One of the biggest risks when running an event as part of your marketing mix is that you over mail your database and annoy the very people you're hoping will ultimately buy your products or services.

Here are our quick tips on how to run a successful B2B event without cannibalising your database...

 The first set of tips isn't about email. And that's the key. There are so many other great channels you can turn to when promoting your event before you get anywhere near email, that there's no excuse for over mailing your list.

Like email, but better.

Speakers

Your speakers were chosen because they're at the epicentre of your event topic and this means that so long as they're not total hermits, they're likely to know plenty of people who'd be interested in attending. All you need to do is work your charm and enlist their help in forging those connections.

Media and Marketing Partnerships

Media partners are essential to the success of any event, they provide free promotion and credibility by association. We cover how to research and find partners here and so long as your deals are based on adding value to the readership, you're sure to come up with a win-win deal.

PR

Similar to media partnerships, but focussed on the newsworthy aspects of your event. Little hint, the event in itself is unlikely to be considered newsworthy unless you're unveiling a new cure for cancer. Look for opportunities to get your speakers interviewed on their presentation topics or collaborative pre event polls and research you can co-publish with media organisations.

PPC and Remarketing

Remarketing through search and social ads offer a huge opportunity for precise initial targeting of your market and then smart opportunities for remarketing to that audience, allowing you a channel to sent multiple messages to the same people without clogging their inboxes. You can get more tips on PPC here.

Social Media

Loads of people use social media to keep abreast of the latest news, events and content in their industry so it's a natural arena for event advertisement. Blatant self promotion is as off putting here as it is face to face, so stick to raising awareness of your free event related content pieces rather than flogging tickets to the event itself.

Word Of Mouth

This is so simple, even your intern could do it... Choose 20-30 of your top people most likely to attend the event, then pick up the phone and invite them. Ask them to give you other 5-10 people that would be relevant and then give those guys a call through the recommendation. This can be done via LinkedIn and phone.

And when you do email...

Segmentation & Buyer Personas

First step when emailing about an event is making sure you have the right people in your list to begin with. create a buyer persona specifically for the event or shape the event tightly to one of your existing personas. Then make sure your list is segmented according to that persona so irrelevant people don't get mailed.

Cadence

How many times would you ask your friends to your party? Twice? Three times? Certainly not every week for ten weeks beforehand. And the same is true of events. If you've asked 5-6 times over those 10 weeks and still not got a commitment, those folks just aren't coming and will just be getting irritated by your increasingly desperate invitations.

Content & Value Adds

When you're sending a B2B event email, you know what you want. You want the recipient to come to your event. And if that's what they want too, then we're all happy. But there are a hundred different reasons why the event might not work for them and will render your email self-serving and potentially irritating. Adding a relevant but non-event attendance specific value add such as a great piece of free content to every email increases the chances that there's something there of value for the recipient, whether they attend of not.

So, now you see - the key to not over mailing is to reduce your over reliance on the email channel. And when you do use it, be smart.

If you want to learn more about how savvy event marketers are doing things right now - check out this e-book: