Dave Gerhardt’s Post

🎉✨ Elevate Your Engagement with Our FREE "Enter to Win" Feature! 🚀🌐 Not only is this functionality 100% FREE for our teams to use, we are rewarding the top performing teams utilizing this function in January with a SINGING TELEGRAM! 🚀 Key Features: 1️⃣ Cost-Effective: No more worrying about budget constraints! Our "Enter to Win" feature is completely FREE, so you can create buzz without burning a hole in your marketing budget. 2️⃣ Easy Setup: Setting up your giveaway is as simple as 1-2-3. No tech headaches, no complicated processes—just a smooth and seamless experience for you and your participants. 3️⃣ Boost Engagement: Drive interaction and excitement by giving your audience a chance to win amazing prizes. Whether it's a product launch, event promotion, or simply thanking your community, this feature is a game-changer. 4️⃣ Lead Generation: Capture valuable leads effortlessly. Our platform ensures that every entry is an opportunity to grow your network and connect with potential clients or customers.

I'm pretty sure we're at our best at The Marketing Meetup when we have a glimmer in our eye and tongue in our cheek. There is enough grey in the world. Greeting folks with a big smile (virtually, in written form, or in person) is such a privilege. Which is why this beautiful quote from David Hieatt has made me smile today. I hope it helps you too: "What age do you stop jumping in puddles?... Puddles are fun, but at what age do you decide they are not. - The truth is there is not a specific age. - It didn’t happen in one day. - It just stopped ever so slowly and didn’t start again. When we start a business, we do it for many reasons but one of them was that it was going to be fun. Then, we got busy. And busier. And then somehow, before you know it the fun went away. As founders, one of our jobs is to make sure the fun does not leave the building. Do the things you did at the start, and there will be no end. - Go for breakfast together. - Shut for a day when the weather is nice. - Have a party without a reason. Busy never finds time for puddles."

When was the last time you were WOWed? I just had the most AMAZING online event experience, and I have to share it! In all my years in and around events, #DELIVEREDCONFERENCE has truly exceeded my wildest expectations! Here’s why today was so unforgettable for me: ✅ Actionable tips you can use right now. ✅ GOAT speakers who delivered top-notch insights. ✅ Banger music that kept the energy high. ✅ FREE takeaways that are actually useful. ✅ Knowledge that’s going to elevate my marketing game. ✅ Fun games that added a playful touch. ✅ Fabulous gifs that made the experience even more fun. ✅ Philanthropic cause making a difference. ✅ Networking with amazing new marketing friends. ✅ Outstanding moderators who kept everything on point. ✅ An incredibly supportive atmosphere. If you thought direct mail was a thing of the past, we have to think again! When done properly, it can bring joy to recipients, enhance your brand, and extend the CLV. This event has been incredibly engaging so far. There’s no on-demand option—so it's all about making the most of the here and now! I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s sessions and the world’s largest virtual email marketing conference on tap for next month! Oh, and the best part? It’s all completely FREE! You get to learn new things, connect with amazing people, and enhance your marketing skills—this would be a steal at any price, but this is totally free for us! Big thanks to Jay Schwedelson and the team at GURU Media Hub! #MarketingStrategy #MarketingTips #VirtualEvents #GrowthMindset

How to properly market a Live event. (5 must-have email notifications) I'm just in the middle of a workflow for a coaching client and a Live event we're working on. We all know that notifications are important. But what is the bare minimum for me? Let's break down 5 non-negotiable emails that you absolutely must integrate into your strategy. 1. The Abandoned Cart Savior:      Just like in e-commerce.      If someone hits the checkout page, punches in their email, but bails before paying – you've got a golden opportunity.      Reel them back in. 2. The Gratitude Gesture:          Sold a ticket? Excellent.      Follow up with a heartfelt 'thank you' email.      Load it with all the essentials – event location, parking details, public transport options, etc.      Make their experience seamless from the get-go. 3. The One-Week Nudge:      People forget. It's human.      A friendly reminder a week out ensures your event stays top of mind. 4. The Final Countdown:      Amp up the excitement with a reminder the day before the event.      It's about building anticipation.      Repeat essential details about the event. 6. The Post-Event Appreciation:      After the applause dies down, send out a thank you.      Include valuable resources, request feedback, and, yes, plug that book of his at a special rate. In all emails, we will also include his book for a discounted price, and send this event to your calendar option (except in the last email for sure). Bottom line: These emails are more than just messages; they're your ticket to a memorable event. Miss out on these, and you're leaving money on the table. And all this magic (and much more) is powered by just two things: WooCommerce and ActiveCampaign. And of course, a little magic dust in the shape of me 😉 P.S. I'm fully booked till the end of March. If you would like to transform your ActiveCampaign into CashCow and you want to be in the first line, DM me "CashCow". --- Enjoyed this? Follow me & hit the 🔔- Dejan Krivec ♻️ Share this post

