• What are the pros and cons of social networks in promoting events? Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and more.
• What is your experience with event discounts? When to offer? How much?
• What other methods do you use to get people to sign up for your events? Or, even better, to sign up early?

Not sure how to join us? It's pretty simple! Just go to tweetchat.com and sign in with your Twitter username and password. Then, enter the #eventprofs hashtag at the top. I'll be the moderator so you can look out for my comments and questions. Then, all you have to do is respond! It's that simple!

Twitter success requires total buy-in.
I don’t see Twitter as a marketing tool so you need to make sure that you are really interested and open to seeing what happens. If you’re getting on Twitter just because everyone else tells you too, you aren’t likely to be successful.

Twitter success requires time.
As with all social media tools, Twitter is all about relationships. And, as you know, quality relationships require a time investment. There are no quick fixes, no ways to cheat yourself to 10,000 followers. You must be consistent and engage with the people you follow and who follow you. You don’t need to post an update every five minutes, but you do need to commit to interacting on a regular basis.

Twitter success requires introspection.
There isn’t a guidebook for your interactions on Twitter and it’s really easy to get on and start talking about yourself. You need to continually think about your content and relationships and compare them with your goals. If you aren’t getting the results you hoped for, change things up and keep trying.

Twitter success requires a true interest in others.
Overt marketing is a thing of the past. No one wants to hear about you and what you’re good at. They want to EXPERIENCE it. Don’t even try to get on Twitter if your goal is self-promotion. You’ll find out the hard way that no one cares. You might get followers, but quality is more important than quantity. Ask a question to your audience and if no one responds, you may need to switch things up.

Photo by IvanPW

It's one of the biggest challenges when you first start a business because often you want to spend time doing what you love.  For most event planners, I'm sure it's the time you spend with the clients planning, designing and running the event.  Finding the clients may not rank high on your list of loves.

So how do you increase the number of clients you work with?

I'll share three tips to start with:

Develop marketing materials and ensure everyone in your warm network knows you are in business.

One of the easiest places to land clients is with people who already know you. Have you told everyone in your friends and family circle that you are an event planner? Hmmm... think about EVERYONE on your list.  Are there some people that you haven't spoken with in some time?  For example, someone on your holiday greeting card list that you only speak to once a year? I'm sure there is someone that you haven't shared it with.

So start today and do a postcard mailing campaign and share the news with everyone you know. 

Important tip: Be sure not to go crazy and share your service materials too many times though within this group.  A one time mailing is a good start!

Be willing to share your materials with everyone you encounter

I found that carrying a postcard of my services was a great way to remind me to share my offerings with everyone I encountered.  Sure, you can probably remember this when you are attending a networking event.  But what about from day to day?  Do you encounter people in stores, visiting friends houses, or other events?  Of course you do!

Make sure you have information available to share with them.

Important tip: When you first meet someone you don't want to be a hard salesperson.  So leave them with the materials and let them follow-up with you if they are interested.  You don't want to harrass them too many times - did you read it yet?  Do you know anyone?  Any events you recommend?

It's a numbers game

Yes, finding new clients and landing sales is a numbers game.  And the more people you speak with  - the better.  You will need to be willing to talk with a lot of people and be comfortable with the word "No". 

But that's fine!  That's just putting you one step closer to your "yes".

So be willing to talk with lots of people. If you remember the joy you have from event planning and think about all of the ways that you help your clients - it will seem less like sales and more like the start of a great relationship which is exactly how business development works best!

So get started with one or all of these tips today to find new clients.  Let me know what successes and challenges you have!

Photo by VectorPortal

One of the interesting things that the panelists talked about was the difference between PR and marketing. According to them, PR is really about creating a story and sharing news about a company in a way that allows people to emotionally connect to a brand. It's all about using free tools to capture people's emotions. Marketing, on the other hand, is much more about paid advertisements.

PR tends to involve a lot of social media. As a social media integrated event planner, this really intrigued me. I realized that over the past years, I've really been focusing on building my business through PR. All the while, I kept telling myself that I needed to learn about marketing and advertising. I wanted to learn about ads and marketing because I felt as though I couldn't grow my business relying solely on social media. I've often given lectures and taught classes on social media and one of the biggest things that I tell my students is that social media is not marketing. While you may get business from it, it's not meant to be a medium where you constantly share the things that you're working on and the products you want your consumers to purchase. It's about connecting with your target market, your industry, and your colleagues. This can bring in a good amount of business for anyone. Whether you are a small or large business, you can leverage the power of PR through social media to create lasting relationships with your client, your target market, and potential new relationships. 

Based on what I learned during the panel, here are a few tips for anyone interested in expanding their business through PR.

Speak coherently and with strategy
Your successful PR campaign is not just about sending marketing blurbs through social media. It's really about creating a coherent strategy that will carry your message to your target population. There is a great deal of thought that goes into what message you'd like to share, how people will receive it, and the medium that can be best used to share that message.

