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| | The Internet Marketing Tools Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Marketing A Mixer | Views: 674 | | Sep 04, 2005 2:37 am | | Marketing A Mixer | # | 
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Garland,
If you wanted to increase mixer attendance in a small town, what would you do? I am looking for suggestions beyond what I have already done or am doing. Here is what I have done:
1) Posted and distributed flyers and brochures.
2) Posted to Ryze Events and LakeCountyView.com (local site)
3) Distributed mixer news in organization newsletter
4) Made personal phone calls.
5) Sent our email via organization's Yahoogroup.
6) Provide free admission to all, free food, free refreshments (including wine)and nice door prizes.
7) Provided locals newspapers with press releases about the event (and it normally gets printed).
One thing I am thinking about doing is having a "virtual" special guest via a Skype speakerphone conference for about 30 minutes. Another thing I thought about doing is sending out "pass-along" cards in the mail to people outside the county inviting them to visit.
What else is there left to do? Is there some kind of unwritten rule that says you can only expect about 10% of your organization's own members to turn out for a mixer? Having only 16 members show up when you have more than 160 I think is pathetic. And, these are paying members! What could be wrong with this picture? How do you correct it?
Lamar MorganPrivate Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Sep 04, 2005 7:36 pm | | re: Marketing A Mixer | # | 
Garland Coulson | | Hi Lamar,
I doubt that you will get out more than 30% of your membership even in a best
case scenario. The Edmonton Chamber mixers I used to attend used to get up
to 600 people at a mixer, but this was only 14% of their overall membership.
Our local chamber in Nanaimo has about 780 members and their biggest mixers get
about 40 to 50 people out.
In the short term, you could contact local groups (Rotary, Toastmasters,
Alumni, etc) and offer them a free display table if they will email their
members a notice about the event.
In the long run, you could work on building a subscriber list of people
interested in local events, perhaps by creating and maintaining a local event
calendar where everyone can post their events for free.
Garland Coulson, "The E-Business Tutor"
Market while you surf!
FREE Traffic and Research Toolbar for FireFox and Internet Explorer
http://www.freetrafficbar.com
Moderator, Internet Marketing Tools Private Reply to Garland Coulson | | Sep 04, 2005 10:38 pm | | re: re: Marketing A Mixer | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Garland,
The typical turnout pecentage most folks have given me is 10% of th overall membership. Therefore, with a membership of 160 people, I can expect 16 to show up. Your percantage is much higher at 30%. I am actually glad to see someone give me a higher percentage rate. Still, anything less than 50% really strikes me as strange.
Remember what we are talking about here. We are talking about paid members showing up to attend their OWN events. We are talking about free food, refreshments (including wine), and nice door prizes. We are talking about relaxation, abiance and business networking. Why is it the number of first-time visitors ALWAYS outnumbers the number of actual members? Why is it easier to get people who know absolutely nothing about the Middletown Merchants Association to attend our mixer than those who are actually paying members? This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.
If you have an explanation for something so seemingly bizarre, I am eager to hear it.
Lamar Morgan Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Sep 05, 2005 3:41 pm | | re: re: re: Marketing A Mixer | # |
Garland Coulson | | Lamar, often it is people newest to business who feel the need to network
whereas more established companies feel they are too busy.
Once of those cases that doesn't make a lot of sense. All you can do is
put it out there and hopefully enough people will find it of value to come.
Perhaps these new, eager people will become members so you will have more people
who "get" networking.
Garland Coulson, "The E-Business Tutor"
Market while you surf!
FREE Traffic and Research Toolbar for FireFox and Internet Explorer
http://www.freetrafficbar.com
Moderator, Internet Marketing Tools
Private Reply to Garland Coulson | | Sep 10, 2005 5:19 am | | re: re: re: re: Marketing A Mixer | # |
Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Garland,
What do you think about using the Free Traffic Bar to market a mixer? Granted, most people are going to use it to promote a product or service, but why not an event? I mean, if you wan to create "buzz" about something, why not use the toolbar?
Here is the way I would do it. First, I would set up an event on Evite.com. Next, I would copy the website link for that event page on Evite.com. Then, I would make a text link for the toolbar with a chatchy slogan like
"Experience a Middletown Mixer." People click on the toolbar link and end up at the web page which has all the information they need about the event.
Now, if something like this could work for a mixer, would it not also work for many other types of events - such as fundraisers for nonprofit organizations and causes?
What do you think about that?
Lamar Morgan
CDMM
Creating a buzz for business
Private Reply to Lamar Morgan 954-603-7901 | | Sep 10, 2005 4:13 pm | | re: Marketing A Mixer | # |
Garland Coulson | | Hi Lamar,
You can certainly market your mixer through the Free Traffic Bar, but it may not be that effective because the Free Traffic Bar attracts users from all over the world and you are marketing a local event.
Fundraising would work better as people can donate from all over, so you can certainly use some of your credits to promote your favorite charity.
Garland Coulson, "The E-Business Tutor"
Market while you surf!
FREE Traffic and Research Toolbar for FireFox and Internet Explorer
http://www.freetrafficbar.com
Moderator, Internet Marketing Tools
Private Reply to Garland Coulson | | |
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