How to Get The Most Out of Your Mobile Event App?

Every organizer who organizes any event always craves for responses like; “Wow, that event blew my mind!”Or something like this “I got so much more out of it than I expected!” These are the types of responses that can make or break a brand. If attendees like the experience they had at the event, they will surely attend the next one; they will always have compliments about your event and eventually buy your product and will also suggest others to buy it.

get most out from event apps
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Well living up to the expectations of attendees is not as easy as it sounds. This is the challenging part, to make sure all your attendees have an amazing experience. Organizers have repeatedly used mobile event apps as a way of overcoming this challenge. These interactive apps help the attendees feel empowered and in control of the event as well as to stay connected to others.

Your event app needs to be chosen carefully, once you have chosen it, it will help you in boosting engagement and extending the score of your event. You need to make the most of this platform in order to achieve the results you expect.

Therefore, to ensure that you use your event app correctly and your event Is a success, you need to divide your strategy into three parts:

Pre-Event:

1. Promote the mobile event app on your event website and registration page: Always get the word out about your event app. Be sure to include quicker check ins, interactive maps, special offers and a call-to-action (CTA).

2. Mention your app in your paper brochures and guides: Be sure to promote your app as much as you can, brochures, guides, downloadable PDFs and even tickets. The more you promote, more likely will be the chances of the attendees downloading your app.

During Event:

1. Encourage speakers to interact with their audience in the event app: Try to create experiences that are only available using the best event app, it’ll get the crowd anxious and they’ll ultimately download the app.

2. Always make sure to have a section for queries and Q&A: The in-app Q&A feature is a great way to give audiences an alternative to speaking into the microphone so it allows the less bold people to clear their doubts as well.

3. Don’t bore your attendees with just words and images: Always include a section for videos. You can even include videos related to the event, in case someone missed the starting or a part in between, or if someone found a topic too interesting to revisit it, they can watch in videos section to make sure they are up-to-date with the topic. Just don’t forget to make sure that you have the venue has the WiFi which can handle the traffic.

Post Event

1. Send personalized appreciation announcement to all your attendees through the app: Always send a “Thank you” message to all the attendees via the app after a day or two. This is a simple way to pull them back into your app as well as to show your appreciation for their involvement.

2. Give attendees the updates about the upcoming events using the same app: Continue promoting your post events, training sessions and other programs through the app. You can even include a discount or promo code for app users.

Use your event plannig app at every stage of your event. Go beyond just making the current event great to make it a memorable event for all organisers and attendees.

How to Promote Your Event App Offline

Offline promotion for Event appsIn this age of information and web-focused promotion, most event apps are promoted strictly online through social media sites like, Twitter and Facebook, or through web blogs, and corporate websites. Online event app promotion has a very large reach and should not be ignored or dismissed but often the conversion rates are quite low since it requires a lot of time and a consistent effort to produce results.

Good old-fashioned offline promotional techniques that have been selling things since the birth of advertising, if properly used, can still create results in the current tech age. While these techniques may cost a little more than web based efforts they give hard results and provide a base on which to build an app community. These methods are particularly useful for apps that are targeting a specific areas or niches industries.

Local Promotion

Find out where the local community meets the most and host a low-key promotional event there. Perhaps it’s a park, local bar, restaurant or coffee shop; wherever it may be make sure to add a little something extra for anyone who downloads the app while at the event – like a free drink or t-shirt. This could be a hook for new users to talk about and share the app with their friends.

Get the Press Involved

Create a press release about the conference app and send it out to local newspapers and industry publications. Write a sponsored article about your industry and event and incorporate your app into the message. Remember to promote the idea the event is part of, not the app itself. The big story is not going to be the app – but the app can get media coverage if it is connected to a larger idea or story that is interesting from a news perspective.

QR Codes

Not only do millions of U.S. consumers scan QR codes every day; that number also continues to skyrocket. Recent research from Pitney Bowes suggests that there are already millions of QR code users in the US, and over 50% of smartphone users have scanned a QR code. Creating a custom QR code is fairly easy and free, but make sure to create a simple web landing page so people can easily learn about and download the event app without a hitch. Remember, QR codes are a hugely powerful tool to link online and offline efforts, but only when used correctly. You can do the QR code scanning using the best event app.

Custom Stickers

Creating eye-catching stickers will draw the attention of potential users; use them in places that target audience members frequent the most. Don’t forget to incorporate the QR Codes when designing the sticker – make it as easy as possible for people to download the event app no matter where they are. You can further enhance the sticker option by using event app gamification feature.

T-shirts and Flyers

One page flyers can get lots of downloads but be careful not to turn them into sales promos – write some tips about the app and present them in a useful way. Flyers are easy to print and they’re relatively inexpensive. They are a great way of promoting an event app when targeting areas like shopping complexes, office complexes, niche shops, and other promotional events. Is there a clearer way to make a statement without “selling” than a with T-shirt? Use the event app logo combined with a catchy call to action that people will notice and remember. Don’t forget to hand out a couple of T-shirts with those flyers. Who doesn’t love a free tee!

