Increase Meeting Attendance - Not Cost - With Online Event Marketing

Today's economy is tough on meeting and event professionals. Keeping attendance numbers high is especially a challenge, as attendees are finding it more and more difficult to factor your tradeshow or conference into their budget. Your resources are limited, too -- there simply isn't enough money to book in the most sought-after destination, source a five-star venue, or employ one of the other tactics you may have used in the past to successfully entice guests.

Don't resign to lower-than-ever registration numbers, yet. It is possible to maintain and even improve attendance without exhausting your budget by taking your event marketing online. No longer does event promotion require long hours dedicated to writing press releases or calling journalists. Nor do you need an ample budget for publicity. In today's digital world, it's fast and easy to reach a large audience of potential attendees at a low cost.

Here are a few ways meeting planners can successfully promote their event without breaking budget:

Start social networking. Social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are quickly becoming the go-to ways to connect to attendees. Such sites foster discussion among potential meeting-goers, who generate word-of-mouth advertising that's more valuable than any newspaper article or press release. Social networking sites create buzz leading up to your event, and in the future can serve as a great reference for attendees who want to see what your event was like last year.

Create an event website. Event websites have become the expectation, not the exception, for all types of meetings. In the past, organizations used websites for little more than posting basic event details and offering online registration. Though these features remain important, event websites today can do so much more to market your events. Post information such as speaker biographies and agenda session descriptions, or upload videos and pictures from last year's event. A clean, professional event website full of relevant content is a great tool for convincing your audience to attend.

Get listed. At event directory listing sites such as Zvents and Eventful, you can list your events and meetings for all to see. Sign up at no cost to start listing your event details, and make sure to provide a link to your event website. Once again, you'll reach a large audience searching for an event just like yours to attend.

Email invitations. Social networking and event directories are great strategies for marketing to a large, varied audience. A successful online event marketing strategy also requires you to directly target your existing set of meeting contacts. Do this effectively and economically by sending event invitations by email, the go-to form of communication for busy invitees. Email invitations can elicit more than double the response rate of paper campaigns, and they don't cut into your time and budget like direct mail does.

Though the economy is down, your event turnout doesn't have to be. Take your event marketing to the next level by going online. A minimal investment of time and money in web resources and technology will yield big results for your meeting attendance.