Summit Promotion Q&A

When thinking about promoting your summit, a lot of questions might come to mind.

In this episode, let’s cover a few of the most common questions, such as:

• When do I start promoting?
• What promo resources do I give speakers?
• What are some unique ways to promote?
• When should I expect the most sign-ups?

When to Begin Summit Promotion

The most common question is “How long before the summit should I start promoting?” Your overall summit promotion should be about 2.5-3 weeks before the summit.

It breaks down like this:

• 3-7 days before the summit is only you run promotion.
• 14 days before the summit is you and your speaker’s

The initial promo period where it’s just your own promotion gives you the chance to test your tech and your conversion rates, so you’ll know if anything needs to be fixed or tweaked before others send a bunch of traffic your way.

If you run promotion for more than 3 weeks, you run the risk that attendees who signed up early won’t remember that they’re excited about your summit, even if you’ve been sending them emails. They’ll be burnt out by the time it comes around.

Swipe Copy for Affiliates and Promotions Schedule

The next most common questions are about what swipe copy to provide your affiliates and what promotions schedule is recommended. 

I used to provide my speakers with 4 email templates and a PS option about their summit presentation going live with a join link. Affiliates got the same copy minus the PS template about the presentation.  

In future summits, as I talk about with Ellie Runkles in episode 34, I will add more templates with value-add content that would fit different types of audiences and my speakers specifically. Adding some value-add emails in there will let them do more promotion more naturally without annoying their audience or feeling like they're pitching too much.

The emails you create for your speakers and affiliates are Google Docs with fill-in-the-blank sections and then also remind them to replace any links with their affiliate links.

I also give them:

• Square graphics for Instagram and Facebook
• Instagram story sized graphics
• Twitter graphics

In addition to the swipe copy, I give speakers and affiliates a schedule. I suggest exact dates for them to send their different emails and I give them a little date range so people in several audiences aren't getting hit with the same exact email three times a day.

This allows them to hand it off to a VA to get it scheduled so they don’t have to worry about it. This increases the chance of them putting in a little more effort into sharing.  The more you can provide your speakers and affiliates, the clearer you can make it, the better.

If you use an affiliate platform, record a quick video to show them how to log in and get their affiliate links and where to grab their swipe copy.

How to Build Excitement About Your Summit

The next question was about how to build excitement for your summit without straight promoting it. With a 3-week promotion period, it’s going to get old for both you and your audience to get hit with straight promotion about your summit over and over again.

Hard promotion constantly isn’t the way to go. A variety of promotion methods will get you further and make it less likely to turn away members who aren’t interested.

I like to do this by giving a behind-the-scenes look as I prepare for the summit and even before I open promotion. If I’m working on something fun that I think people will enjoy, I share it on my Instagram Story. This is especially great to do during promotion as well.

For example, you can mention that you got a great presentation from a speaker that you’re excited about and share a snippet of an awesome part. This builds excitement without promotion.

Include Value-Add

You also want to include value-add that ties into your summit.

For example, the summit I run for my other business is basically about simplifying the design business and making it more profitable. During the promotion period, I do free content about that. I know that if someone watches this video or reads this email or blog post, they're likely to be interested in my summit.

If I catch their attention with it, all I do is mention my summit and get them to go register. That gives them value. You give them something before you ask them to sign up.

Guest Newsletters and Social Media Take Overs

Another way to build excitement, without promoting the entire summit, is to have your speakers write a guest newsletter for you to send to your list or take over your top social media profile with a live video or valuable post that ties in with their presentation topic.

Again, they deliver value to your audience, catch their attention, and encourage them to sign up to learn more.

When to Expect the Most Sign Ups

The last question I want to touch on is when throughout the promotion period you should expect to see the most sign-ups.

You’re going to see the most signups on:

• the first day of your promotion
• the first day of your speakers' promotion
• the last couple of days of promotion

What to Do Now

We rely on our speakers to get our summits out into the world and hit the goals we've been dreaming of. In order to do this, encourage your speakers to promote in a gross-free way and make it easy for them in the process. 

Resources

• Episode 34: Boost Summit Signups Through Your Registration Page + Email Sequences With Elli Runkles
• Episode 68: How to Get Speakers to Share Your Virtual Summit
• Episode 135: How to Make it EASY for Speakers to Promote Your Virtual Summit
• 12 Secrets To Your First Profitable Online Summit
• Summit Host Hangout Facebook group 

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