Create an event section with an online calendar within five minutes with Aitito’s calendar widget. The calendar of events can link to online registration and ticketing. Try it now!
Publishers are bumping into some resistance when trying to monetize user generated content. Advertisers are reluctant due to the wide variation and unpredictability of the content. The biggest concern for advertisers is putting its brand next to controversial or offensive content.
Given the millions of small nonprofits, associations, and community groups out there that are constantly hosting events and looking for ways to advertise their events, there is a win-win exchange opportunity here for publishers with well established traffic. Publishers can aggregate relevant third party events onto their website as free event content from organizers in exchange for giving these events free exposure. Publishers can then sell advertising on the event pages and during the online event registration process. This event based advertising inventory can potentially command high rates because they are context, location, and behaviorally targeted.
In response to the severe economic downturn, the Aitito team has put together marketing guides providing businesses, nonprofits, associations, and community groups with helpful, low budget marketing tips. We created a compendium of past marketing success stories to help get your creative juices flowing. These guides cover both online and off line marketing techniques. Here are the guides:
1. The Frugal Marketer for Consumer Oriented Products and Services
2. The Frugal Marketer for Online Publishers
3. The Frugal Marketer for Nonprofits, Associations and Community Groups
If you are interested in receiving a complementary electronic copy of any of the guides above, please email us at info@aitito.com and let us know which guides you request.
Aitito now offers a calendar widget that can be placed in any third party website. With the calendar widget, events you create on Aitito will automatically show up on the calendar widget with links to the event page and online registration.
To get the calendar widget, create an account on www.Aitito.com. On your user home page, click on “Start New Group.” Follow the simple steps to create a group. The calendar widget with the code will appear at the bottom of the group home page.
To add events to the calendar widget, please goto your user home page on Aitito and click on “Start New Event.” You will be taken to the Event Creation Page. Follow the simple steps to create the event. In the “Hosted By” data field, please select the group on whose calendar widget you would like the event to appear. After the event is created, the event title will automatically appear on that group’s calendar.
If you run a small organization with a very basic website and limited IT support, what tools are out there to help you create a calendar section, provide online event registration plus ticket selling (if needed), and support pre- or post-event attendee social networking? You can use Google calendar to display the event listing on your website, Eventbrite to automate online registration, and Ning for attendees to fill out personal profiles to network online. Now you can do all three through one website—www.aitito.com.
Aitito is a new event planning and publishing website just launched last month. We provide free, white label web tools that automates the full event organizing lifecycle with no software downloads, minimum set-up, and zero IT support. Specific tools include online event page publishing with color scheme customization, automated registration, ticketing plus payment, and attendee surveying plus tallying. Event organizers can easily plug in web widgets hosted by Aitito to power their websites with these event management functions. Draw attention to a particularly special event by placing the event widget at eye-catching spots on your website. Or provide a complete listing of events in calendar or long form to impress website visitors with your group’s rich offering of event programs.
Should event holders require RSVP for free events? Will it discourage attendance due to the hassle to sign up? RSVPs for free events benefit both organizers and attendees. For organizers, having a running tally of attendance helps them manage venue capacity, make last minute changes to avoid embarrassingly low showings, attract even more attendees by showing the popularity of events, and document their event program’s effectiveness. Most importantly, it creates a running list of program patrons for marketing future events. And if the RSVP process is easy, attendees will be happy to sign up. For attendees, knowing how many people will attend, who will be there and some snippets of their background from their personal profiles make the event that much more attractive. Plus, providing a way for attendees to contact each other online takes the pressure off of collecting business cards or passing around contact details on napkins so that guests can enjoy themselves even more.
Any small businesses, nonprofits, associations, community groups or recreational clubs with an active event calendar and little IT support would find www.aitito.com a helpful tool.
Small and medium size businesses and non profits often have limited budgets and staff resources to organize and market events or classes. Aitito’s mission is to provide simple, affordable web tools to help organizations create a professional presence for their events in minutes. No software downloads and no IT expertise required. By using our tools, event holders spend less time yet reach more people. Specifically, Aitito’s online event planning tools automate three areas of event management: (1) Organize the logistics, (2) Promote the event, and (3) Engage the attendees.
Organize the Logistics
Aitito helps event holders automate the two most important event logistics: event announcement and attendee RSVP (plus payment, if applicable). We enable organizers to create a professional looking event web page with its own unique web address. The color themes can be customized and logos uploaded to match the event holder’s website. Take a look at an Aitito Event Page.
For RSVP and payment processing, most small event holders ask guests to reply either via email or phone, then mail in a check or pay cash at the door. Besides the logistical nightmare for event holders, this practice risks losing many attendees because they forget to mail a check or call and so on. If there is a pay at the door option, guests will probably opt for that… but then forget to show up altogether because there was no prior monetary commitment nor event reminder (unless it was manually done).
