Seminar Development

Seminar development is one of the best kept secrets of marketing. Seminar development allows entrepreneurs to connect directly with their customer base in a non-threatening environment. Through this form of marketing, entrepreneurs can share their niche expertise with the community. The education provided in seminars leads to a more informed customer base capable of marking better buying decisions. These informed buyers will become happier repeat customers. However, business development seminars are only successful if they are designed to help the customer and not the business.

The ultimate goal of any seminar is to expand your sales and marketing reach. To effectively meet this goal, the company, the product or service, and the team must be property assessed to ensure they are compatible with the seminar approach to business development.

Assessing the company – The seminar must deliver education to the community to create regular attendance. If the education delivered to the attendees is focused on the product or service, expectations of continued attendance are unrealistic. The leadership of the company and the marketing department must make a conscious long term budget commitment to the education of the community. If that commitment is unrealistic, than other marketing approaches may be a better fit.

Assessing the product/service – The product or service being marketing must fit the seminar marketing model. For seminars to be a long term success for the company there must be a need for education in the target community. Then, the product or service must be in line with that information need. For instance, few consumers understand long term investments; companies that provide investment services often create customer relationships through the seminar model.

Assessing and evaluating the team - Not every entrepreneur is capable of running business development seminars. Before considering business development seminars as a component of your marketing strategy, you must first evaluate your seminar potential. The entrepreneur, a member of the sales team, or a third party consultant must have the attributes of a good seminar development leader. Seminars can not be effective if the leader of the seminar is not ready. Unfortunately, seminar failures will result in minimum attendance at repeat seminars.

Attributes of a good seminar development leader

  • Passion for the customer base and/or local community
  • Passion for the niche market
  • Passion for public speaking
  • Extensive knowledge of the niche market
  • Ability to teach
  • Ability to distinguish the market & the customer need apart from your offering
  • Ability to help the consumer solve a problem without pitching your product or service

Seminar Material - If you decide to proceed with a seminar development plan, the biggest challenge will be the development of seminar materials. These materials must also walk that fine line between education and marketing. The best of seminars can be quickly ruined if the closing materials are centered on marketing and not on fulfilling the attendees need for education. However, failure to promote the product or service will result in a net return of zero. Consider this balance and the attendees’ perspective carefully when developing seminar materials.

Score Consulting’s Seminar Development Practices:

The balance of education and marketing in a business development seminar can be difficult to manage. If you are building a business development seminar, contact Score Consulting today.

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