If you’re an event planner then my newest bestseller “The Fusion Marketing Bible” was written especially for you. I understand that being an event planner that almost everything is your responsibility. You handle everything from print ads to sponsor promotion, signage to web pages, registration to speakers, name tags to programs. Understanding Fusion Marketing will really help you organize and maximize your marketing efforts.
Fusion Marketing is a simple to use system that allows you to look at everything you can do with traditional media, digital media, and social media, analyze it’s R.O.I. (Return On Investment), identify the most effective tools, and fuse them together so one tool leverages all of the other tools for maximum effectiveness. The best way to explain it is to show you how to use it.
When developing your client’s next event, the first step is to create what I call The Safko Wheel as shown below. You get it free with the book, you can buy one at www.ExtremeDigitalMarketing.com or just create one on your own. The first Safko Wheel we will create is for traditional media.
The Safko Wheel – Traditional MediaLook at all of the possible “tools” you have available to use on your client’s event. Carefully consider each one for costs, implementation, and effectiveness. The first revelation that should pop out at you is that you can see all of the tools available to you all in one easy to understand image. They’re all right there. You can’t miss any one of them.
When you and your team have discussed and considered each tool, you will then either keep the tool for implementation, or remove the tool, because it isn’t effect for that particular demographic, just isn’t cost effective, or you just don’t have the budget to implement. This first Fusion process should eliminate 50% of the shown tools or more.
The next step is to look at The Safko Wheel with the digital and social media tools around it. Repeat the same process from above asking yourself is tis one tool effective for this demographic and should we keep it as part of this event. The good news is that aside from time to implement, there isn’t any media buys (unless you are considering pay-per-click advertising), but you must remember, you can’t do everything.
The Safko Wheel – Digital & Social MediaIn many cases, you may not have the budget, it doesn’t apply to that demographic, you may not have the people power, or the expertise. So start eliminating tools. Tools such as livecasting my not be apparent at first, but makes an amazing brand engagement and provides the session and keynote content to anyone not able to attend the event in person. And, you can still charge for the content.
Tools such as YouTube video sharing is a great way to promote your event along with publishing photos from your last year’s event and even audio files from the speakers. Ecommerce, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and all necessary digital tools for your event, and Blogging, can really drive up your “Google Juice” and Link Love”, which all pushes your client’s web pages higher on the search engines.
At this point, you have chosen the very best traditional media tools and the every best digital and social media tools specifically for this event. Every event will be different. One size doesn’t fit all. The Safko Wheel and Fusion marketing has just taken everything you could possible do in all three major categories of media marketing, forced your to at least consider each, allowed you not to miss a single tool, and choose the perfect, most effective combination, tailored made for this exact event.
In this step, I want you to create items that we all use when planning an event, such as; name badges, programs, way-finding signage, sponsor advertising, handouts, gift bags, tea shirts, web pages, registration database, etc. Start with blank cards and write those tools in. This is what I call TraDigital Marketing or Tra-Digital Marketing; the total integration of all possible marketing tools.
Now comes the fun part, the “Fusion Marketing” part. Combine all of the carefully chosen and written-in tools around The Safko Wheel. Next, we start “fusing” those tools.
Begin by choosing any one tool and connect it to another tool from around the Wheel; any tool. Let’s say you start with Name Badges and connect it to registration database. Ask how can I use the name tag and database together. The answer is, put a QR Barcode on each person’s name badge that when shot with a free bar code reader from any smart phone, the persons contact information is collected by the phone.
Connect name badge of a speaker to video sharing and you can place a QR code on their name badges to actually watch that speaker speak. Connect something as simple as the registration page to twitter with a hyperlink that encourages the registrant to follow the event on Twitter and follow and use the event’s hash-tag.
How about watermarking the “Bit.ly” URL for the event on the shared videos, or including a hyperlink in all of the emails to download the app for the event. Or, having the app remind people to connect on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Or, putting the QR code for the event in all print ads.
Now, reverse ALL of the connections to see if they will leverage you marketing effectiveness. In your database, send all of your registrants their QR Code to put on their materials, and include a Bit.ly URL in every tweet with the event web site, speaker’s video, or promotion video. And, asking registrants through email blasts to click a hyperlink to Search.Twitter.com to the hash-tag search and see what everyone’s tweeting about the event. And, tweeting to look at a particular print journal this moth and “check out” our print ad. And, having the sponsor put two QR codes on the back of their business cards that point to the keynote speakers video, and a URL with he sponsor’s booth information for that event.
Connect every tool on the Wheel to every other tool on the Wheel. Work you way around the Wheel until all connections have been made to that tool. Select the next tool in a clockwise direction and begin making those connections again until you’ve connected that tool to every other tool. Then, reverse every connection. The possibilities are endless and so is the return!
Believe it or not, Fusion Marketing and The Safko Wheel can do a whole lot more, like; Fractal Fusion Marketing, and Fusion Strategy Development. All too much to discuss in this blog post.
Here’s a great video that will take you through he steps of Using Fusion Marketing and The Safko Wheel.
For more information on Fusion Marketing and Lon Safko, go to:
www.LonSafko.com
www.TheSocialMediaBible.com
www.TheFusionMarketingBible.com
Lon Safko is a respected international keynote speaker and the author of “The Social Media Bible” and “The Fusion Marketing Bible“.
Tags: social media bible, lon safko, fusion marketing bible, keynote speaker