Connect to the wide audience
When PR executives are hiring new recruits, one thing they look for is an active personal social network. Their philosophy is that if you can engage a small group of people, you getting do the same with the masses. Instead of focusing on numbers from the beginning, focus on engagement and the wider audience is sure to come your way.

Authenticity is king 
If you're sucking up to someone or speaking about something that you don't feel passionate about, people can tell. It's really important that whatever you promote through PR is near and dear to your heart. For a small business owner, this is easier then for a larger corporations sometimes. We are so connected to what we do, it's easier for us to relate emotionally to our audience. However, that being said, many business owners get so hung up on making the sale they completely forget about the relationship. This is not okay. As a business owner, you need to connect genuinely and authentically with every member of your target market.

Photo by The Silfwer

Karina Avela - PR/Marketing for Event Businesses
Karina is an expert when it comes to PR and Marketing. She's going to share a ton of great information in 2012 that planners can use to build their event businesses through PR and marketing efforts. Businesses are built on word of mouth and PR/Marketing is the best way to leverage that!

Paul Cook - Getting Into the Business for Students
Paul has blogged for the Liz King Events blog since it first started. He is an incredibly talented author and force in the event industry. Paul does a ton of work with students and will be focusing his blogs this year on preparing students to enter the event industry. Covering everything from networking to building your resume, Paul's tips are a must-read for anyone looking to enter our industry.

Jennifer Garrett - Industry Trends
Jennifer Garrett writes for Collison Media and is going to share with us some of the industry trends that you need to watch out for! She is a genuine spirit and incredibly in-tune with our industry. Make sure to tune in each month to see what she has to say! You know it'll have an impact on you and the way you do business!

Malla Haridat - Event Business Development
Malla is a great friend and was a guest blogger for LKE in 2011. She is going to continue sharing her business development tips for all of you throughout the coming year. On everything from time management to goal setting, Malla will get you on the right track to a successful year!

Liz Mazzei - Locations, locations, locations
Liz and I have done a lot of work together in the past year, including the launch of PlannerTech in New York and Washington DC. We work so well together, we figured we'd expand PlannerTech in more cities and she'll be stopping by the blog each month to share her thoughts on locations (her specialty at imbookin.com).

Deborah Pannell - Life Stories as they apply to events
Deb is one of those genuine authors who captures you with her humor and makes you scratch your head because of the great content. She keeps up her own personal blogs as well as the eventwist blog and she's adding LKE to the mix! She is going to write about all her wonderful life experiences and how they apply to our industry!

Kristi Casey Sanders - Speaker Management
Kristi has been one of those people that I met via Twitter. We've still yet to make our relationship official (by meeting in-person), but I can tell how knowledgeable she is. In 2012, she's going to talk all about managing speakers as an event planner. Stay tuned for all you need to know!

Neil Park - Photography
Neil has been a friend of mine for many years and I always believe that working with your friends is a great idea (contrary to popular opinion). I'm really excited to have Neil on board this year sharing his images with all of you. I'm sure you will love his work and learn a lot from him as well. I know I have a lot to learn in this area!

Greg Ruby - Risk Management and Green Meetings
Greg Ruby is hysterical, but his knowledge is even more amazing. He'll be writing for us this year on various topics focused around risk management and green meetings. Greg is a wealth of knowledge and he shares it all with his infectious personality. Now that I've built him up, the pressure is on for him to be funny as hell in 2012.

Lord Jason Scott - Celebrity Events
Jason has written faithfully for the LKE blog throughout 2011 and his articles on celebrity events have been some of the most popular. Who doesn't want to hear about all the behind-the-scenes information about events with your favorite celebs? I can't wait to see what he has in store for us in 2012!

Derrick Stomp - Event Technology
Derrick is one of the brains behind Twoppy - a really cool mobile application for events. I had the chance to get to know him when he came all the way from the Netherlands to join us for PlannerTech. He is a really dynamic guy and very passionate about connecting planners with event technology. You will learn a LOT from him this year!

Alexandra Suazo - Social Media
Alexandra is a go-getter. I first met her after she reached out to me via Twitter and I've kept up with her awesome life ever since. She is getting into the industry and is really well versed in social media. Her life is social media. I look forward to some great posts from her (and I'm sure some video blogs, as well!)

All about relationships
One of my goals in 2012 is to really focus on relationships. Over the past couple of years, I've learned the value of networking and getting to know people on a deeper level. But, I'll admit that it's really hard for me to keep up with everyone that I've met and stay in touch. One of my goals this year is to organize my contacts and do my best to stay in touch with people. In every business endeavor and every networking event, I get to meet some of the most amazing people. These are people who are changing the world, hosting amazing events, and really doing big things in business. I value each and every one of you. So, I hope you expect hear from me more frequently and on a more honest level. I don't want to get into stock emails and scheduled direct message updates. I just want to be real and stay in contact with as many people as possible.

