Saying that attendees are the key to a successful event is clichéd. Every one of us knows and agrees that attendees are essential. How to attract attendees and build a customer database is the true dilemma. Sometimes a customer database is simple to acquire. For example, if you are organizing an event Neurologists in India, the Pharmaceutical Company for whom you are organizing the event will probably have a ready list of potential delegates. If not, it is a simple matter of contacting the Neurological Association for a list of its members. Not all events have such a specific audience and purchasing multiple customer databases for your event is neither feasible nor cost effective. So, it is extremely important for you to build your own customer database.

Before building a customer database, let's understand what a Customer Database is and why it is important to build your own database. A customer database is not just a collection of names. It is a collection of individualized, consumer behavioral information, isolated to each customer. It will provide you with comprehensive, up-to-date and relevant information about customers, thus, enabling you to target selected audiences easily and cost effectively.

A customer database is useful when planning events and promotions as it can help you maximize profits through conversion, retention and repeat sales. It can help you market smarter and reduce costs. It can also help you keep in touch with customers' year round, thus providing you with a ready database to leverage new events.

Here are 3 methods you can use to build a customer database:

Previous Customers
Your customer database and potential customer database is the source of your trade. You need it to generate repeat business in the future, or as a fall back when times get tough and as an asset of your company when you want to sell up. You can start building your customer database by organizing previous attendee information. It is also important to include all your business associates, clients and anyone who has shown even a minute interest in your company or in a previous event.

Tip: One of any business's greatest assets is its list of customers as it is a record of past sales and a source of future revenue.

Event or Corporate Website
Your event and corporate website are excellent methods to build your customer database. There are two main techniques of collecting customer information using your website. The first is enquiry form. Every time a visitor makes an enquiry on your website you can collect personal information about the visitor such as name, email address, profession etc. The second option is newsletter subscriptions. If you send out monthly newsletters, you can add a ‘Subscribe Now' option on your website. This will help you inform all interested parties about the latest news and happenings. It will also help you promote and market new events. Also, include a ‘Book Now' link for new events to make it easy for customers to register or book tickets.

Social Networking Sites
An innovative way to build a database is social networking sites like Facebook. You can start or join different groups such as Book Enthusiasts, Indian Rockers etc. By starting or joining such groups, you get access to a database of interested audiences, which will make leveraging your event or future events easier. For example: If you are organizing a concert in India, you could post details about the concert - ‘Coldplay is performing live in Mumbai on May 25th, tickets available at coldplaytour.com'. This post will serve two functions – one, it will help market and promote your event online and two, by proving a link to your event website, you make it convenient for interested parties to book tickets immediately.

Customer databases are useful marketing tools. They can help minimize reduce your expenditure and increase your revenue. The purpose of this article was to help you manage your events more cost effectively by building and using a customer database to leverage future events. We hope the 3 database building techniques discussed in this article proved to be helpful.