Expanding your event’s international appeal can significantly boost attendance and create fresh energy at your conference. Here are five smart tips to attract international attendees while staying mindful of costs, keeping things relevant, and ensuring compliance.
1. Leverage Local Influencers
Teaming up with local influencers (international associations, media, speakers, attendees, experts) is a surefire way to boost your event’s visibility and credibility. These influencers already have the trust of their communities, making them the perfect bridge to reach your target audience. Make it easy for them to work their magic by giving them talking points, fun creative assets, and trackable links. That way, they can craft personalized content that truly clicks with their international followers and drives buzz for your event.
2. Implement Geo-Targeted Campaigns
Geo-targeted advertising allows you to focus your marketing efforts on specific regions, ensuring your message reaches the most relevant audience in the right language while optimizing your budget.
Jaclyn Vann, CSG Senior Account Executive, says, “For IAAPA Expos’ Hosted Buyer Program, we launched geo-targeted popups in North America, Asia, and Europe, ensuring attendees were informed about the nearest event to their location. We also invested in media buys within regional industry magazines to capture local interest and utilized LinkedIn to identify and message potential international attendees. This strategy kept our outreach targeted, effective, and fully GDPR-compliant.”
3. Launch Referral Marketing Campaigns
Referral marketing taps into the power of your attendees, speakers and exhibitors, letting them spread the word about your event in a natural, authentic way. It’s like word-of-mouth on steroids, boosting your reach and helping you attract high-quality attendees who are already primed for the experience.
Heidi Aulakh, Senior Director, Client Service, shared that, “Launching a referral program for IAAPA Expo has proven to be super valuable. Peer recommendations foster trust and credibility. Referral campaigns are cost-effective compared to traditional advertising. The increased engagement from registrants and speakers sharing their point of view creates a really vibrant and diverse attendee mix.”
4. Invest in Brand Activations
Brand activations are powerful tools for creating memorable experiences that engage attendees and enhance your brand’s visibility. These events foster deeper connections with your audience, often generating organic buzz as participants share their experiences online. For example, the American Heart Association’s Hands-Only CPR training kiosks in airports have engaged over 100,000 people, providing valuable skills while promoting the association and leaving a lasting impact. With strategic placement, activations like these can attract qualified attendees and partners.
APTA EXPO’s international outreach at the European Public Transport Exhibition & Conference (UITP) event in Barcelona is another good example. By adopting the theme “NEXT STOP: APTA EXPO,” APTA transformed its campaign to engage public transportation professionals worldwide to their event in Orlando, FL. The booth featured interactive elements, including a social media photo op with Orlando-themed props and multilingual materials. Personalized follow-ups and branded keepsakes, like luggage tags, boosted engagement and played a key role in hitting KPIs for targeted leads.
Lisa Staszewski, VP of Marketing at NTP, highlighted the success, stating, “The results were clear—54% of all APTA EXPO attendees were first-timers, strongly indicating that our activations effectively drove new participation.”
5. Build a Program for Your International Cohort
Creating programming specifically for international audiences demonstrates your commitment to inclusivity and relevance. This may include sessions that steer clear of U.S.-specific regulations, focusing instead on global industry trends and future advancements. Tailored networking opportunities for international attendees and special pricing considerations for those traveling internationally further enhance the appeal and accessibility of your event.
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We’d love to work together to make your international campaign a success. Want to learn more about how CSG Creative can tailor and seamlessly execute a marketing strategy that aligns with your global vision.