With Aitito, event holders can now offer 24/7 online event sign ups and payment processing plus automatic event reminder emails. After learning about the event online, all it takes is a few extra mouse clicks for the guest to sign up, pay, and file away this info until the day of the event. Aitito can also integrate easily with offline event management procedures. For more details, please visit the blog post Seamless Integration of Online and Offline Event Management.
Aitito makes the event holder’s life a lot simpler, too. They don’t have to listen to voice mails, return calls or read email RSVPs individually. Nor do they have to collect mail-in payment, deposit checks and send out confirmations. Aitito automates this entire process and tallies attendance.
To get more tips on how to automate event planning with Aitito or learn how to use Aitito, please visit the blog post Aitito Quick Manual.
Promote the Event
Aitito provides tools for organizers to market events effectively online through websites, blogs, e-newsletters, and e-mail messages. Our tools are summarized below:
To learn how to use Aitito, please visit the blog post Aitito Quick Manual.
Engage the attendees
After event holders have worked hard to produce a spectacular event with great turnout, the next task is to convert this one-off “date” into a long term love affair. Aitito can help in two important ways: capturing contact information and providing online virtual networking.
The importance of asking guests to RSVP online (even for free events) is not just for better event planning, but also for generating future direct marketing. Aitito automatically compiles the contact list for easy downloading by event holders.
Further, Aitito makes online networking easy among attendees before and after the event. Attendees can create an online profile. Other attendees can click through to it from the attendee list if the organizer chooses to publish it. With the list, attendees can see who else is coming and email each other without revealing personal email addresses.
To learn how to use Aitito, please visit the blog post Aitito Quick Manual.
Boston, MA, August 2, 2008— Aitito, an online event marketing and management platform, is now offering its services free for a limited time to the general public. The company provides a suite of online event automation and networking tools to help event organizers save time, reach more people, and create engaging experiences for their attendees. Its features include customizable event webpage and survey, 24/7 online RSVP and ticketing, automatic email reminders, plus optional attendee profiles and message board. This means that organizers are relieved from the manual burden of taking registrations and payments, tallying attendance and guest preferences, and sending reminders. For social or networking events, attendees can see each other online before the gathering and stay connected afterwards.
Frequent event organizers with own websites or email newsletters can further take advantage of Aitito’s plug-and-play modules, which allow organizers to easily add event publishing and registration features to their online assets in minutes, and let readers to immediately take action to sign up with a few extra mouse clicks instead of having to email or call. These modules require minimum IT knowledge to implement and maintain, thus are particularly beneficial for community and non-profit groups with constrained resources.
Aitito’s free event registration service offering makes it the first and only in the industry, which normally charges $1 to $10 per RSVP for for-fee events. In the second half of 2008, Aitito plans to roll out a series of premium services on event marketing, aiming to help organizers conduct targeted, cost-effective campaign, and to provide promoters new tools and monetizing opportunities.
About Aitito
Aitito is a self-service event marketing and management website that offers web tools for event planning automation, including online publishing, registration, ticketing, payment, plus group management. Aitito’s white-label solution enables small event holders to have a professional online presence, better event turnout, and more revenue without expensive software. Aitito is based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information about Aitito, please visit: http://www.aitito.com
Contact: Florence Wei, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Aitito at Florence@Aitito.com
Boston, MA, August 4, 2008— Many community groups assume that local news and events will reach most people in town through the print local newspaper or the community bulletin boards. Not true. With over 72% of US adults actively online, even scheduling a visit to the neighbors often involve email.
Aitito.com, a Boston-based event marketing and registration website, is now offering free membership access to its online tools for a limited time to help community groups reach their constituents online. The company built this online service to help community groups spend less time and reach more people when organizing any local event. Organizers can now offer 24/7 online event sign ups and ticketing plus automatic email reminders by using Aitito’s tools. This means that busy professionals, tired Moms, and the plain forgetful types can now sign up for events at their own convenience and be reminded as the event approaches. Plus, organizers’ workload decrease with automatic tallying of attendance and guest preferences such as “would you prefer BBQ beef or chicken at the annual town picnic?”
Any event involving fee collection, guest input, limited space, or many participants will find Aitito useful—be it fundraisers, public interest seminars, community social gatherings or even playgroups. “More and more community groups are finding it necessary to interact with their constituents online or risk becoming obsolete. But they lack access to easy, inexpensive tools to do so,” explains Florence Wei, Co-founder of Aitito. “Our goal is to provide useful web tools that integrates with local groups’ own websites or e-newsletters that any internet newbie can learn to use within 10 minutes.” For those disappointed with past event turnouts, maybe letting people sign up with a few extra mouse clicks instead of email or telephone call plus an automatic email reminder before the event might just do the trick.
