Organizing or participating in an event is meaningless unless its target audience is made aware. In order to make people aware of your event and encourage those who are fully or even tangentially interested in attending, promotion is essential. There are various approaches to promotion, and it’s critical to identify the one that would work best for your business or organization. Continue reading to learn details that should be taken into consideration while organizing and publicizing a corporate event.
Some Ideas of Promoting an Event
Promotion can take many different shapes. Standard forms of advertising are often used to spark interest, such as those seen online, in print publications, on billboards, or via social media, email marketing, competitions, giveaways, partnerships with other organizations, and referral schemes. Modern technology can also be beneficial. Developing a mobile application specifically for your event can help increase awareness of it, as can leveraging AI to build chatbots that can automate the work of responding to inquiries from users.
Do’s of Promoting an Event
When promoting an event, there are a few important steps that need to be followed. Some of the things to remember are listed below.
Create an Identity
A powerful brand image has several advantages. A strong brand identity should be consistent from your website to your services. Choose a visual style and aesthetic that is consistent with your business, particularly when it comes to logos and colors. Tone and manner of language should also be consistent.
The venue of the event should complement your brand; the same goes for the event’s offerings. Customers and clients see the brand first and foremost. Unless your business decides to completely revamp its brand, they will also notice if there is a noticeable discrepancy between the brand’s philosophy and the contents of the event.
Establish Goals
When organizing the promotion for your event, define objectives that you hope to achieve. Determine the KPI that will be used to gauge the success of the event’s promotion. Determine how many people you would like to attend, at the very least. Next, take a look at additional metrics such as overall ticket sales, event upsells, website traffic, social media interaction, email subscriptions, and attendee comments. By using these metrics, one can also assess the effectiveness of promotional strategies and determine whether any changes should be made for future events or during promotional campaigns.
Analyze Data
Ensure that you monitor all information, including the number of people visiting your website, email click-throughs, social media mentions, and other relevant data. These data will guide you in determining the necessary steps to successfully market your event. Create a hashtag for your event to facilitate the tracking of social media interaction and to build a community that may draw in new attendees with an interest in the field or industry you work in.
Create a Sense of Urgency
Public attention to an event needs to be built up gradually through promotion to maximize its chances of success. Depending on the nature and scale of the event, successful organizers will typically begin marketing it three to six months in advance. Using promotional materials effectively should help create excitement and sell tickets for events that require them in this timeframe. One way to attract people is to provide early-bird tickets at a discount or with a promo code; alternatively, offer a few extra, time-limited special bargains that include an added bonus for those who reserve in advance. Keep in mind the importance of maintaining consistency in your promotion by reminding people about your upcoming event through frequent postings, email newsletters, and media appearances. This will help to guarantee that people have the event at the top of their minds.
Don’ts of Promoting an Event
In addition to the important things mentioned above that one ought to do, there are other things that should be avoided because they could negatively affect the effectiveness of your promotion.
Rely on Your Existing Audience
Relying on your current audience does not ensure success and is a very easy trap to fall into. However likely it may be that members of your existing audience will attend the event, depending too much on them could prevent your event from drawing in the amount of people you desire.
Rely on Only a Few Marketing Channels
Continually using the same marketing channels could make new audiences unreachable. Adding new marketing channels to your mix allows you to reach a wider audience and spread the word about your event to those you may not have initially been aware of.
Over-promise
Living up to the anticipation and excitement generated through promises made regarding your event is crucial. Therefore, ensure that you keep your word when it comes to your event’s offerings, potential speakers, and entertainment. If you fail to honor a promise, people will see it negatively, which could have an effect on future events.
Don’t Miss Opportunities
Events are excellent for making contacts and expanding one’s network. These connections have the potential to greatly benefit your company or group. In an effort to forge deeper business ties, make sure to stay in touch with those you follow or message on social media.
Summary
Properly promoting your event is indispensable for boosting your chances of success. Failure to do so will all but guarantee that potentially interested parties will remain unaware of the event you are working so hard to organize. Promotion can take many different shapes, so choose the best advertising plan to achieve your goals. We are aware that each business or organization has its own particular needs. There are organizations that can draw from years of experience in offering a wide variety of ideas for event promotion. Search online for more information on promotional strategy.
For additional information about promoting events and how JTB can help, get in touch with us. https://www.jtbusa.com/meetings-events/contact-us.
