How to make an offline event promotion and operation plan?

This article is not only suitable for online event operations (e-commerce promotions, new customer acquisition activities, traffic generation activities, etc.) and offline activities (new product launches, street stall activities, exhibitions, etc.), but is also worth a read for traditional industries (education and training, catering, etc.).

A few days ago, an operator sent me an offline event operation plan and asked me what I thought about it. In order to explain the problem more simply, I will not post the activity plan, but simply talk about the structure of this plan:

• Event time and location
• Participants: Divided into two parts: guests and staff
• Reservation confirmation:
• Reception process:
• Activity process and steps
• Materials to be prepared
• To Do

This is the template for most activities. In fact, if you search online for how to make an activity plan, most of the results will be similar to this template.

This type of plan is indeed sufficient if used as an entry-level activity plan. By filling in information in a templated manner, the key nodes of an activity on the timeline can be clearly stated.

This is also an operation execution plan that is often used within the operation team. But can this plan alone explain an activity clearly?

I don’t think so. The fundamental reason is that: we simply push the event operation step by step to the execution level, but we don’t dig deep enough into the inner workings of the event operation.

So, what is the core of event operations?

Event operations are actually very similar, for online and offline, only the venue of the event is different, but the inner soul of the event is the same.

The external manifestation of event operation is to advance the event step by step, but the truth behind it is all about human operation! Therefore, if we only focus on how the activity progresses from one link to another, it would be putting the cart before the horse.

So, what exactly is human operation? It is generally divided into the following levels:

1. What is the user's initial state?
2. What state do you expect users to achieve after the event ends?
3. What obstacles will be encountered during the conversion process?
4. How does the activity process eliminate these obstacles?

You feel like this is correct bullshit? Let me give you some simple examples.

1. What is the user's status?

The user's initial state is the starting point of all our activities. Only by figuring out what this starting point is can we make our solution design speak in the same time and space.

When a new brand and an old brand conduct activities in the same scenario, the initial user status they face is completely different.

For example: if on the same e-commerce platform (it could be Tmall 618, Taobao Juhuasuan, or a new product promotion at the entrance of a residential property), different brands are used, then the user's status will be completely different.

If the brand you sell is iPhone or Xiaomi, a well-known brand, then the user's initial state is: they already trust the brand and product, and have consumption needs, but are not sure whether to buy it.

If the brand you sell is from a small business, such as Dakele (a mobile phone company that has gone bankrupt), then the user's initial state is: there is a consumption demand, but it is not sure whether the brand is trustworthy.

You see, the initial status of these two users is completely different, right?

Let me give you another example.

You are a children's training institution, and you want to hold an offline stall activity to attract some new customers for the training institution. At this time, there are two locations where you want to hold activities. One location is the commercial pedestrian street with the largest traffic in the county, and the other location is a high-end residential area where rich people are concentrated in the county. Then the initial states of the two types of users are completely different.

Even if you narrow down the user group to this precise group of female users with children aged 3-6, the user status on the pedestrian street may be very complex, while the user status in high-end residential areas where rich people are concentrated may be simpler.

2. What state do we expect users to achieve?

The state achieved by the user is the end point of all our activities. Figuring out this end point is a supplement to the user's initial state. Only when these two coordinates are confirmed can we determine how to carry out the activity plan.

You will definitely say, of course we hope that users will make transactions? True, but that's correct nonsense.

For most activities, when we design solutions, we usually hope that users can achieve the following states:

1. Pull the user in and ask them to leave their contact information so that we can harass them later; (Online users can install the app, register, and activate their phone number, while offline users can leave their contact information)
2. First, harass the user on the spot; (Online, let the user look at the product details page in detail; offline, pull the user to chat for 20 minutes)
3. Don’t get blacklisted by users; (Online is usually the retention rate, sometimes even using rogue software to keep you from leaving; offline may be signing up for a free trial class or something like that)
4. Achieve payment; (For most projects, this may be the ultimate goal, whether online or offline)

Depending on the industry and activity, there may be many other states, so I won’t list them all.

If the indicator of our activity this time is to increase the order volume, then you may have to sacrifice the average order value and refund rate, right? Don’t understand what it means? Let me give you two more examples.

In the early days of Pinduoduo, all the activities it carried out had only one indicator, which was the expected user achievement status, that is, the transaction. So, how does Pinduoduo do it? By buying in a group for 1 cent, you can get a new customer to make a payment. So you see, Pinduoduo announced very early on that the number of users who completed transactions had reached hundreds of millions, but the GMV behind this was really appalling.