Community
The event business is so focused and built around community. The people you know are the people that you do business with. Therefore, the more people you know, the more people you can do business with. As I mentioned, relationship building is one of my biggest priorities, but I also want to be able to help others develop relationships themselves. As such, I'm launching NY Events - a monthly networking group for New York-based event professionals. The goal of this group is to bring the industry together and help make connections for my fellow colleagues. Of course, I'll make connections as well, but my true goal is really helping to create a driving, strong network. I'm really excited to get some of the best event professionals in New York together on a regular basis and to see what happens with our group in the course of 2012.

Technology
As you know, my business is built around technology. I help clients integrate technology and social media into their events to create a better attendee experience, more efficient/effective meetings, and so much more. In 2011, I had a great opportunity to partner with imbookin to host PlannerTech in New York and Washington DC. This has been a great opportunity for me to learn about some of the event technology companies that are changing the landscape, as well as to introduce them to other event planners. I'm really excited to announce that we'll be expanding to more cities in 2012 and doing more through the website, blog, twitter, and YouTube channels to help promote event technology with our industry. I really believe that technology is the wave of the future, and it's in our best interest to learn as much as we can now.

Photo by Creativity103

Photo by Patrick Hoesly

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube… There are so many social networks out there that small businesses are leveraging to generate new clients and revenue. But as a small business, our time is extremely limited. Within the events industry, we are occupied by logistics, creativity, and so much more. It is our job to run our event businesses for our clients. We need to satisfy them and, in fact, wow them. So often, our focus is on delivering for clients. When it comes to social media, most of us are flying by the seat of our pants. However, to be successful on social media, it’s imperative that you have a strategic process in place for your social media marketing efforts.

Who is your target market?
Who are you talking to on social media? Where does your target market hang out? For many small business owners, they can tell you who their target market is. However, they often don’t know what social networks their target market uses. In this case, I highly suggest doing a survey to your current clients. Ask them a few basic questions. What social networks do you use? How often do you use them? HOW do you use them? These seem like very simple questions, but you may start to notice a trend. Through this research, you may find that most of your target market uses Facebook on a daily basis. However, they do not like to hear from brands. If this is the case, it’s important for you to consider. Is Facebook the best use of your time?

Read More on the Sentry Library

To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of all the people who talk about how they don't have time for social media. They act as though it's supposed to be some magic silver bullet. You just need to create an account, and all of a sudden money starts pouring into your business. Wouldn't that be so great? 

The more I learn about social media, the more I realize that there is no possible way that social media can be successful without a dedicated person behind the account. By nature, the medium is social. It's all about relationships. It's all about nurturing those relationships. 

My advice to those who feel they don't have time for social media is to simply not use it. I don't advise that you hire someone to do it for you. I don't advise that you schedule all of your tweets to market your business and never touch it again. 

Scheduling tweets and having a team of people who tweet with you is a good idea. However, it's the abuse of these tools they really make social media so inauthentic. 

My philosophy is that you don't have time NOT to do social media. You don't have time to miss out on all of the opportunities that could come your way as a business. You don't have time to be that far behind on technology. Your clients in the event industry are demanding more technology every day. They know the value of many of the tools that are offered and you need to know the value too. It is imperative that you stay up to date.

I don't know if you believe this, but the world is not going to revert to a non-tech world. It's simply not going to happen. The only way to stay competitive in business and to do well in the future, is to learn all about technology. It's uncomfortable. We all know that learning a new tool is a long and arduous process. The thing is, you have to force yourself to be in an uncomfortable position to be anywhere near competitive in this field.

Yes, social media is time-consuming. Actually, pretty much everything you do in a business is time-consuming. That being said, there are many things that go into running a successful business. There are many things that go into making your clients happy. If you can't take the time to do what you need to do to grow your business and serve your clients, I don't know what to tell you.

Your Name:

Name of the Blog: The Sentry Library

Blog topics:

Topics covered on our blog include, but are not limited to: increasing meeting ROI, effective marketing strategies, advanced selling strategies, branding, business model generation, virtual collaboration, advanced methods of public speaking, hospitality design, event marketing, planning ethics and etiquette, advancing of careers, effective communication, management & design, financial accounting, hospitality law, human-centered design, innovative marketing communications, leadership, sales strategy, increasing sustainability & innovation, pitch selling, perfecting meeting vernacular, proactive sales management, professional meeting coordination, public relations, raid problem solving , smart calling, snap selling, spin selling, effective presentations, the changes effecting overall meeting industry, community management, and more.

What is the goal of the blog?

The Sentry Library centralizes relevant texts sourced across a wide spectrum of industries and publications to conveniently serve curious meeting professionals and provide a hub for their intellectual discussion. We hope that you will enjoy the online library and also invite you to explore our extensive collection of texts hosted onsite at Sentry Centers 810 Seventh Avenue (New York).

What made you decide that blogging was for Sentry?

The Sentry Library acts as our voice. We, wholeheartedly, wish to engage our clients in intellectual conversation.

Who is your ideal reader?

Our target audience is meeting professionals across all industries.