When it comes to marketing your event, there are many areas where you can strike gold, as long as you’re willing to put in the ground work.

There’s no magic trick to marketing an event – it just takes some common sense, a good understanding of your target audience and these 5 useful tips.

Invite Influencers

Getting the word out is the backbone of marketing event marketing. After all, how will people know about the event if no one tells them about it?

One of the best ways to shout about your event is to invite the movers and shakers within the industry. Find influential bloggers, CEOs, sponsors and marketing gurus and give them a VIP pass to your event.

Even if they can’t come on the day, chances are they will mention it to their followers, who then mention it to their followers, and so on.

Promotional Gifts

One of the well-known perks of going to an event is the free goodies or ‘swag’. For some, seeing what kinds of gifts you can collect is half the reason they attend. So, you want to make sure your gifts rise to the top of the pile.

Promotional gifts are not only crowd-pleasers – they also allow you to engage with your customers in a way that lasts weeks, months or even years after the event. By adding branded gifts to your goodie bags, you are sending potential customers away with a reminder of your event and your brand.

The key is to choose promotional items that are relevant to your business. The more relevant an item is to someone, the more likely they are to keep it. Useful items such as USB sticks, mugs and pens have a better chance of being held onto for a long time after the event.

Use Social Media

It is rare to find an event these days that isn’t mentioned on social media. It can be a fantastic tool when it comes to marketing your event, and there’s a number of ways to go about it.

Depending on the nature of your event, you can branch out into any of the following social media channels;

Facebook - Create a Facebook Group and you can specifically target people who are interested in your event. Once they have joined, you know that they are interested in updates, news and photos so there’s no worrying about ‘spamming’ your followers.

Pinterest – Perfect for retail or any industry that produces bespoke products. You can share images of your own work with your followers and share ideas/inspirations regarding your event.

Twitter – This platform is ideal for quick, bite-sized updates that don’t require any follow-up. Last minute changes to the schedule, bits of helpful info and exclusive images are best used via Twitter. You can also create your own hashtag to group everything together.

Instagram –Delegate the role of updating your Instagram account to someone at your event and have them post photos and videos with a specific hashtag. You’ll also find that attendees will start sharing their own images as well.

WhatsApp – It is worth creating a WhatsApp Group for everyone involved in your event. This way, staff, organisers and volunteers can all receive important information instantly in a single message and, once the event is over, you simply leave the group.

Information Saturation

Events are unique in marketing in that they don’t have any limits on information sharing. When your followers have shown interest in a particular event, you can never share too much information on that event. They will want to know everything as it happens, including;

  • Dates
  • Opening and Closing Times
  • Prices and/or available discounts
  • Location/Maps
  • Itinerary
  • Food/refreshment details
  • Toilet facilities
  • Parking information
  • Accessibility
  • Directions
  • Perks
  • Special Offers
  • Guest Speakers
  • Giveaways/Competitions

Always Follow Up!

Once your event is over, don’t drop off the face of the planet. We know you will be exhausted afterwards but don’t disappear completely. Keep the flow of information running with reviews, round-ups, highlights, photos and videos of the event.

You also need to take a serious look at the success of your event. Look at what was successful, what didn’t work and what you can use for next time.

Putting feedback cards into your goodie bags that you hand out to attendees, or sending out an online survey after the event can give valuable insight into how well your event was received.

 

By Jim Fyles, Sales Manager at Dread. 

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