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How to Write an Event Mobile App Request for Proposal

Submitted by Ashley Puderbaugh on Thu, 06/16/2011 - 4:48pm
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Event mobile app

By Eric Jacobson, Vice President, Media Development

You’ve read about smartphone apps for events, meetings and trade shows. Perhaps you’ve even sampled a couple. Now, you’re ready to price an app for your association or organization.

But before you write your request for proposal (RFP), think about from which types of companies you’ll want proposals.

Make sure you send your RFP to developers/vendors who thoroughly understand the meetings/convention business and have created apps for other events.

Ideally, strive to work with a company with whom you already partner to create your print and other collateral materials. They thoroughly understand your event and your audience and can therefore more easily recommend what is best to include in your app.

Equally important: Seek potential developers/vendors who will help you create a comprehensive strategy for developing the audience for your app. Ask if the company has an audience development professional on staff.

And, aim to work with a provider who can help you create content for your app if you won’t be providing all the content. Make sure they can easily feed your show daily into the app, for example.

Finally, look for potential vendors who have the staff and expertise to sell advertising (or sponsorships) into your app. Some or all of your cost to have an app for your event likely can be covered through advertising/sponsorship sales.

Now, if you aren’t quite sure what to include in your RFP document, consider including the following:

App goals/objectives
• To assist attendees in navigating the event before, during and after the event.
• To drive attendees/prospective attendees to your website for additional information.
• To minimize event signage expenses where possible.
• To help achieve event sustainability goals. To reduce carbon footprint.
• To keep the event relevant with an increasingly electronic-savvy audience.
• To add value for exhibitors.
• To provide additional means for generating advertising revenue and sponsorship revenue.
• To provide more year-round exposure for the event.

App and developer/vendor requirements
Include all of the following that apply to your event/meeting, and consider labeling some “must-have” and others “nice-to-have.”

Ask yourself, what app features/requirements matter most to your attendees?

Event size
• Supports an event of one or more days
• Ideal for what number of attendees?
• Ideal for what number of exhibitors?
• Ideal for what number of sessions/workshops?

App platforms
• Native on iPhone
• Native on Android
• Native on BlackBerry
• Native on other mobile phone platforms
• Optimized for iPad
• Optimized for non-iPad tablets
• Works as a mobile web application on non-native platforms

App development
• Weeks to develop app
• How does content feed into the app (how do you provide content to the developer)?
• Length of time app stays live
• App store submission
• Testing period

App look and feel
• Ease of use/intuitiveness
• Allows for custom graphics?

App features
Overall
- Custom graphics
- About the event/event schedule
- Host-city information (hotels, entertainment, restaurants, transportation)
- Password-protected
- Custom surveys
- Ability to update the app during the event (exhibitor listings and/or sessions).

Exhibitors
- Exhibitor list
- Search exhibitors by name, booth number, product category
- New products

Sessions/workshops
- Session attachments (papers, slides, PDFs)
- Speaker photos and bios
- Sessions by day, track, speaker
- Session surveys

Maps
- Interactive maps (convention center, exhibit floor, etc.)

Social media linking/integration
- Twitter
- Facebook
- LinkedIn

App user engagement features
- Note taking
- “My Sessions” (personalized selected sessions)
- “Here & Now” (maps out route from where attendees is to where attendee wants to go)
- Attendee polling
- Business card/contact sharing
- Integration with email and contacts
- Push messaging to attendees
- Calendaring for attendees
- Suggested exhibitors and/or sessions based on attendee user profile
- Sign-up meeting with exhibitors
- Exhibitor rating system

Video and photos
- Video feeds
- Photo gallery

Advertising/sponsorship opportunities
• Banner ads
• Single or multiple sponsorships
• Featured exhibitors
• Upgraded/enhanced exhibitor listings

Reporting
• Reports detailing number of downloads by platform

Vendor experience and qualifications
• Years in business
• Number of employees
• Location
• Major clients
• Markets/industries served
• App expertise (number completed to date)
• Ability to sell advertising/sponsorships into the app (if needed)
• Project manager service
• Turnkey solution
• Audience development service (Will the developer/vendor help you create a marketing plan to promote your app?)
• Hosting and maintenance service
• Training for attendees and your staff

Finally, be sure to ask the vendor to demonstrate a couple of the apps they’ve built so you can see how they look on each phone device.

