Of course, a successful event requires planning and preparation. But after the long, strategic process of organising an event comes an even more challenging job — promoting it.
What’s an event without guests? All that time, money, and effort you spent on your event preparations will be put to waste if you have little, if not absolutely zero attendees.
Unless you have a very famous celebrity coming to grace the occasion and who can attract tons of guests, you need to have a great marketing strategy to get people to know about and come to your event. Here’s how.
Find your target market
In promoting your event, it will do you no good to put up posters and banners in random, isolated places. You have to keep your target audience in mind. Who are the people you want to attend your event? Once you’ve identified this, you need to know where you can find them.
For example, if your event is targeted to book readers, then it would be smart to position promotional materials near the library or book store. Give away flyers, put up posters, or utilise large format printing services for eye-catching banners or billboards.
Take advantage of the Internet
The Internet is the perfect way to gain traction and to reach your target audience. Everyone’s online. So you’re doing your event favour by taking advantage of the Internet to promote it.
Facebook will most likely be your main event platform. This is because of its event feature where you can set up an events page and invite users to view it. Utilise this feature and put in all the event details.
Use other social media sites for marketing your event as well. Upload teasers, posters, and reminders on accounts like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., depending on what platform your target audience uses.
Use email marketing
Despite the popularity of social media, email is still a very widely used digital platform. It’s a more personal approach to sending invitations because you’re addressing it to specific people. And they’re sure to get notified of the invite.
Compose an engaging email with all the event details. Let the receiver know why he or she should attend the event. Adding photos and graphics is also a good idea, as it will make your email more engaging and help you get the attention of your reader.
Get into the influencer marketing trend
If you have influential speakers or personalities attending your event, they can help you gain more traction. Chances are, they already have a huge following on online platforms and social media sites.
Hop into the influencer marketing trend and have your speakers and renowned attendees promote your event. Their fan base will help you gain a much wider reach. Not to mention that people are more likely to come if they know that the influential people they look up to will be there.
Give out limited-time offers
If you’ve already established a reputation for your event, it’s a good idea to come up with limited-time offers. For example, you can give freebies or a discounted price for those who sign up early. This will create a sense of urgency and encourage your audience to commit to attending your event immediately.
Don’t worry about spending money on these offers. If you think about it, it’s a win-win situation. Your attendees get an amazing discount while you gain early engagement and attention for your event.
It’s safe to say that marketing is the most crucial and most challenging phase of event organising. But if you do it right, then you’re bound to have a successful event.
