4 Creative Ways to Marketing Your Upcoming Event
Last month I shared some helpful tips to market your upcoming event through social media channels (check out the blog here), but this month I wanted to talk about other means of marketing that you can use to help attract and retain attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors. Please keep in mind that I won’t go into too much detail about attracting exhibitors and sponsors but don’t worry I will have blogs in the coming months which will touch on those topics more in-depth. So let’s get right into it!
Create a Community
This is by far the most important marketing tip that I can give- create a community. Once you have created a community for your event or even your organization it becomes the gift that keeps on giving. So the big question is; how do you create a community for your event? The first aspect that you need to remember is that it needs to be about more than just an event that people attend. You need to give the audience more! You need to find the vision for your event that will bring attendees together! A great example of this is the annual Inbound event hosted by HubSpot. This event targets marketing professionals by providing informative content, buzzworthy speakers, fun elements, great swag, and more. In turn, this event is not just an event, it’s a community! Keep in mind there’s no strict recipe for making the perfect community for your event. You will need to test aspects and see what works for your audience!
Email Campaigns
Start to build your email list early as this will help you grow your potential audience from the start. Think about what content your audience wants to see and what will entice them to even open the email in the first place! Here are the core components of an email:
- Subject Line
- Email Preview
- Email Copy
- Email Images
- Call-to-Action(s)
Your email campaigns will vary, but here are some of the key learnings I have gained over the numerous years as an event planner in the Edmonton area:
- Create a monthly or quarterly newsletter to keep audiences engaged and up-to-date with event and industry information
- A/B test different components of the email to gain a better understanding of what your audience engages with most
- Focus on providing relevant information, don’t fill the email with “fluff”
Paid Advertising
Depending on your budget and goals, it may be worthwhile to allocate some of the marketing budget towards paid advertisements. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google are all a great way to start.
Tips for Paid Advertising:
- Keep the ad simple
- Have a clear call-to-action
- Provide the necessary information
- Re-direct the interested party to the sign-up page or a lead generation form (depends on the platform and ad type used)
Provide Exclusive Discounts/Promotions
Ticket pricing is a very important aspect of your event. The cost of the ticket must cover the cost that your organization is putting out, but also a profit needs to be made to continue to run the event in future years. I could get into pricing but for this blog’s purpose, I’m going to stick to using exclusive discounts/promotions for your event.
It’s always great to add incentives for early registrations, which is why it’s very common to see early bird pricing for many events. In addition, if your event is heavily supported by a specific organization, it’s great to offer exclusive promotions just for them! This helps instill the relationship for future years.
You’ll see many events also offering special pricing to certain groups such as people under 18, students, seniors, etc. You can decide what makes sense for your event.
Here’s an example from this year’s Alberta Health and Safety Conference’s social media, advertising discounted pricing for students!
There are plenty of different ideas for promoting your upcoming event, but the key is to one create a community and two focus on your target audience. Try different things out and focus on what works! Planit Events Inc. is here as your event expertise in Edmonton and surrounding areas. If you have any questions, or if you are interested in our professional services, feel free to reach out, we would love to chat!