Seminar marketing is under-utilized by most business and professionals. Simply, seminar marketing is the process of getting a crowd in a room to hear a presentation of interest. The prevalent paradigm for sales in the U.S. is individual calls from a sales person to a buyer. With seminar marketing, the seller can talk to 50, 100 or even 500 buyers at a time.

Logistics of seminar marketing

Generally, business people will not travel more than 60 minutes to attend a seminar and the public not more than 20 minutes. So the list you rent for your seminar should cover only the relevant radius. Know the habits of your market because if the seminar is not at a convenient time, your attendance will be poor. For example, business owners will find a breakfast or lunch meeting close to their office convenient. Seniors will want to attend during the day will people working won't have time until after work.

Every library has a copy of the SRDS direct mail list source. Use it to find any list you desire. You can typically rent names for under10 cents each unless the list is very specialized. The best location is a restaurant and this does not mean you have to feed people a meal. However, a meal will significantly boost attendance. Many restaurants will require coffee as minimum service. The next best location is a hotel.

Assuming you're using mail to invite attendees, you want to mail close to the event (e,g, one week) if you're inviting the public, and longer is you're inviting business people. Experimenting will reveal the optimal time for your particular audience. Because you don't want your invitation to arrive too far in advance, timing is critical. As such, when marketing a seminar, you need to use first class mail because bulk mail cannot be reliably timed.

Seminar Marketing Economics

Let's assume you use direct mail, the best method for marketing a seminar. You send 3,000 pieces and get a 1% response.

Mail preparation will run $.70 cents each including first class postage = $2,100 If you serve a meal, that's 30 attendees x $18 = $540

For under $3,000, you can have a room full of prime prospects at your business seminar. Financial advisors use seminar marketing as a routine method of gaining clients. Of the 30 buying units that attend the seminar, a good presentation and closing script will get you face to face appointments with 50% of attendees= 15 appointments. The average financial advisor will do business with 10 of the 15 and earn $3,000 per person or $30,000. So a $3,000 investment returns $30,000 of revenue, typically within 60 days.

The same or even greater economics can be achieved by accountants, attorneys or any professional or business owner. A typical client may be worth far more than $3,000 to you.

Tips for Seminar Marketing Success

Just like a headline is the most important part of an ad, your seminar title is the most important part of your invitation. You cannot use a title that addresses your agenda or interest The new tax laws for 2006 but rather, addresses the prospect's agenda Four Ways to Slash Your Tax Bill Using the New 2006 Tax rules. Below the title, list several bullet points of items you will discuss. These bullet points should be so compelling, you could have used them as titles.

Include a great biography and the best picture you can have produced. Make people want to come not only because of the information they will get, but also to hear a local star. Most importantly, realize that the seminar is not just a way to convey information, your ultimate goal is to get people to like you. If they like you, they will desire to meet with you individually. The easiest formula for having people like you is to entertain them: tell jokes, do magic tricks, tell interesting stories, recite poems, even turn your presentation into a game show. This may sound flip, but the entertainment component is critical to your seminar marketing success.

The most important part of marketing your seminar is the last two minutes when you close for appointments. You must have a script that gives your attendees an incentive to meet (some payoff) and also removes their fear (of being sold). Once polished, you can expect at least 50% of the attendee to set appointments with you. Simply have them fill out an appointment card that you provide as part of your image packet that attendees receive as they enter the meeting.

Larry Klein

Larry Klein CPA/PFS, CFP?, Certified Retirement Financial Advisor?, Harvard MBA helps advisors get wealthy by being great advisors. He is co-creator of the Advanced IRA Rollover and Distribution Training and creator of the Certified Retirement Financial Advisor designation and training. Over 14,000 financial professionals use his marketing and lead systems and attend his educational programs to obtain more and better clients, serve them better, increase sales of financial products and services, increase commissions and fees, and earn more while working less. His programs are in use by brokers and planners at most major securities firms, many NASD firms, and by hundreds of independent insurance agents and captive agents with large, well-known insurance companies. Details on his winning marketing systems and his complete book on Marketing Financial Services to Seniors is available the NF Communications web site.