What app capability requirements would you consider “must-have?” What about “nice-to-have” capabilities?
 

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Custom Content Integration: You’ve Got Options

Submitted by Kate Crockett on Thu, 03/10/2011 - 11:09am
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By: Barbara Kay, President

 

The pace of life these days is picking up — in every respect — and it’s driven by options. We have so many options: at work, after work and weekends, for our kids at school and after school. In our professional lives, it means expanded project complexity and loads, responsibilities and timelines. It impacts how we communicate socially, at work, internally or with our customers and target market. Yes, the increase in options is part of what is building the momentum in all aspects of our lives.

There is a need to manage these options, and sometimes an unspoken but implied need or expectation to be smart about how to employ and effectively engage with the myriad options we have. Your response to this frequently discussed subject concerning new technology or questions like, “Do you have a Facebook page? Do you have the new iPhone? How do you like your iPad? Did you see that golf shot on YouTube? Did you get that eNewsletter? How do you like your Wii?” reveals whether or not you are with the times. There is a prestige value placed upon your acumen in this area — how you bridle and engage with all these options. Others want to engage with, pay attention to and associate with those they feel are cutting-edge, leading the pack.

So, let’s talk my world: custom content, custom media and custom marketing strategies. We all know there are many media options, and you need to consider all of them. If I look at my own behavior, I find myself turning to and listening to a variety of resources that are readily available to me. I can get information on trends, new products, hot topics, flight details, hotel reservations and appointment confirmations, plus reach out to colleagues, engage in professional chartrooms or get feedback from a certain sector of my professional circle. To do this I employ the Internet, telephone, smartphone apps, email, text, Google searches, Web alerts, social media, trade publications … The list of options continues to evolve. I bet you behave similarly, as do our target audiences.

Our market expects to have media options, too. They expect information when they want it, where they want it and how they want it. The old saying, “Variety is the spice of life,” applies to custom media strategy too. We read the paper over coffee in the morning, or sit at our home computer or iPad and peruse half a dozen newspapers. We listen to radio on the way to work — maybe PBS, classical or the weather channel, or maybe not. We read and share magazines, scan magazine articles, send them to colleagues. We search for best practices online, through eNewsletters, on Facebook or LinkedIn, and it all varies based on the nature of the content we need, how we want to act on it and our demographic profile.

How do we best serve these different demographics? We now have the tools to bring together news and advertising monitoring across all media. Through this, we can predict and define business outcomes. This means we can track the effectiveness of our messages and the vehicles being utilized. As a result of our findings, we can identify emerging trends within our markets before they become tomorrow’s news. We can gain actionable insight, we can modify our messages, we can act on the information to make a difference in our business. We can almost see into the future.

So how can you build and execute an effective integrated media strategy? You can take classes to learn how to integrate your media, or you can find a new college graduate with a degree in integrated media, which is one of the new hot degrees at universities and colleges today. You can hire an agency, although those hourly fees can kill a budget quickly, or you can hire a custom publisher practiced in all aspects of integrated media, who knows all the ins and outs, the strengths and weaknesses, the best integrated strategies for each market, measurement tools and criteria to evaluate and drive the strategy’s success.

I am not a big fan of clichés, but my grandmother used them all the time, and even after all these years they still seem to apply in today’s modern world: “No time like the present.” “Seize the day.” “He who hesitates is lost.” With more options, the pace of life increases, expectations are greater and it means we have less time to sit and ponder.

How will you build an over-the-top integrated media strategy and win praise from your boss and marketplace? You have options.

 

 

4 Tips When Deciding on the Best Mix of Media for You

Submitted by Kate Crockett on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 12:33pm
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Custom Publishing Media

By: Maria Arnone, Vice President Media Development

 

Clients ask us often in this brave new electronic world how much communication should be “old school” versus “new media.” Here are 4 important things to keep in mind about your members when building the perfect mix of old and new communications:

1. Content value: Think content before delivery mechanism. Your relationship with your member or client is based on useful information you give them rather than how they’re reading it. The bottom line with any kind of communication is the value in the information — not the package it comes in.