Launch Party

Nothing shouts “our app just launched” more than a good old party. Invite key industry influencers as well as, current contacts, top customers, media, and brand ambassadors. Do some additional research and invite industry or topic related bloggers and local tech celebrities that have shown an interest in the industry. Encourage attendees to share photos of the launch party across social media during the event and make sure to get testimonials from users on video at the event that can be used for further promotion of your event planning app.

The world is now becoming smaller as the connections between offline and online become larger and more common. A combined offline and online effort can get more downloads than either of them alone. Just like with any other promotion technique, make sure to test out different combinations of methods to see which are most effective.

Looking for specific ways to use an event app during your next event? Check out our previous post on using event apps for more details.

Ready to find out how Grupio’s mobile solutions will help your next event succeed. Contact us to schedule a demo.

The Evolution of Event Marketing

Marketing an event requires time and a little premeditation. Getting the word out about an event beforehand is crucial to the success of the event so you want to make sure you are devoting ample time and resources into marketing. So what are the best ways to market an event?
The evolution of event marketing

Expectations and Challenges

Event marketing has evolved over the past few years in huge ways. New technology has evolved the position of the customer, consumer or buyer; marketing is now focused on building their relationship with a company or brand. Audiences have higher expectations than previously held and are interested in being more engaged and gaining a real personal value from events.

Event planners and marketers are now challenged with proving that events are valuable by offering customers a greater return on their investment. As more technological advances are made, they must be embraced by organizations in order to optimize customer experience before during and after events. Mobile technologies and social media continue to offer ever increasing ways to provide value to event attendees; these technologies extend the life-cycle of an event and enables marketing to be more frequent and more engaging.

Increase Engagement through Technology

Here are a few ways that mobile event apps can help increase the effectiveness of event marketing:
• Streamline and Expedite Online Registration
• Increase Engagement on Organization Websites and Social Media
• Collect Valuable Attendee Demographic Data
• Publish Immediate Event Updates
• Extension of Organizational Branding
• Increases Networking Ability through Messages, QR code scanning, etc.

Not only is mobile technology a great way to reach audience members before and after an event, organizations are now encouraging audiences to use their mobile phones and tablets during events in order to stay connected to other attendees as well as to the organization. Mobile apps can keep attendees up to date with last minute scheduling changes during the event and they allow users to stay organized and make the most of their limited time at the event.

Integrated event campaigns that use as many communication channels as possible via a custom event app are the very best at engaging an audience and pulling off a successful modern event. Today’s event attendees are tech savvy and expect the same from the events they attend. The future of event marketing looks bright as technologies, particularly in the mobile arena, continue to advance thereby increasing an organization’s ability to communicate and engage with its target audience.

Another great advantage of integrating a technology that can measure your events Return on Event (ROE). It has been found that only 23% of the survey respondents are able to track event ROI vs. 37% of tech adopters. Revenue reporting is important for measuring every event program’s growth. It has also been found that organizers who are able to track their event ROI can closely define their future event budgets.

Planners are integrating their event technology to enable full-funnel measurement and real-time action. It has been reported that 51% of the adopters have found success by integrating technology in there event management. And non-adopters only stick to the top-funnel metrics as they do not have the access to directly connect to their sales pipeline.

Other benefit includes personalization. The Best event app allows companies to capture the data of the audience from their session interests to their food preferences. This allows in creating personalized experience throughout the event lifecycle.
With the data, companies can automate better post-event follow-ups and personalize their outreach based on guest data, which is integral to enhance sales cycles and get better customer engagement.
B2B companies are more apt to integrate event technology as they are looking for more valuable touchpoints, which will improve their sales cycles, and personalize the experience of their clients.

One of the most important reasons to integrate the conference apps or event app can help in is lead generation. As said by Andrea Vahl, co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies, “In these days of social media, face-to-face content can really enhance your online connection with your potential customers. Make sure you are using the Twitter hashtags regularly and watch the social media marketing that happens for the event on Facebook so you can comment on the posts and gain visibility with other attendees before the event.”

And the best way to do so is by correctly targeting the demographics. The right event audience is the one that has an interest in what the event has to offer throughout the sessions.

Upselling! What upselling at an event? Is this possible?
Well, yes.

You can easily upsell by introducing your customers with the products and services that they may not know about or may not realize that could address their needs. It is very easy fo the audience to fall back at the same kind of vent every time. Thinking out of the box can inspire and connect your with your new and existing audience in a refreshing way, which will in turn will increase the chances of attracting new attendees.

But before you setup the event application, it is important that you keep these things in mind.

Build a model up-front to understand the sensitivities of your event ROI based on various metrics.

Keep brainstorming session with your team to come up with unique, viable, and strong ideas.

Identify multiple touches in your promotion. ( In order To generate the highest amount of registrants, you need a mix of email, social, public relations, and other types of paid promotions.)

Events occur in real-time, and attendees often use social networks to engage with other participants in a live environment, so do not forget to include social media channels.
To make sure your event app development cost is justified, follow-up with attendees after the event and take feedback.

Looking for specific ways to use an event app during your next event? Check out our previous post on using event apps for more details.

Ready to find out how Grupio’s mobile solutions will help your next event succeed. Contact us to schedule a demo.