Need Attendees? Top 7 Copywriting Tips to Drive Event Registration

What’s the biggest challenge of event marketing? Getting attendees to register for your programs, of course. Strategic copywriting can go a long way in helping to boost your event registration rates. Whether it’s a conference, trade show or webinar, there are many different messaging techniques that can be used in event promotion to convince your prospects to say “yes” to attending.

So what are the top copywriting tips for event promotion that I recommend?

1. Tease, don’t tell

Got great content? Play it up, but don’t give it all away. Tease the information in a way that leaves your audience wanting to know more. Pose intriguing questions that are tied to your content and encourage prospects to register to find answers. For example, if you have a webinar on cloud-based printing, you could tease with “How can you reduce the time of high-volume print runs without paying a penny more? Sign up for the webinar to learn this surprising solution.”

2. Drop names

Attracting credible, well-known speakers or companies to your event is essential for success. So once you have these people lined up, be sure to drop these prominent names often — and everywhere. If you don’t have your speaker session topics developed, no problem. Do some online research to find out what their views are on your industry and use that as a tie-in to your event. You can create momentum by asking questions such as the following: “What does [speaker] have to say about [topic] that may surprise you?” or “What is [speaker’s] view on [topic] that you won’t hear anywhere but here?”

3. Create urgency

Getting attendees to register early is tricky business, but there are a few messaging strategies to help drive urgency in that action. If your event has a fee, then tie sign-up to an offer or discount deadline. Try something like the following: “Sign up by [date] to save 25%.” When nearing your deadline, be sure to push out a “LAST CHANCE” message to let prospects know that the price will be increasing. Immediately following your last chance effort, you can send a follow-up, such as “25% discount extended today only! Sign up now…” If your event is free, tie a giveaway into sign-up. For example, try enticing attendance with an incentive such as “Sign up by [date] for your chance to get a FREE T-shirt.”

4. Build anticipation

Even the most serious conferences can seem exciting if you craft creative copy. Be sure to use lots of action language in your messaging. “Here’s your chance to…” “Be a fly on the wall to hear…” “Get your questions answered…” or “Put your knowledge to the test…” are some suggestions. Try to place emphasis on active, rather than passive, participation.

5. Be selective

Make your audience feel special with personalized offers that speak directly to them. Messaging like “You’ve been specially selected to…” “Because of your status as…” “As a [title] of [company], you qualify for…” or “Not everyone has received this invitation, but you’re getting it because…” can be quite effective. If you have a discount offer, try personalizing the discount code. Here is an example: “Bob, this discount code is yours and yours alone…”

6. Leverage FOMO

There’s no worse feeling than the one you get when you think you’ve been left out of something fun or important. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a powerful motivator that works well in all types of event copywriting. Use current registrants to pull in more attendees. “Kathy, your peers from [company A, B and C] have already signed up to attend…” or “We have teams registered from [company A, B and C]” are options. If your event is regional, try something like “We have the following companies from your city already signed up to attend…”

7. Use logic

Time and money are two of the biggest objections to event participation, so be sure to write copy to address those concerns. “Even if you only attend for half a day, you’ll be glad you came…” or “You’d have to pay more for the advice you’ll get here in just one day…” “You’ll get actionable insight within the first 15 minutes of this session…” or similar tactics can work wonders to get prospects to sign up.

Need a powerful messaging strategy to improve your event registrations? Contact us about event copywriting services for webinars, conferences, trade shows and more.