From Click to Conversion: Turning Readers into Paid Event Registrants with a Push-Pull Customer Journey
Disclaimer: The following is a hypothetical use case for illustrative purposes only. Company names, properties, and scenarios are used purely as examples to show how a strategy could work in practice.
Imagine this: A reader lands on a financial news website to explore the latest article on bond market volatility. They spend several minutes reading, clicking through related coverage on sovereign debt and interest rate forecasts.
Behind the scenes, the platform detects four critical signals:
- Right ICP – A senior portfolio manager at a global asset management firm.
- Right buyer persona – Decision-maker for investment strategy.
- Right location – Based in London, within easy reach of the upcoming Fixed Income Summit.
- Purchase intent / topical interest – Engaged with content directly tied to the event’s program themes.
This is the perfect moment to move them from reader to paid delegate. But this can’t be achieved with a generic banner or one-size-fits-all email—it requires a push-pull journey that blends value, timing, and personalization.
Step 1 – Detect and Qualify in Real Time
A strong journey starts with instant qualification:
- Content signals – Multiple articles tagged with “fixed income” and “emerging markets.”
- Behavioral signals – High dwell time, scrolling to the bottom of premium content.
- Demographic match – Known job role from previous gated downloads.
- Geographic match – Within the target travel radius for the in-person event.
By the time they finish the article, the system knows they’re high-value for the event.
Step 2 – Pull Strategy: Deliver Immediate Value Before Selling
The pull stage keeps the reader engaged without going straight for the sale:
- Suggest a premium whitepaper on bond yield trends.
- Invite them to watch a 10-minute on-demand interview with one of the event’s keynote speakers.
- Offer an interactive chart or tool that allows them to model rate changes—sponsored by an event partner.
These touchpoints build authority and create a natural bridge to the event pitch.
Step 3 – Push Strategy: Connect Interest to the Event Experience
Once the reader has engaged with related premium content, the push phase begins:
- Dynamic in-article CTA – A panel appears at the end of the third fixed income article: “Continue the conversation at the Fixed Income Summit – early-bird pricing ends in 7 days.”
- Triggered email sequence – A follow-up highlighting sessions linked to the articles they read and networking with top asset managers.
- Retargeting campaign – Ads featuring the keynote speaker they’ve already watched, now inviting them to meet that speaker live.
Step 4 – Bridge the Gap with Micro-Conversions
Not every reader registers immediately. Use micro-conversions:
- Pre-event virtual briefing with editorial team.
- VIP content access for those who join the event interest list.
- Discount code for newsletter subscribers.
Step 5 – Close the Loop with Multi-Channel Nurturing
From here, the campaign can use:
- Email drips with testimonials and session spotlights.
- Social proof ads showing leading firms already registered.
- Countdown reminders to create urgency.
Step 6 – The Tech Stack You’ll Need
To execute this seamlessly, you need a data-aware, integrated tech stack:
- Content management system (CMS) with tagging and metadata structure.
- Customer data platform (CDP) or data warehouse for unifying user behavior and CRM data.
- Marketing automation platform (e.g., HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot) for triggered email and lead scoring.
- Dynamic content personalization engine for on-page CTAs and recommendations.
- Advertising retargeting tools (Google, LinkedIn, Meta) with audience segmentation capabilities.
- Analytics platform (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or equivalent) for funnel tracking.
Without these tools—or without proper integration—you risk breaking the journey and losing the lead.
Why This Matters Now (and How the Bootcamp Can Help)
Most publishers and event organizers have the individual tools but lack the cross-functional strategy to connect them. This is where many campaigns fail—teams work in silos, audience data isn’t unified, and event marketing feels disconnected from editorial engagement.
In the upcoming Revenue Room™ Bootcamp: The Audience Accelerator (July 16 – August 27, 2025), we’ll walk through exactly how to:
- Map editorial content directly to event audience development.
- Build conversion funnels that use both push and pull levers.
- Align marketing, editorial, product, and sales teams on shared KPIs.
Participants leave with a ready-to-execute audience-to-event strategy designed for their specific market and tech stack.
The Strong Close
The reality is this: In a world where attention is scarce and AI is intercepting traditional discovery, you can’t rely on luck to fill your event seats.
You need to detect the right people, deliver the right value, and nudge them toward the right offer—all without breaking the user experience.
A well-orchestrated push-pull customer journey, supported by the right technology and team alignment, can transform casual readers into high-value event attendees. The payoff? More predictable registration pipelines, stronger delegate quality, and a monetization model that works even as traffic sources evolve.
The next wave of event growth will belong to organizations that connect audience intelligence directly to event marketing execution—and start building that engine now.
About the Author
Heather Holst-Knudsen is a distinguished figure and expert in the events, media, marketing and technology sectors. Using her extensive experience, she guides clients in adapting to structural economic and market changes, seizing the chance to innovate and evolve. She specializes in digital and data disruption and opportunity, exploring how these overarching factors can impact revenue growth, customer-centricity, operational efficiency, profit margins, and the overall valuation of companies in both public and private markets. Her journey began at her family business, Thomas Publishing Company, where she honed her skills. She further expanded her expertise by holding positions at early industry giants Miller Freeman, Reed Elsevier, and IDG. Returning to Thomas Publishing, Heather founded and spearheaded Manufacturing Enterprise Communications, an integrated media portfolio connecting buyers and sellers in the manufacturing and technology sectors. Starting in 2015 and spanning the next seven years, she leveraged her expertise as a revenue and business leader in various SaaS businesses, including Feathr, Gleanin, Brella and Edflex.
Heather is deeply passionate about digital innovation, data monetization, and AI and how these strategies fuel revenue growth, profitability, and company valuation. To serve and create value for clients in these areas, she launched H2K Labs, dedicated to generating and leveraging value through data for media, business information, events, and adjacent technology and service markets. 
