However, when raising money for a cause, it’s crucial to use the best practices of the industry because coming up short is simply not an option.

So, to help you get started, we’ve compiled some of the most important aspects of organising a fundraising event so that you don’t make the crucial mistakes that are quite common in the industry.

Ready to get started? Then read on below.

Set a Clear Goal 

The first step of putting together a successful fundraiser is figuring out what the fundraiser is about in the first place.

While that may seem obvious, you need to be very specific in defining the cause for your event, figuring out the main reasons why it matters, and coming up with a calculated and precise number of funds that would be the goal that you’re trying to achieve.

What’s more, setting goals can help you and your team focus on the project as well – by having a number to aim for, you can get a better understanding of precisely what you have to do to make it happen, which is essential when allocating resources and the time of your team.

When you have the purpose of your event crystalized, you can also use the reasons for the event as compelling material to convince potential donors to contribute to the cause, which is, in the end, the most crucial factor that determines whether an event is a success or not.

Compile a List of Potential Donors

In order for your fundraiser event to be successful, you need to have attendees. But just any attendees won’t do – you need guests that care about your fundraising cause and have the resources to make a significant donation.

Therefore, you need to spend time identifying people who could be the best donors for your event and compile them into a list.

With the help of a target list, you’ll have an easier time coming up with a compelling and unified outreach campaign which invites guests to attend and participate in your fundraiser.

When you know the people that you want to invite, you can tailor the messages and make sure that they have the biggest impact. You can talk about why they are fitting candidates to donate to the cause and make the message more relevant and engaging than if you were trying to talk to everyone at once.

Think about what groups of people would find your cause meaningful, and emphasize the reasons why it matters in your communications. 

You could even send personalized letters to the people that you want to invite, and segment your list to make sure that each group receives an invitation that has the highest chance of getting them to take action.

Choose the Right Venue

Fundraising events are unique in a sense that they are designed to raise money for a cause, which means that sometimes, corporate event management companies want to cut corners and try to save as much money on the event itself as possible.

However, while being efficient and smart with the budget that you have is crucial, the venue shouldn’t be an area where you compromise on quality because that could cause your entire event to be unsuccessful.

After all, even if you have the best cause and a willing audience that wants to contribute, you still need to get people in the same room, and doing so in an unsuitable venue can be a challenge, to say the least.

That’s why experienced corporate event companies that are putting together fundraisers are extremely thorough when choosing the right venue.

But what should you focus on when making a choice?

Well, first off, you need to figure out how big your fundraising event is going to be. If it’s a local event that’s limited to one city, choosing a central location that’s easy to access via public transportation is a good idea.

For larger events that will have guests flying in from abroad, a location closer to the airport would make more sense, since people could arrive and leave from your event more conveniently. 

You also need to consider the size of the venue, the necessary amenities, and whether the event venue will position your fundraiser the right way.

Spread the Word

While it’s great to do outreach campaigns to get the key donors to your event, if you want to maximize results, that may not be enough, and you may need to run public marketing campaigns to draw attention to your cause and boost participation.

Luckily, there are plenty of marketing approaches that you can use to promote your event and fill up the seats quickly.

One of the easiest ways to market your fundraiser is through social media – you can find almost any group of people on social media and get targeted and compelling messages in front of them.

You should also set up your fundraising page, which can serve as a hub where you post relevant information, educate prospective attendees, and drive traffic from your ads. 

When running ads, you should try to qualify prospective attendees by having them opt into your list and fill out a bit of information about themselves. This can allow you to personalize the messages and ensure that you’re only going after the people who can contribute to your cause.

One final thing to consider is that although the attendance of the live event is limited, technology today allows having an unlimited number of potential contributors to tune in through the web.

If you set up a live stream of your event and pair it with an online payment processing platform, you can collect donations from people all over the world and dramatically increase the amount of money that you can receive. 

Although running fundraising events on the web is still relatively new, many corporate event management companies are seeing tremendous success with it, and since setting up a stream is very affordable, there’s no risk with sharing at least part of your event with a global audience. 

Choose the Right Event Ticketing System

When you’re organising a fundraiser, make the ticket selling process convenient by selling tickets online. There are plenty of online ticketing systems out there, many of which charge exorbitant ticketing fees, making it financially infeasible for fundraising events. With Yapsody’s event ticketing system, it goes the other way around. If you’re a non profit organisation presenting a fundraiser or any kind of event, Yapsody offers you a 50% rebate on event ticketing fees, cutting down expenses furthermore. Needless to say, if you’re selling free tickets, event ticketing is free for you. Basically, when you’re choosing a ticket registration software, make wise decisions.

The post 5 Ways to Make a Fundraising Event an Instant Success appeared first on Yapsody.

All you have to do is create your account with Yapsody. Easily set up a MailChimp account with Yapsody. Once your MailChimp account is set up and as your attendees begin to purchase tickets online, Yapsody automatically imports and syncs their email addresses into your MailChimp account. You can utilize these mailing lists every time you create a new email marketing campaign.

What can you do with the MailChimp integration? The possibilities are endless. To start with, promote upcoming events, send invites and remind attendees about your event. You can also send newsletters, targeted email campaigns and provide real-time updates to your attendees to always stay connected with them.

At Yapsody, we love exceeding presenter expectations. That’s why when it comes to online ticketing, we offer some of the best features in the event ticketing industry. Use our effective email marketing strategies to let your attendees know about your event. Sell out your event and accelerate online ticket sales with ease.

