Pre-event Strategies to Help Promote Upcoming Events | Event Always

 

In the past, you organized a huge event. That event was hugely successful and you spent many months marketing it. You want to promote another event.

But where should you start?

Do you want to follow up with attendees from your previous events? Run Google ads? Start a social media campaign? SEO? Direct mail is a great way to spread the word. Do it quickly?

There are twenty ways to market your event via twenty different media channels, so you won't feel stuck.

Your best option is to break down your promotion strategy into manageable pieces to make it more achievable.

This guide will help you to create a plan of action that is achievable for event promotion.

A plan to drive your target audience towards your events and increase engagement.

Let's get started!

What's Event Promotion?

We define event promotion as:

Use a variety of marketing strategies and channels to spread word about your event. Event promotion has the goal of increasing public engagement and thereby increasing event attendance.

Face-to-face networking is a traditional way to promote your event.

However, the ability to adapt to traditional market strategies has been made almost impossible by the advances in technology and the spread of COVID-19.

The digital age is here. Digital channels such as social media, email newsletters and paid advertising are all great ways to promote events in today's digital age.

How do you promote an event?

One word answer would be - Integrated marketing campaigns.

 

An integrated marketing campaign is a combination of various marketing channels that promotes an event.

Your audience is what will determine the effectiveness of this digital media and print media-coordinated advertising.

Direct mail might be a good option if you have an older audience.

According to statistics, millennials (aged 18-34) are heavily influenced by social media. Their daily Facebook use is remarkable - 77% compared to the 35-54 age group, which has 68% and 52% respectively, as well as the 55-year olds and older.

If you want to reach a larger audience, identify your target audience. Find out what medium they trust.

Only then can you determine the best way to reach them. You will also find out if your message resonates with them.

Let's now talk about some tricks and tips for reusing promotional material from past events.

Reusing Marketing Materials from Previous Events?

You can save a lot of money by repurposing content from past events.

This content could include event images and videos, as well as credentials for guest speakers. It may also contain reviews from participants.

Let's discuss them in more detail.

• Promo Video

Do not tell anyone how amazing your upcoming event will be.

Use the images and video footage from the previous event to create a marketing video. This will allow them to imagine what the future event might look like.

This video can be sent to your email list. It can be featured on your website. Spread it on your social media channels.

 

Promote short videos because they tend to receive greater views via social media. Keep it under the ONE-MINUTE mark for maximum engagement.

• Past Speakers

Any event associated with big names is leveraged.

Your credibility will attract people to sign up for your events. Highlight them.

To increase engagement at your next event, share the agenda and themes from the previous year.

• Positive Review

Let's face facts, people trust reviews more that the claims made by a brand. Statisticians also found that 88% of customers depend solely on reviews or word-of-mouth.

You can use past attendees as a source of promotional material. Use testimonials to your advantage

Positive feedback from past attendees at your event will show that your team is worthy of its salt. Your event should be a success.

• The reviews should be placed in the most prominent area of your website.

Now, relax! People will tune in and registrations will soar.

• Video Testimonials

Get your promotion campaign going by asking your speakers and registrants from the previous year to record a video about how valuable your event was.

It's like being promoted to the C-Suite if your company is praised by speakers.

You'll close more sales without being too salesy.

Promoting your event through social media?

Social media is the most effective way to reach a wider audience.

Paid ads can be used to reach a wider audience. You can also organize events to direct users to your registration/sales pages.

These are some tips that will help you leverage social media to enhance your marketing strategy.

• Consistent with your Hashtags and Event Handle

According to Inc.com hashtags increase engagement by two times as much than tweets without them.

You can see the importance of # hashtags.

Make sure you use them correctly.

These social media channels support hashtags by default: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+.

Choose creative brand hashtags to use for event collateral on social media.

It will allow potential attendees to find you on social media. It helps establish consistency and credibility for your brand.

Encourage your guest speakers and registrants, as well as your attendees, to share information about the event via social media using your hashtags. This keeps the momentum going long after the event.

• Retargeting Facebook Ads

Facebook is a great way to keep track of visitors who have visited your site but have not yet registered.

Retargeting those prospects can help you close the deal and bring them back to your site - eventually registration page.

Retargeting can increase conversion rates by up to 70%

• Sponsored Ads

LinkedIn sponsored ads are the best way to target professionals.

LinkedIn has millions of professionals around the world, making this feature extremely effective.

You can also advertise your event to specific people who are most likely to benefit from it.

• Email Newsletters

A strong email list can make or break your event. Your email list is only useful if you offer something of value to your prospects.

Promoting your event via email newsletters is a great way to give them something more meaningful.

This is because 46.4% of consumers prefer email communication. That's huge!

Talk about your event up to three months prior to the event.

Send them invitations or direct them directly to your sales page.

These are the central components of a good email invitation:

• It contains the most important details (guest speakers and venue, time, etc. ).
• It shows the impact it will have on attendees.
• It is brief and personal.

You can then remind your email subscribers about the event by periodically reminding them.

• Referral links

According to a survey, 61% of customers refer one person while 34% refer 2-10 people. Only 5% refer 11 or more people.

This technique can be used to turn your audience into advocates.

To help new participants become more active in their social circles, create referral links.

You can offer your participants a discount for signing up through their unique link to increase the number of referrals.

This form will increase organic traffic and help you to attract more people to your event.

• Instagram/Snapchat geofilters and Geofencing

Instagram and Snapchat allow businesses to create and customize their own filters for each event.

You decide how long you want it to live.

Participants will have exclusive access to the geo-filter when they are within a certain distance of the venue.

This filter allows your attendees to share content and reach a wider audience.

Instagram offers a geofencing feature that allows businesses to display more specific ads based on user location.

This will allow you to promote your content immediately if your event takes place in the next weeks or right now.

This promotional work can be overwhelming and requires a lot of resources. To maximize your output, we recommend that you involve your team.

How do you divide the workload into manageable chunks?

• Involve sponsors

Did you know that local stakeholders could sponsor your marketing campaign - providing they generate more ROI?

They might sponsor your marketing campaign via their email newsletters. You could also collaborate in the creation of content to market the event.

It can be a joint venture. You could offer some benefits in return.

• Involve Teammates

A great team is a key to a successful business.

You can share the load with your teammates, even if they are not part of your marketing team.

Ask them to work together in the company's interests.

You can offer incentives to get their collective support. You can offer surprises to teams that bring in more registrations. It's a win-win situation for everyone.

Wrap it up

It doesn't matter what kind of event you are organizing, whether it is live or virtual. There are many ways to create a marketing strategy that will work for your event.

Brainstorm. Promoting your event is possible with the right resources, knowledge, and teamwork.