Marketing is a critical part of event planning. It will help determine if an affair will be successful as it is the best way to let people know of the event’s existence in the first place. Because of this, it is imperative for an event planner to choose marketing strategies that not only would catch the target audience’s attention but would also be able to convince them to take part in it.
To help you out, we have compiled 9 creative ways to market your event to make sure that it reaches your target audience.
- Spread the Word on Social Media
Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools that ever existed. It is important for event planners to maximize social media in promoting the affair. This means pages and accounts dedicated to the gathering should be created in the most popular social media channels.
You can also opt to invest in video marketing since this type of content has been dominating Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and is seen as the future staple of the worldwide web.
- Maximize the Power of the Masses
Maximizing the power of the masses can be done through physical channels as well as the virtual community. Maintain a connection with the people who signed up through social media channels and let them do the marketing for you by sharing links to the event’s social media accounts.
- Some Traditional Marketing Won’t Hurt
Conventional marketing campaigns like direct mail can be used to promote an event, but you can also use more affordable means of advertising like press releases and flyers.
- Employ Industry Influencers
When promoting a niche-specific event, you can make use of industry influencers who have a significant number of followers on their blog and social media. This way, you can reach your target audience through their connections.
- Use Customer Feedback
Customer feedback is an event marketing technique applicable for recurring events. Feedback can vary from testimonials to customer review of products and services offered during the affair.
- Commission SEO Blogs
Blogging is another powerful tool that you can use in event marketing as it can achieve various goals, including entertaining potential customers as well as spreading awareness about the event and its purpose.
SEO, or search engine optimization, can also lend a boost to this event marketing tactic. What you need to do is select relatively popular industry blogs with content that is aligned with your event’s niche. Make sure that they know how to optimize their blogs for a good search engine rank, else you’re just wasting your time and effort.
- Distribute Free Tickets
Let’s face it, everyone loves free admission events. Of course, this does not mean you will not get any revenue from the event. Depending on the type of affair you are organizing, you can reward groups or companies with the highest number of attendees at your event with free extra tickets. To make it more effective, make sure that you announce it at the onset of your event promotion.
- Give Away Wearable Merchandise
Like free tickets, other giveaways can catch your target audience’s attention for sure. However, it becomes even more effective if the items you distribute for free have the event’s logo or URL of the website printed on them. This way, you can gain favor from those who receive your free wearable merchandise and have a walking advertisement. You hit two birds with one stone. The best part is, printed corporate giveaways and marketing T-shirts are inexpensive.
- Local Event Calendars
Local event calendars are also good ways to make some noise about your affair. You can reach out to local radio stations to add your event to their listing or maximize social media features like Facebook’s Events feature.