There are also many company operators who believe that the only possible achievement of an activity is the number of installations. In this case, installing the APP is what we expect users to achieve, and other numbers can be completely ignored. For example, during the Spring Festival in 2019, Baidu held a red envelope shaking activity. The installation and registration data on that day would definitely be very good, but the uninstall rate could only be selectively ignored.

So, looking back, when you are doing street stall activities for educational institutions, you hope that users will:

• Impressed by your brand?
• Or can I join a free trial class?
• Or directly convert them into paying customers?

These three end states are completely different, so you must think them through clearly.

3. What obstacles will this transformation state encounter?

The user's starting state is A and the final state is B. During the transformation process of this state, there must be some obstacles, making the transformation process less smooth.

At this point I would like to digress: why many operators must read books on psychology, behavioral science, and sales.

Let’s go back to the example above: If you sell iPhones on an e-commerce platform, then if we apply this formula, it would be something like this:

• Initial state: Trust in the brand and purchase intention
• End state: Order purchase

Brands like these have simple SKUs, so there is no chance of selling inferior products as good ones . And because of Taobao's high-intensity management of merchants, you don't have to worry too much about after-sales issues even if a new store has few reviews. The only obstacle is price. Therefore, like many products of big brands, the profit will be compressed to near zero, and the only profit is the hard work fee.

If you sell products from a small brand, then the focus of all your activities may be to find endorsements and find ways to convince users how reliable you are. Celebrity endorsements, KOL endorsements, expert recommendations, patent certifications, running score parameters, and investment background are all extremely important persuasive factors.

If you pay attention to the technology industry, you may find that the style of Mr. Luo’s Hammer conference changes almost every year. Some people say that Mr. Luo has gradually matured as an entrepreneur and has begun to slowly compromise with the market and the media.

But I don’t think so. I think the fundamental reason is: because the initial status and achievement status of the audience of the press conference have changed.

In the beginning, Mr. Luo’s press conferences were more like niche fan conferences. Therefore, these fans hardly cared about what the products were like. What they really cared about was what classic quotes Mr. Luo released. So, when it came to T1, topics like "sentiment", "natural pride", "the best in the Eastern Hemisphere", and "negative optimization of running points" were lethal to fans.

At this time, the main factor hindering user conversion is whether it is cool enough and whether it has high class enough.

Later press conferences gradually tended to be press conferences for mass consumers, and mass consumers usually begin to look at issues rationally. Since what is being released is a technology product, then the parameters, settings, and performance-driven aspects of technology products are inevitable. This is also the main reason why many people have found that Hammer's press conferences are gradually becoming more "de-Luo Yonghao"-oriented.

At this time, the main factor hindering user conversion is whether it is cost-effective compared with competitors! (The embarrassing thing is that most of us consumers don’t seem to buy into the design, but what I want to say is: Smartisan OS is simply awesome!).

4. How does the activity plan eliminate this obstacle?

In fact, if you understand the most critical obstacles that affect conversion, it will be much easier to design targeted solutions (activities).

But we also need to know that removing this obstacle is a gradual process. Regarding this point, it is especially recommended that most operators go to traditional offline MLM channels (yes, that's right, they sell health products) to learn how they turn elderly people who have to cut a few cents when buying vegetables into wealthy customers who spend thousands of dollars on health products.

Due to limited space, this content will be discussed in the next chapter.

Related reading:

1. Activity operation: an inventory of mainstream gameplay such as group buying, bargaining, and distribution!

2. Three key points of event operation: How to increase users’ willingness to participate in activities?

3. Event operation: How to do a live broadcast sharing that can attract 10,000+ users?

4. What you need to know about event operation | The basic process of operating online events

5. Event Operation: If these 4 points are met, there is no event that cannot be done well

6. Event operation: How to run a good event? Share 4 points!

7. Event operation: 6 common types of event link title copywriting!

8. Event operation, complete analysis of the gameplay of flash sales

9. Analyze Pinduoduo’s event operation system and coupon gameplay!

10. 5 techniques for event operation and promotion, and coupon distribution!

11. How to warm up for event operation and promotion?

12. Event operation and promotion, how to use H5 to create a hot-selling product?

Author: Barley

Source: Damai Operation View