to read on a mobile device. Instead, we suggest that you choose an image that elicits curiosity and a desire to learn more.
Another mistake is choosing a color scheme that you like, versus a color scheme that your targeted demo would respond to positively. For example, letu2019s say that youu2019re hosting a wine, cheese and music event and your targeted demographic is ages 25-50 within 20 miles of your location. In this example, we would suggest making the color palette for your branding soft, with more feminine colors, as it will likely be the women in the area that drive engagement and attendance. Next, the feeling you would want to inspire is one of connectivity with their other half, or experiencing something new, or meeting the love of their life. You wouldnu2019t want to lead with u201cAll you can eat and drink for $19.95,u201d with dark blue and orange color scheme, as this will not have the same impact on the desired audience making the decision.
Conversely, if youu2019re hosting a u201cManchester United Watch Party,u201d the decision maker will likely be men, so youu2019d want to make the branding more about the team colors, and the feeling you would want to inspire is all about having a blast with other fanatics.
Event Layout
Also, itu2019s important to understand that 80-90% of the people who see or hear about your event for the first time will do so from their phone. To that end, think about how someone will interact with your content from their mobile device and what you can do to compel them to interact with your event.
Start with the picture. Mobile users have been conditioned to scroll quickly down their phones and will stop only when they see something that piques their interest. Your first chance to pique their interest is the picture you choose as your event theme, so make it a good one. Choose something that conveys or inspires the message youu2019re looking to communicate and compels them to take the next step. Whenever possible, select a simple high-quality image and avoid busy photos with lots of text.
Next, choose your title carefully. If a browser is compelled to stop on your event because they are interested in your picture, the next thing they will see is your event title. To that end, choose a title that makes them want to make another step.
Next, make sure that your date, time, and address can be easily found on the phone, as all of those key details go into the decision making process for a possible attendee. Youu2019ve told them what with step 2, now itu2019s important to make sure they understand when and where.
Next, have your price front and center, as people make decisions on cost. You donu2019t want to have your possible attendees looking around to see how much your event costs because each second that takes makes it more likely that your prospect will close out of your event.
Next, your event description is a very important piece of the puzzle and should act as your closer for those who have gone this far. This is your event, itu2019s important to you and you want people to come, so take your time. We suggest drafting your description in two parts. Have the first few sentences convey a compelling reason why someone would want to attend. This may be enough to get that prospect to a decision. The second part of your event description can get into the granular details, with things like parking details, dress code, etc. Too often we see event hosts start with the granular details and they end up losing their last chance to convert that prospect into an actual attendee.
Understanding your prospective attendee and the factors that will go into their decision is important and the first step in getting more people to RSVP yes and/or buy tickets to your event.
Takeaways
Understand your prospective audience and choose your color palette, event branding, and message tone accordingly.
Understand that the majority of your prospective audience will interact with your event from their phone and will all go through these 3 simple steps/questions before making a decision to attend. First, does your image compel the prospect to stop scrolling? Second, does the name of your event entice the prospect to learn more? Third, is the when, where and how much clearly displayed so they can make a quick decision? And lastly, is your event description clearly communicating the expected experience if they RSVP yes and/or buy tickets?
If you have any questions or would like assistance in setting up your event branding or promotion, please feel to reach out to [email protected] or go start a chat directly from this page. We are excited to hear more about your upcoming event.
*UNATION constructed this simple formula after carefully studying how users interacted with tens of thousands of events online.