Your Easy Guide to Event Marketing
Undoubtedly, there’s no shortage of ways to go about things as far as event marketing goes. This is something trusted and experienced events companies can attest to. Surprisingly, event marketing can take various forms, depending on one’s role in the organization.
When it comes to events marketing however, there is one aspect that an event company would surely give much attention to—promotion. Thanks to advances in technology, event marketing has become very easy to implement at scale and across events.
Event Marketing in a Nutshell
Events represent a massive share of most organization’s overall marketing budget. In fact, most businesses set aside anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of their budgets for brand experiences. This is not surprising considering the ability to build great connections and the unforgettable charm of virtual and in-person experiences.
Event Marketing Plan: Quick Insight
Your event needs to have a highly effective promotion plan. Understandably, it can be tricky figuring out where to begin. Ideally, event planning should begin as soon as you also begin your marketing plan. Promotion is also critical as no one will know about your event without a great promotion strategy.
Creating an Event Website
Very few events can get away without an event website. After all, it is your main touchpoint with the prospective attendees. Your event website should also contain important information and should convince prospective attendees to register. Creating a branded event registration site can help you identify your website visitors.
Creating an Email Marketing Plan
One of the integral components of all your promotion plans is your email marketing. If you are not using an email marketing tool yet, make sure you use one as soon as possible. Great ones can help you easily automate and design emails. Make sure you don’t spam attendees as they might end up unsubscribing.
Using Social Media
When it comes to free promotion, one of the best tools available at your disposal is social media. If you have a presence on many social media platforms, it would be wise to promote your event on all the platforms. However, if your primary target audience is more active on a specific platform, give it more focus.
Here’s a fun fact: the average smartphone user checks their phone over 300 times a day. That’s a lot of time spent on social media! Moreover, social media is usually free and easy to use so using it to market your event is a no-brainer. Below are some of the basics to keep in mind when using social media to promote your event:
- Hashtags are a great way to track your events across different social media platforms. It is recommended that you use the same hashtag in your posts. It is also best that your hashtag is short, easy, and relevant.
- Contests can also get people Facebook posting, Instagramming, and tweeting about your event. Be creative and think of contests that do well with your event. You can also hold photo contests to see who can get the most comments or likes on a pre-event image.
- Consistent posting. This is straightforward—post a lot of event related information and ensure you do it consistently. If you rarely post or if you post things that are unrelated to your business, you can expect to be unfollowed. As a general rule of thumb, make sure you always give your followers what they are looking for.
- Paid digital promotion. While free modes of promotion are considered effective, paid promotion is also something you should look into. Figure out how much you can set aside for this purpose. If you are targeting a wide demographic and you have a massive budget, investing in paid ads would be a good idea.