Educational Seminar Best Practices

Having marketed thousands of seminars online, we've learned a thing or two about what it takes to execute a GREAT educational seminar. We call them our Seminar Best Practices. Please read these carefully to give you the best shot at a high-converting seminar campaign. We will market any event at any location you want to choose, but following these Best Practices will help you maximize your campaign's performance.

Best Practices Overview:

Venue: Colleges, Universities, Libraries & Movie Theaters (movie marketing events only)
Time of Day: Start time between 6:00 and 7:00 PM
Days of Week: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
Multiple Dates: No more than 1 week between event 1 and 2
Audience Size: Must meet minimum requirement within driving distance
Frequency: At least 30 days between campaigns in the same marketing zone

Order Timing:

We need your order 45 days before your seminar event.
We will launch ads 2.5 weeks before your first campaign event for 2 night campaign, and 2 weeks before 1 night campaign.
Please email logos, bios and headshots to us at least 10 days prior to launch date.

Best Practices (expanded...)

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Tuesdays, Wednesday’s, and Thursday’s are the best nights for seminars.
Multiple Dates: No more than 2 dates on any one campaign. 2 date campaigns should not be more than 1 week apart.
Only 1 venue may be used on any one campaign.

TIME OF DAY

Because evenings out-perform day events, start times must be between 6 and 7 PM. More than 50% of the people we market to are still working during normal business hours. Hosting events during business hours will reduce performance.
We also recommend 1-hour classes.

VENUES

Neutral venues: Colleges, Universities & Libraries (Note: We do not recommend colleges with religious or specialty affiliations as that may impact your response rate).
Community centers, recreation facilities, wedding venues, conference venues or commercial event centers can work, but are not recommended.

Please note it is your responsibility to secure your venue space and obtain any insurance required by the venue. Please share any venue specific regulations with our team related to marketing your event in the special instructions on your order.

AUDIENCE SIZE AND DEMOGRAPHICS

Your audience must meet our size guidelines and be within a reasonable driving distance (10 mi) of your venue. If the number of people reached isn't as large as the minimum that gets the best response, we will let you know. This is only relevant to venues in rural or small communities.
Standard Demographics: Demographic targeting is limited with digital campaigns. By default we will create audiences intended to attract affluent retirees, but occasionally our ads will reach other audiences. We're unable to accommodate niche targeting request for digital (example: people who work for a specific employer).

FREQUENCY

Each seminar campaign should be 45 days after the previous campaign of the same topic to allow a “cool down” period in the marketing zone.
Marketing to the same zone sooner than 45 days will cause market saturation sooner and will decrease your conversion rate long term. Our recommended frequency helps avoid that.
If you want to do seminars more than 45 days, we recommend requesting a second marketing zone or running a different seminar topic.

ATTENDANCE AND CONFIRMATION

Confirming your registrants is a critical part of maximizing attendance. With good confirmations, digitally marketed educational workshops should have 50% attendance. To help maximize attendance, we have created a proven process to increase attendance.

What we will do (Downloadable PDF guide for reference below):

Automated Email Confirmations: We will send three automated email confirmations: (1) Immediately upon registration, (2) The day before their event, (3) The day of their event.
Real-Time Registration Notification: You will receive notification emails in real time as registrations are made. You can also reference all registration data on your seminar roster. Each registration will include: Name, Email, Phone, Number of attendees, and 90%+ of the time we will get their mailing address.
Automated Text Confirmations: If a prospect opts-in for text messages, we will send three automated text confirmations: (1) Immediately upon registration, (2) The day before their event, (3) The day of their event. These texts will include the details for the event and a link to a google map.
Calendar Event Invitations: Our emails and text messages include links that prospects can click to add an event to their calendar. These calendar events are helpful because their mobile device will push notifications to them without being reliant on them opening their emails or text messages.
Important: Because we're sending emails and texts to your registrants, we recommend that you avoid sending additional emails and texts yourself. Receiving multiple communications from different senders can cause confusion, over communication, and will hurt your attendance rate.

What you should do:

In additional to our emails, we recommend you do three follow up yourselves. Call each registrant within 24 hours of registration (the sooner the better).
Make a confirmation call 24 hours before the event.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES:

The venue you are using must be within your marketing zone. We will not target a location that's outside the radius of your venue.
Blackout Dates: We do not recommend holding event dates near major holidays. Ask your Success Coach or Steep Support for our current calendar of recommended dates.

Campaigns that conform to best practices have a consistent track record of success. By following this proven formula, you’re on the fast track to great results.