Jot them down

Hosting the event is secondary; the primary task is to figure out why you need a focus group event at all. You need to write down the goals your event is supposed to meet. Do you want to develop marketing strategies to sell your product? Or are you interested in marketing your product in a specific group? Do you wish to improvise on your existing service? All these questions have to be answered prior to the formation of the group, and these will act as a roadmap for the event or concert.

Focus on The Target

Define a target audience by considering all possible factors that’ll help you draw the right boundaries. Age, gender, social status, job profiles, family status, education, hobbies – all sorts of factors are important. You can have either of the two approaches: define a specific group (for example, students in the age group 16-20 interested in becoming lawyers) or start with a broader group and then classify further as you get better insights. Once you’re clear about the “Who”, it’ll be easier to tackle the “Where”.

Now, Tackle the “Where” and “When”

You don’t need someplace fancy to host a focus group meeting, but you need to consider many factors before deciding a venue. Make sure it’s well-connected to public transport lines, and if people are going to drive to the place, have an unpaid parking service available for them.

Also, be considerate and smart when you’re deciding the timings and date. Choose timings that’ll be comfortable for your attendees, and make sure the day you choose isn’t an important occasion or a holiday.

Let’s Get to the “How”

How are you going to recruit attendees? First and foremost, stay confined to a maximum of 15 participants, because any more than that will lead to not everyone being able to give their inputs properly. Ensuring 15 participants will get you covered for the 15% who are less likely to show up. Also, if you want people to turn up, give them a reason to. Offer them vouchers or reservations at popular restaurants, and give them enough refreshments. Most importantly, mention these in your adverts so that they don’t have double thoughts even if they’re interested. You can use flyers, posters, banners, emails, social media, personal phone calls and a lot other creative techniques to reach out to your targeted attendees and spread the word, loud and clear.

Ask the Right Questions

That’s exactly what you ought to do if you want to get the right answers. Remember, the aim of the focus group is to get valuable inputs from your potential customers, and that can’t be achieved by Boolean answers. Frame questions that demand descriptive answers. Instead of asking them whether they use makeup, ask them why or why don’t they use makeup. Also, each question should be directed at only one thing. Avoid asking clubbed questions like – “How much does the fragrance of a cosmetic and the packaging drive you to buy it?” because it involves their outlook on the fragrance and the packaging, so those are two things and hence, two questions. Try to frame as many questions as the number of participants so that everyone gets a chance to answer.

Appoint a Moderator

Every group discussion is supposed to have a moderator to facilitate the decisions, and an assistant moderator to operate the video camera and take notes. The moderator starts the discussion by giving everyone their nametags and specifying the goals and how the information will be used. Next, set some ground rules about how one can give his/her inputs and then break the ice by asking a casual question to get everyone talking. Also, make sure you’re summarizing and explaining long and complicated comments so that every person understands where the discussion is heading. At the end of it, thank everyone who participated and hand out the vouchers or mementos.

Summarize and Analyze

Note down the answers recorded on the video, cut down the unnecessary information and only extract the essentials. Prepare a spreadsheet where you can enter the answer to every question for easy analysis. It is preferable to organize answers into categories to identify which category has the maximum number of responses and hence, what should be your prime focus during marketing. Lastly, draft a report outlining the major findings and conclusions, and the strategies that can be formulated based on these.

Sometimes, having only one focus group meeting won’t be very useful, and you may have to host more of them to get the required number of responses and perspectives. Once the answers you get start repeating themselves, you’ll know you’ve reached the end point.

The post How To Run A Successful Focus Group Event appeared first on Yapsody.

Here’s a closer look at a few SEO trends that will help you to make your event success in the year ahead.

• A solid SEO approach has three core components: links, content and social media. Over the past year, the interrelationship among these components has strengthened. For example, although content should be focused on your customer’s needs, it should also drive specific profit-generating actions through links.  Social media magnifies your reach by indicating to search engines that customers find your content valuable and relevant. Backlinks from high-quality websites like Yapsody indicate that you are a legitimate, reliable event presenter.
• With the release of Google’s Hummingbird updates, it’s getting tougher for websites without a mobile strategy to rank well without both a mobile responsive design and a mobile content strategy. Consequently, now is the right time to invest resources into bolstering your mobile platform. The majority of Americans own cell phones and more than a third own tablet according to Pew Internet. Responsive design guarantees that your online ticket store looks incredible on any mobile device while a mobile content strategy addresses the context, needs, and behaviors of mobile users.
• Google is relying more than ever on human signals in the form of social media shares and mentions to help assess sites. Social media has matured to the point where it’s intersecting with SEO to help determine search rankings. Two easy places to start are building your Google Plus presence and ensuring that your website and blog have built-in content sharing mechanisms.

Effective SEO techniques must consolidate different components including brand building, mobile optimization, content marketing, and social media integration. It’s time to adapt your strategy to address these realities. And Yapsody is one great place to start!

The post Top SEO Trends Event Presenter Needs to Know appeared first on Yapsody.