DC Startup WEek 2019

DC Startup Week 2018 was a huge success, so we had quite big shoes to fill. And boy did we fill them!

We began with a total website redesign in partnership with Boldr that increased our credibility within the startup ecosystem. IRL consulted on the website redesign to make sure the design and copy spoke to the DCSW community and included all the necessary information to make marketing the week a success.

After the website, came the email campaigns. IRL overhauled the email newsletters to make them more fun and interesting; matching them to the DCSW website design. This increased our average open rates by 6%.

Next we strategically placed happy hour events during the months leading up to the week to give the community a chance to connect in person and prove the value of attending the week-long conference. Sign ups for these happy hours contributed to doubling our email list to nearly 10,000 members.

During the week, IRL created and posted content that was seen by 2.2 million people across social media. We drove the #dcstartupweek and #dcsw2019 hashtags which contributed to 23.5 million impressions across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This provided our event sponsors $70,000 in impressions value.

Key Insight: Increased attendance by 100% from 3,500 to 7,000 in one year!