2. Convenience: Your members are part of a changing world. People are getting used to having good content available wherever and however they want it. That might mean at their desk, in a train, or on their living room sofa, and each of those places might mean a distinct delivery mechanism of choice.

3. Print is still powerful: When you’re at an event and you don’t really know where to look, print is still an attention-getter and information-conveyor. Ask anyone who’s struggled to find a specific meeting room, exhibit booth or cocktail party locale, sometimes the most obvious place for the answer is in a printed meeting program or daily newspaper. In this environment, print is eminently viral, too. Did you see that great session? Better not miss tomorrow’s paper, my friend.

4. You’re writing for your newest and future members: If you’re having trouble convincing your board that you need to try some new directions, snap some photos of your newest members in action. You’re not going to turn your back on print, but it’s important for the traditionalists to understand who will fuel the organization in the future.

Having a mix of communications is in vogue, but you need to understand and advocate within your organization the reasons for going multi-platform. Understanding where, why and how your audience consumes the content is key to building a plan that will take your organization forward.

How do you consume content? Think through how you and your colleagues utilize available information sources.

 

  

Client Matters: 6 Tips to a Better eNewsletter

Submitted by Kate Crockett on Thu, 11/11/2010 - 5:43pm
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Email marketing

 

By: Eric Jacobson, Vice President Media Development 

Like many nonprofits using electronic newsletters to communicate you are likely wondering how to use the data you collect to improve your audience engagement. The technology of an online newsletter provides the advantage of data you were never able to collect with a print newsletter. The disadvantage of that much data is the overwhelming nature of interpreting all of it. To help you navigate this sea of information here are six important enewsletter data points to track. 

1. Date Sent - Date your enewsletter deployed. 

2. Sent - Number of enewsletters deployed.

3. Number Delivered - Number of enewsletters successfully delivered.

4. Delivery Rate - % of delivered versus sent. Your goal should be 90% or higher. Be sure to keep your address list clean and delete any bad addresses.

5. Total Open - Number of enewsletters opened. This includes those who use a preview pane in their email program but who might not have actually read your enewsletter. 

6. Total Open Rate - % of Number Delivered versus Total Number Opened

In a perfect world everyone who receives your enewsletter would open and read it but, in reality, they won't. According to Mailermailer only 17% of enewsletters sent by nonprofits are opened as compared to over 20% for corporate business. Your inaugural enewsletter will likely have the highest open rate, because it's new. Don't be discouraged when your numbers decrease as you settle into your average percentages. 

Watch your statistics over time to spot trends. If your percentages are steadily decreasing, your audience is disengaging. Change up your content in order to grab their attention.

Another couple of stats that you may want to keep track of over time to help you learn about your audience are;

Forwards - addresses of those to whom a copy of your enewsletter was forwarded by someone on your distribution list.

Opt-Outs - addresses of those who have asked to no longer receive your enewsletter. 

Total Clicks and Click Thru Rate - these tell you how many recipients clicked on articles, photos, links, polls or ads within your enewsetter. 

Clicks, forwards and opt-outs are all indications of audience engagement, or lack there of so the more clicks, forwards and the less opt-outs the better. Obviously the goal is to have an enewsletter that is opened, read, clicked on and forwarded. To make sure it is follow these six rules of enewsletter engagement:

 1. Make your subject line clever and on-point

2. Make articles compelling and relevant

3. Tell stories from the viewpoint of your volunteers, members and donors

4. Include images

5. Incorporate urgency and curiosity

6. Include interactive elements, like polls

Lastly, don't give up because your statistics are low. It is very likely your electronic version is doing better than your print version did, you just had no way of tracking your audience interest in the printed version. At least with an electronic version you have the knowledge to help you make the necessary content changes to make your enewsletter a success. And you have the advantage of using social media to promote and share your content to increase your reach and spread the word about your nonprofit mission, goals and needs. 

How do you use your enewsletter metrics to increase the success rate of your communication programs?