WordCamp organizers can request up to $400 for advertising and marketing through the Global Sponsorship grant. The goal is simple: reach new attendees and raise awareness in the local community.
In all honesty, we don’t currently have a good way to know whether it’s working.
Are social media ads bringing in new faces, or are they reaching the same people who were already coming? Is a listing in a local tech newsletter worth more than a Facebook campaign? We have guidelines on how to allocate the budget, but not much data on what actually drives attendance.
We want to track this for the better, and we’d love your help.
What we’re exploring
A few ideas are on the table:
- A short mandatory question included on the ticket purchase screen– something like “How did you hear about this event?” with simple options: social media ad, word of mouth, organizer newsletter, local community group, or other.
- A question to the post-event organizer survey for any WordCamp that used the marketing budget: what channel(s) did you use to promote the event, and what did you observe in relation to ticket sales and interest?
- Better tooling over time to make this easier to track consistently across events.
But before we build anything, we want to hear from people who have been using the advertising budget and have experience they can share with us.
We’d love your input
- If you’ve organized a WordCamp and spent funds on advertising/marketing, did you feel like the added spend was impactful? Did you try any creative approaches that surprised you? Have you tried tracking effectiveness in any way, even informally?
- If you’ve attended a WordCamp recently, how did you first hear about it?
- If you’re a mentor or program supporter: Have there been any events you’ve been a part of that have experienced a positive impact as a result of the advertising/marketing spend? If so, please share details. Any reason the ideas above wouldn’t work in practice?
Drop everything in the comments below. All feedback will directly shape how we move forward
Props to @harmonyromo and @nukaga for peer review!