As kids, we all wanted to attend birthday parties with a guest list that included family, classmates, neighbors and friends; it almost felt like that everyone wanted to part of the exact same events as you and no, it was no coincidence.
Everyone you knew was at the same birthday party as you because they, like you, had been planning what clothes they would wear, what gifts they would give, and how much fun they would have at the event for the entire past week or maybe even more.
Do you know why everyone wanted to attend the same birthday party as you? Because they knew or were certain that it was going to be an exciting and fun event. The birthday parties were deemed as successful events because so many people turned up at these events.
As adults, we don’t grow out of this need to socialize and be where everyone is; it’s just that the nature of the events we want to attend changes. As a professional or businessperson, there has to be some industry events that you look forward, or maybe even dream of, attending. These are usually events that hundreds, if not thousands, of other people in your industry or field want to attend as well.
Basically, the point that we’re trying to make is that the success of an event depends on how many people attend it or the successful turnout of invitees. How can you ensure this? With the right event marketing.
The Importance of Event Marketing
When talking about valuable marketing channels, it would be a crime to leave out event marketing from the discussion. According to Bizzabo, live events are allocated 24% of the entire annual budget by the average chief marketing officer; the purpose of this is to build deeper connections between a brand and its audience.
So, it’s clear that event marketing is critical for every business today but what does this type of marketing entail? It’s all about informing people that you are going to host an event and you would love to see them attend it; you can promote the event using different channels and the event being marketed can be an online or offline event.
Some examples of events that you can hold to promote your business are a Meet n Greet, a Facebook Live Seminar, Volunteer Appreciation Day, Donation Camp etc. The basic purpose of these events is to create buzz and entice people to join in; the right event marketing can help to do that.
Some Great Ideas to Promote Your Business with Event Marketing
Effective marketing is needed to get the desired audience to attend your event; your event can be considered a success if it attracts the desired type and amount of people. Another important requirement for ensuring the success of your event is engaging with your audience/customer before, during, and after the event; this will allow you to build and maintain a strong relationship with them.
Last but not the least, you need to make your event stand apart from the crowd to get people talking about it. How can you do all this? With the following 4 event marketing ideas to promote your business.
1. Use a Press Release to Promote Your Event
One of the best ways to promote an event is through a press release. A press release is one of the primary tools used in event marketing. With a professionally written press release, you can get the word out about your event; this includes the data and venue of the event; the special guests attending (if any), the event itinerary, and any dress code requirements. Also, you can let the target audience know how attending the event will benefit them or add to their profile.
2. Use Event Discovery Sites
According to research by Eventbrite, an event management and ticketing website, more than 50% of event-goers in cities search for things to do on local online guides. With this in mind, it would only be sensible for you to promote your event on local online guides to reach out to the target audience of your event. Examples of websites that successfully attract people searching for specific types of events are Facebook, Spotify, Eventful, Bandsitown, and Goldstar.
3. Segment Your Email Lists
A creative way to promote your event is by segmenting your email lists; there are several ways to do this. One of them is the use of Bizzabo’s email platform to segment by age, location, job level, industry, ticket type, lead status, and contact role.
It will be easier to market your event once you’ve selected a focus group for the event; you can then market using CTAs that appeal most to them, writing messages with personal subject lines, and including several tests to find out what gets the most responses.
Suppose you run a business that holds events across the globe. While your business caters to people in all parts of the world, marketing an event in New York City to someone in London wouldn’t be a very smart thing to do. With Bizzabo, you can set this straight by selecting a focus group for an event and then marketing to them.
4. Use Emails
A lot of new event marketing strategies have come to the fore recently, however, the use of emails is still the most effective way of reaching out to the target audience and inviting them to an event. So, marketing or promoting your event by sending out emails to your target audience is a no brainer.
There are several other ways for you to market your event. However, the above-mentioned strategies are the some of the most effective event marketing ideas for your business.
by Bobby J Davidson
I love our companies and we love what we do. For more information on the Davidson Family of Companies, visit www.bobbydavidson.com/about. Sign up for my Newsletter at the bottom of this page.