You’re putting a lot of energy into planning a great Coaching Event. To make your effort really pay off, you also need to invest time in publicizing your event. By getting the word out in a variety of ways, many more people will get a chance to participate and benefit from what you have to offer. Follow these Top 10 tips to greatly increase your chances of getting a great turnout and generating opportunities well beyond your event!

1.       Contact your local weekly newspapers

• Write a press release describing your event. Use the ‘local press release’ template provided by the NJPCA Marketing/PR team (posted on the NJPCA website, or contact Verena Aibel at verena@optonline.net). Make your press release as eye-catching and newsy as possible by having a great headline and lead paragraph, emphasizing the benefits for your audience, and giving clear logistics information. Don’t forget to include your contact information.

• Find copies of newspapers for your area at your local town or county library. Look for a section or ‘masthead’ (usually in the first few pages or on the editorial page) that lists the editors of various departments and/or explains how to submit news items. Some editors prefer fax, some still want you to mail press releases, and some now allow you to submit items online. Follow the instructions given, call the editor, and/or see if they have a website that tells you the best way to submit your material. If your newspaper also has a ‘calendar’ section, find out how those items need to be submitted … sometimes those are handled by a different editor or through a different process.

• Send your press release four weeks prior to your event, or even sooner. Since weeklies only publish once a week, you may miss a cycle, depending on when they receive your material, and you want to allow enough time for people to schedule it in their calendars.

• You may want to precede your press release with a phone call to let the editor know you’ll be sending it, and/or follow up after you’ve sent it to ensure they received it, ask if they have any questions, invite them to the event, etc.

• If your topic targets a specific audience (say, a business audience), find the editor for that area and send them the release, rather than sending it to the editor-in-chief. The department editor may take more of an interest, and sometimes, this can trigger interest on their part to write additional articles, or to at least keep you in mind if they’re writing an article that pertains to coaching or your topic.

• If they publish your material, write or email a brief thank you note. Offer to serve as a resource for them should they be writing relevant articles in the future. Use this opportunity to begin building a relationship with your local media contacts.
  
  

2.       Leverage advertising from your venue

Ask the coordinator at your location (bookstore, library, etc.) about advertising opportunities for your event. Some bookstores issue their own press releases to local newspapers. Some libraries (and bookstores) have newsletters or monthly flyers listing events. Some locations may allow you to place a poster or sign in their location, or may allow you to place a plastic display with flyers on their counters. Explore and take advantage of all the options.

3.       Post flyers

Create a flyer using the Coaching Event flyer template provided by the NJPCA Marketing/PR team (posted on the NJPCA website, or contact Verena Aibel at verena@optonline.net for a copy). Post it in libraries, churches and synagogues, supermarkets, coffee houses, your local gym … anywhere you see other flyers posted. Ask your friends to post your flyer in their offices or break rooms.

4.       Send an email invitation to your network
Your personal network is a key audience for your event. They already know you, so they are more likely to come, and they’re more likely to tell people in their network if they know someone who would be interested in your topic. You may draft your own invitation, or use the template/sample provided by the NJPCA Marketing/PR team (posted on the NJPCA website, or contact Verena Aibel at verena@optonline.net for a copy). Attach your flyer or include the text in the body of your email message. Don’t forget to include friends, family, and neighbors in addition to your professional contacts.

5.       Look for cross-promotional opportunities with other professional associations

Do you belong to other professional associations? Take some flyers to your next meeting and distribute them to attendees in addition to announcing it and telling people one-on-one during the networking portion. If the group publishes an email newsletter or emails announcements, write up a brief announcement and ask the editor to include it in their next group email.

6.       Snail-mail flyer to key contacts with a personal note
Everyone gets so much email these days, it’s easy for a message to get buried or become part of the inbox ‘clutter.’ People don’t receive as much ‘snail mail’ anymore, though, and some people actually like it now – it’s different! So, identify some key people in your network that you’d like to extend a personal invitation to, and mail them a copy of the flyer with a handwritten note. Send a friendly reminder a few days before or call them to say ‘Hope to see you there!’

7.       Tell EVERYONE you know
As you go about your day, don’t forget to tell people such as your hairdresser, massage therapist, PTO president, chiropractor, etc. These professionals talk to dozens of people every day and are a great referral source for your event. A casual comment by their next customer could be a mental trigger to recommend your seminar. That’s how word of mouth works! They may even invite you to leave flyers in their establishment. Set a goal to tell 3 new people every day between now and your event.

8.       Advertise your event on your website, in your newsletter, etc.
Think about what you already have up-and-running that could carry publicity for your event. Newsletters and websites are perfect vehicles.

9.       Advertise your event in your email signature
How many email messages do you send every day? What if every email message you sent carried a promotional message for your event? It can be as simple as a line in your email signature directing them to a website or to contact you, or a brief paragraph at the end of your message with more details. Use your email more strategically, and word of your event will reach even more people!

10.   Target your audience

Think specifically about the kinds of people you want to attract to your event. Who are your ideal clients? Perhaps it’s corporate managers, women, small business owners, or creative types. Design your event around topics of interest to your audience, then put yourself in their shoes and brainstorm as many ways as you can think of to reach that specific market segment through the associations they belong to, niche publications they read, your personal network, places they might frequent, etc.

Written by Maria Sariego (maria@workandsoul.com; www.workandsoul.com) and Michele Carbone (carbonem758@earthlink.net).