Did you know that 91% of consumers are more inclined to purchase a brand’s product or service after participating in a brand activation or experience? If that doesn’t go to show just how crucial event marketing is to your overarching marketing strategy, I don’t know what will.
If you’ve organized events before, you’ll know just how much work goes into planning and executing an event. From creating a unique sign-up page to promoting your event on social media, there's no shortage of tasks that need to be checked off the list—and they all require careful planning and execution if you want to make sure your event is truly successful.
But in today’s article, we are going to dive deep into the marketing aspects of event organization. How you can market your next live event for success. Let’s get started.
Planning a live event can be a challenge. You could spend months planning and doing the prep work only to see your hard work go down the drain if no one shows up.
To ensure that you get the most out of your live event marketing, follow these six tips.
Before doing anything else, you need to understand your target audience. What do they want to hear about? What events in the past have shown success with your audience? What marketing channels have led you to get the most sign-ups, historically?
The best way to analyze your target audience is by looking at your existing database and by using tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights. Here, you will be able to identify trends in behavior that indicate your audience’s needs.
Once you understand your target audience a little better, it’s time to create a sign-up page.
A sign-up page is where people go to register to attend your live event. It's also where people go when they want more information about the event. The goal of this page is to make sure that everyone who wants to attend knows how to do so, and has a good idea of what they'll get out of it.
Here are some things to consider when creating a sign-up page:
Use clear, concise language so that anyone can understand what's going on and why they should attend in person.
Include all details of the event so people know what time it starts, where it will take place, and how much it costs, etc.
Include a button for people who want more information about your live events in general. The most common way to do this is by having a simple form for email newsletter sign-ups. This will keep them updated on all your future events!
Having an effective sign-up page is a crucial factor in collecting more digital registrations.
Social media is a great way to reach your audience, and it can be used in a variety of ways. Social media marketing can help you promote and market your event before, during, and even after the event has passed.
Here are some of our top social media tips for marketing your event:
Encourage people to RSVP by posting reminders on your social media accounts.
Post carousel posts, stories, and reels on your Instagram to get more eyes on your event.
Use social media advertising to boost your reach and get your local audience excited about your event.
Encourage others to share your event with their network or friends! (Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best free ways to market your live events.)
A teaser session is a great way to test the waters “pre-event” (and it's a low-cost way of doing so). In your teaser session, you can get valuable feedback from potential attendees on what they think of your event and its topic. This will create a “buzz” around your event.
At the end of the teaser, you can ask your audience to sign-up for the full event! If they’ve stuck around until the end of the teaser, you know these people are highly interested in what you have to say. You can also attract people to attend the teaser by offering discounts or other incentives to attend the main event.
To ensure that your attendees show up on the day of the event, send out drip reminder emails in the run-up to the event.
In these emails, you can tell attendees where to park, details about refreshments, what time to show up, and other pertinent information relating to your event.
These emails:
1. keep your audience excited about your event;
2. advise them of details and update them of any changes;
3. remind them to attend.
Lastly, you want to take some time to analyze the results of your marketing efforts. Ask yourself what’s working and what’s not.
By reflecting on all of the marketing strategies you’ve used, you are better able to optimize your future marketing efforts to get the most attendees to your events.
All in all, creating a winning event marketing strategy is really about understanding the different elements that contribute to success and using those in ways that make sense for your business. From posting updates to social media to sending reminder emails to your registrants, all of the tips listed above are going to help you fill more seats at your next event.
After reading this article, how are you planning to market your next event?
About the author:
Ryan Gould is the Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services of Elevation Marketing. From legacy Fortune 100 institutions to inventive start-ups, Ryan brings extensive experience with a wide range of B2B clients. He skillfully architects and manages the delivery of integrated marketing programs, and believes strongly in strategy, not just tactics, that effectively align sales and marketing teams within organizations.
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