About Aitito
Aitito is a self-service event marketing and management website that offers web tools for event planning automation, including online publishing, registration, ticketing, payment, plus group management. Aitito’s white-label solution enables small event holders to have a professional online presence, better event turnout, and more revenue without expensive software. Aitito is based in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information about Aitito, please visit: http://www.aitito.com
Contact: Florence Wei, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Aitito at Florence@Aitito.com
Selling products such as cookies or providing services such as car wash are common fundraising methods. However, these practices are not without risks because demand is difficult to predict.
Automate Pre-Ordering Online for Product Fundraisers
With products, many fundraisers minimize the risk of over stocking by taking pre-orders manually over the phone, through personal emails, or canvassing community gathering spots. But this is time consuming. One way to automate the order-taking and online payments is to use a free event management and online payment website such as www.aitito.com . It is easy to set-up. Ask each fundraiser in the group to create their own online fundraiser event page. State the financial goal of the fundraising effort, describe the programs that the proceeds will fund, and for added punch, narrate personal stories about how this effort impacts the individual fundraiser. Now create a ticket for each type of product and decide on the payment options. Ideally, online payment with a PayPal account should be an option to make the transaction process easy for certain buyers. Also take advantage of the event survey function to gather information about product delivery logistics. Lastly, create a URL link for the page.
Now individual fundraisers are ready to broadcast the solicitation. Quick simple ways to accomplish this include:
A bit of natural competition is already built into the Aitito-powered event page since it can display the buyer list. But if added competition is desired, fundraisers can use the event page to publicly acknowledge particularly large orders or suggest how supporting this cause gives some buyers a commercial edge (e.g., a car dealer buying Girl Scout cookies to give to its best customers).
Increase Revenue for Service Fundraisers with Online Advance Sign-Ups
For car wash or other service oriented fundraisers, planning the right staffing level can minimize revenue loss due to long waits during peak times and/or wasted staff idle time in between. One way to staff better is to send out announcements of the fundraising event and ask people to sign up for a time slot. That way, organizers can staff better and will probably also get a better turnout. The advance sign up encourages people to schedule the fundraiser into their day, instead of treating it as an afterthought. But be sure to create wide enough time slots to allow people to build flexibility into their schedules.
For details on how to create and manage events on Aitito.com, please visit Aitito Tour .
Silent auction is a common way for non-profits to raise money because of its relative low cost to operate. And ran successfully, it can be both fun for the participants and financially rewarding for the nonprofit. However, you need to address two major challenges to make it successful.
First, Assemble an Appealing Portfolio of Auction Items
Many bidders are attracted to auctions for specific items of interest. The doing good part just makes spending the money that much more justifiable. So the first step to silent auction success is to acquire a portfolio of auction items that are both appealing and affordable for the possible range of target bidders.
To reach a wider audience of potential auction item donors without endless phone calls and letters, use a free white label event management website such as www.aitito.com to create and publish a virtual event to solicit items and volunteers for the silent auction. Make this event last long enough for potential auction item donors to respond. Describe the mission of your non-profit, the fundraising goals of the silent auction, what programs the proceeds will fund, what type of recognition your group will give to donors, and the demographics of the participants in the event summary and details sections. Come up with a wish list of auction items and create a ticket on your online event page for each wish list item. Be sure to create tickets to solicit volunteer help and financial donations. Also take advantage of the event survey function to get feedback and suggestions (example: venue or event theme). Lastly, upload your non-profit’s logo onto the event page to make it your own and create a URL link for the page.
Now you are ready to broadcast the solicitation. Quick simple ways to accomplish this:
As donated items and suggestions come in, revise the ticket options to reflect those changes. A bit of natural competition is already built into the Aitito-powered event page in that the donor list can be published on the event page. But if you want to turbo-charge the competition, announce the donors on the event details as they come in. Aitito will automatically send an email alert of your announcement to all the invitees and committed donors.
Second, Create a Large Pool of Bidders
Auctions become more competitive the larger the pool of bidders. This minimizes the problem of moving certain items due to lack of interest. One way to get a larger pool is to include absentee bidders. The best way to do that is to create a virtual bidding event through www.aitito.com about two weeks before the actual auction. You may collect a small fee for the proxy bidding service. This gets people’s skin into the game and encourages them to make serious bids. Solicit bids through the survey function by listing the items in a survey and collect bids. Be sure to collect necessary contact information you need other than email. Follow the three bullet points in the previous section to get the word out. Now let the bidding begin!
For details on how to create and manage events on Aitito.com, please visit Aitito Tour .