Wednesday July 24th at Mirella’s stunning patio. Chicago-area Real Estate Industry Professionals... Tony P's Networking Events is excited to announce: * Persona Marketing Inc. as one of the Featured Sponsors for our upcoming Real Estate Industry Summer Social Event!😁 https://lnkd.in/gCjKtd4q Alan Stern, the Founder and President of Persona Marketing, is an engaging entrepreneur and public speaker who specializes in educating small business owners and sales professionals in marketing for social media by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). His overarching goal is to help business professionals “stand out from the crowd” and he passionately believes in his core philosophy that, “People don’t buy from brands, they buy from people who represent brands.” Alan’s strategy, which includes showing audiences how to utilize “freemium apps”, is taught through the H.E.A.T. Method, which helps businesses humanize their brands and attract new clients and customers. The H.E.A.T. Method includes: 1) Humor: When people laugh, they remember what made them laugh. Using humor in marketing makes posts more shareable and leaves a lasting impact. 2) Education: People spend money to solve problems. By providing education on how challenges can be overcome, credibility is earned, without being “salesy.” 3) Added Value: When a brand is humanized, the value derived creates new possibilities and a larger network that ultimately leads to increased satisfaction and loyalty. 4) Trust: Nobody can sell a business better than a satisfied customer. By incorporating reviews and testimonials, happy customers speak on behalf of businesses, and trust is transferred to prospects. Once businesses have mastered the H.E.A.T. Method, AI can be used to research and create content faster than ever before, and Alan shows his audiences how to do this. Each of these elements plays a key role in how social media audiences perceive and interact with brands. By combining all of these into his presentation, Alan shows audiences how to create a holistic strategy that leverages the psychology of persuasion to build a strong and loyal customer base. We are looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday July 24th at Mirella’s patio.... register here to secure your spot for this awesome event! https://lnkd.in/gCjKtd4q

Wednesday July 24th at Mirella’s stunning patio. Chicago-area Real Estate Industry Professionals... Tony P's Networking Events is excited to announce: * Persona Marketing Inc. as one of the Featured Sponsors for our upcoming Real Estate Industry Summer Social Event!😁 https://lnkd.in/gCjKtd4q Alan Stern, the Founder and President of Persona Marketing, is an engaging entrepreneur and public speaker who specializes in educating small business owners and sales professionals in marketing for social media by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI). His overarching goal is to help business professionals “stand out from the crowd” and he passionately believes in his core philosophy that, “People don’t buy from brands, they buy from people who represent brands.” Alan’s strategy, which includes showing audiences how to utilize “freemium apps”, is taught through the H.E.A.T. Method, which helps businesses humanize their brands and attract new clients and customers. The H.E.A.T. Method includes: 1) Humor: When people laugh, they remember what made them laugh. Using humor in marketing makes posts more shareable and leaves a lasting impact. 2) Education: People spend money to solve problems. By providing education on how challenges can be overcome, credibility is earned, without being “salesy.” 3) Added Value: When a brand is humanized, the value derived creates new possibilities and a larger network that ultimately leads to increased satisfaction and loyalty. 4) Trust: Nobody can sell a business better than a satisfied customer. By incorporating reviews and testimonials, happy customers speak on behalf of businesses, and trust is transferred to prospects. Once businesses have mastered the H.E.A.T. Method, AI can be used to research and create content faster than ever before, and Alan shows his audiences how to do this. Each of these elements plays a key role in how social media audiences perceive and interact with brands. By combining all of these into his presentation, Alan shows audiences how to create a holistic strategy that leverages the psychology of persuasion to build a strong and loyal customer base. We are looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday July 24th at Mirella’s patio.... register here to secure your spot for this awesome event! https://lnkd.in/gCjKtd4q

Here's how we got 300+ humans to sign up for our virtual event tomorrow in less than a week... - This might sound silly, but I honestly believe my biggest obstacle was getting over (myself) the limiting belief that no one would show up, as well as the validation-seeking idea of hitting a stupid number. I got (had to get) to a place, mentally, where I was totally okay with and even elated at the idea of just ONE human showing up and knowing the value I had to bring the impact that could be created in that space. - Rather than just sending a single message or doing a single social media post with an announcement or praying that our ticketing page alone would convert, we sent out THREE strategically positioned and stacked value-packed newsletters (known to marketers as the "pre-launch" via the great Jeff Walker), which we repurposed into social posts to my page (some of which had video and all of which were written by me, with my hands and my very imperfect, authentic voice). - We positioned VALUE first; EVENT second. While we did do 1-2 separate announcement subject lines and hooks, we really emphasized the content, which created frameworks, exercises and ACTUAL COACHING with takeaways around confidence. This created trust in me, immediate action, and a belief from them to take the next step. - To build a list, I posted polls to my Instagram and Stories asking what they needed help with most. (I was planning on going all MINDSET for this and not PERSONAL BRANDING, as a NEW extension of our business, but was actually shocked and also not at all, when my community kept choosing options related to MINDSET/CONFIDENCE and not sales/strategy.) And then I let them know I'd be releasing relevant content that would address EXACTLY what they needed. - We talked about process and not just the outcome. And when I say "we", I don't just mean me. Everyone who touched this project shared updates to their Stories and/or shared my Stories to their Stories and Feeds -- we showed my reaction to the first signups coming in, the rainbow window wall of names (and social proof) we registered, my mom stuffing envelopes in my kitchen for the VIPs who received a mailer from us, making a mess of the office, doing sound checks, etc. - We made it FREE (which my team partially disagreed with) and here's why.. First and foremost, I see this as a long-term play. While I look forward to turning these incredible humans into committed goal-getting members of our community, I look at this from the lens of our values -- creating a ripple effect in contagiously bold leadership -- and in generating brand awareness (especially as we prepare to launch new programs LIVE events and a book) and in creating more awesome and kind raving fans. (And also, these aren't just random people and we didn't run any ads; these are OUR people or people of our people.) We wanna do more good. So let's do more good for more people. Stay tuned.

‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ Like Ms. Betty when she's hungry (she's got some LOUD meows when she's ready to eat!). Many women find it harder to fill their events is because they are afraid if they talk about the event too much... They will scare away their ideal clients because they are being pushy or salesy. But here's the thing... If you are NOT showing up consistently, marketing yourself and your events, you're NEVER going to have a consistent flow of clients (or sign-ups). And you gotta do it until you feel like a broken record. And then you gotta do it some more. (You'll be sick of it LONG before your audience is because you see EVERY piece!). Because most people... ✔️ Do NOT see all or any of your content (that's how the algorithms work). ✔️ Need a few reminders before they take action (they're busy/they forgot). ✔️ Appreciate a reminder because they meant to sign up but forgot (they clicked on the page but got distracted). ✔️ Wait until the last minute to sign up (most sign-ups happen in the last 72 hours). So, if you aren't showing up enough, when it comes time to buy your type of service... They'll buy from the squeaky wheel. Because the wheel was visible when they needed the thing. A squeaky wheel might be annoying but it's also getting noticed. So, let's turn you into a squeaky wheel. What do you need right now, to start promoting your events consistently so that you get 50 or more sign ups to every event (all organically)? Let me know in the comments. P.S. Sign up for my upcoming masterclass to learn my top 3 promotion steps for getting more sign-ups at your next event. #TalktoHeidi #SocialMediaMarketing #SocialSelling #ContentMarketing #LiveEvents

Last week we put on our first in-person event and brought 200 B2B marketers to the sixth smallest state in the US. We spent close to $200,000 on the event. That's a lot for a small, bootstrapped business. And it took TIME. Lots of it. Three months of work and distractions for our team to pull off - when we could have been doing other things that would have contributed more revenue to our business faster. But it was absolutely worth doing this event and I can't wait for Drive 2025. Here are three reasons why: 1. The event lifted our brand and perception overall. The FOMO from people who didn't go to the event was incredible and something I did not expect. There was so much posted on LinkedIn about Drive that the event - while only 200 people - felt larger than it way. I can already feel in the week following the event that our business is reaching a new level. We've had more inbound interest and new trials this week than ever before and I expect that to continue. 2. We built a deeper connection with your community. Online relationships are a good start, but you can really cement things when you get together in person. Members are saying that this was the best event they've ever been to for work. Chelsea wrote: "Events in the last year have all felt like LinkedIn in real life. But there was something about this one that made it different. This online community brought to life created an air of belonging, acceptance, vulnerability, love, and respect. Last week's Drive event by Exit Five may have been the best event I've ever attended." Ari said: ""Finally, a marketing conference that wasn't marketing anything to me." 3. We got to bond as a team by doing the work together. Team chemistry is important, but I don't think you build chemistry just by getting coffee together, or knowing that your teammate loves to go on hikes. Real chemistry is build by *doing the work* together, and our team worked their asses off for the last three months to put this event on. We learned how to work together. This event was a forcing function. And we picked up so many things that can translate to the rest of our business and improve how we work on new things in the future. Next up? We're going to host an Exit Five meet-up in Austin in November. Stay tuned for more details. LMK if you're in the area. *** P.S. Quick shoutout to the team at Zuddl. We used their platform to run all the logistics like ticket sales, registration, check-in. Plus, we use Zuddl for all of our webinars and online events. Thanks to their team for giving us access to their product and for being sponsors of E5. Go check them out if you're looking for a platform that will help you create a great attendee experience (and is marketer friendly).

My clients are crushing it with their marketing events... 💙 And I'm not surprised! In the world of endless scrolling, fast content, and short attention spans, events offer a unique advantage – attendees actively choose to spend their time with you, creating a captive audience for your brand story. So, when something's working, you scale like crazy, right? Wellllllllllllll... Not always! Before adding a bunch more events into your marketing mix, focus on making what you have WORK HARDER. Here's how to start: ✨ Look at the data: Great event signup rate but low attendance—tweak those reminders! Are people bailing mid-event? It's time for a presentation upgrade. ✨ Look at the user journey: From the moment they see your event to that last follow-up email...is it easy? Could it be more interesting and convincing? ✨ Look at the emails: Can we increase those open rates to get even more sign-ups? ✨ Look at your presentation: Does your actual event build the connection it should? Oh, and just FYI... I'll be hosting an event about getting started with marketing events sometime in April. Would you like to attend? If so, comment below, and I'll let you know once the event page is live. I'm super excited about it 😍 #marketingevents #marketing #webinar #eventmarketing