Planning an event? Create your email campaign right away using Yapsody’s MailChimp integration.

The post Promote your Event Effectively with Yapsody’s MailChimp Integration appeared first on Yapsody.

According to Statista’s 2019 research about email users worldwide, global email users is set to grow to 4.3 billion users by 2022. That’s half of the world’s population! Event presenters can use email marketing as an incredibly powerful tool to convey messages directly to the attendees. However, there has been a drop in the email marketing reach due to the frequency and volume of emails people receive, spam filters and the introduction of the Gmail Promotions tab. In spite of these challenges, you can still get your message across using our 7 most powerful email marketing ideas.

1. The Right Time to Send an Email: The best time for high open rates and click-through rates is between 8 pm to midnight. Also, emails sent over the weekend outperformed emails sent on the weekdays. Timing does play an important role in email marketing. According to studies, good days to send emails on weekdays are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Event presenters can use this marketing strategy to increase the email open rate and click-through rate.
2. Use Visuals: According to research conducted by 3M corporation, visuals are processed 60k times faster than text, which is why using visuals in the form of creative GIFs or videos improves the open and click rates for your overall email marketing campaign. That said, including random GIFs won’t get your attendees to necessarily respond positively. The key to increasing your conversion rates is using the required amount of GIFs which is ideally one and conveying the right message through it.
3. Choose the Right Subject Line: A catchy subject line can win you more click-throughs and increase the email open rate.
   • Keep short and irresistible subject lines.
   • Your subject line should have an element of urgency or curiosity that will make them open the email.
   • Ensure the sender’s name is friendly, more like a person’s name.
   • Add an offer
4. Mobile-Friendly: Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. From gaming, shopping, social media to entertainment, everything is available in the palm of your hand. This is also the device a lot of your attendees use to browse through upcoming events and book tickets online. To provide a great experience for your attendees, implement a responsive design. Create a one-column template with a tappable CTA button (Call to action). Emphasize on the CTA button – it has to be clear and obvious.
5. Event Follow up Email: Event presenters give in a lot of time to plan, organize and promote an event. But what about the after-event activity? You may have sent a number of marketing emails to your attendees to promote your event. Similarly, it’s time you thank your attendees for making your event a huge success. Valuable feedback from them can help you make your next event better.
6. A/B Testing: Testing is the best way to determine which campaign is doing better than the other in terms of open or click rate. In A/B testing, you create two versions of the same email campaign and send it to a small portion of your list. You can do A/B testing in 3 ways:
   • Subject Line- You can have a different subject line for each version
   • Sender name- Try different sender name for each version
   • Email Content- Try different content or header title or visual content
   • To decide which email campaign is doing better, set up a performance metric with total click on a selected link or open rate as the testing point. Monitor the A/B tests and identify which campaign works better for you.
7. Social Media: Social media network is a powerful way to build your email list. Majority of your target audience today is on social media. Thus adding high-value and valuable content on social media channels about your event can increase your reach and boost ticket sales. Give your attendees a reason to keep coming back to your social media channel for offers and discounts.

Give your event the sales boost it needs with a great email marketing campaign. Try Yapsody’s online ticketing system. It features a powerful integrated email marketing tool MailChimp that allows you to seamlessly send promotional emails to your event attendee list and make you look like a pro. Start selling your tickets with Yapsody today!

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Segment Your Audience

Marketing 101 – Everybody is different. It’s easy to find people with similar preferences, but never exactly the same. So, sending the same email to everyone is definitely not going to work. Segment your potential audience depending on their interests and then send customized newsletters.

Personalize Your Templates 

With smart email inboxes that filter out spam getting through can be a task. Your mails fall prey to Select All -> Move to Trash. If you don’t want your emailers to end up in spam, personalize your emails. Include names of people who the newsletter is addressed to instead of shooting mass emails to your entire database. Unless your emails are engaging on a personal level, it will be ignored.

Call-To-Action

You’ve segmented your target audience perfectly, you’ve crafted personalized emails with amazing content. Now what? Now, you unleash the power of the Call-To-Action (CTA). You’ve led them on a path and now must give them a clear direction to their destination. If your emails have a CTA that redirects your readers to the registration page or a survey, they are will respond because they’re already in the flow. Make sure you use active verbs like “Register Now!” or “Take the Survey!” on your CTA buttons to create impact.

Mobile Optimization

80% of your target audience is going to view your email on a mobile device: either a smartphone or a tablet. If your email template is not optimized for mobile devices, your chances of getting a response from your email viewers will narrow down to an extremely thin line. So, ensure that your email gets displayed flawlessly on all kinds of digital platforms by adopting a responsive design.

Automate Campaigns

Email marketing campaigns don’t display instant results, so make sure you have a backup of automated emails that ensures constant engagement with your audience. Birthdays, follow-ups, blog updates – they could be anything. Make sure your entire email marketing campaign revolves around your automated schedule so that nothing goes south. Create relevant content, sit back and relax while all your emails get delivered during hours that are most responsive.

So, you see, the efficiency of email marketing hasn’t been compromised due to newer strategies. It still remains just as effective, only a few simple measures that make it all work out in your favor.

If you’re a presenter or an event marketer looking to automate your email marketing strategy, Yapsody’s ticketing platform offers MailChimp Integration to simplify your efforts through email marketing examples.

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