It is coming up on that time of year again, with summer just around the corner, a large number of events will be on the horizon.
With outdoor festivals, sports events, and fundraisers that thrive in summer months, it is perfect for getting your fans involved and informed about what you have coming. So after spending time looking at current events and how they have been marketing, I want to throw in a couple tips on how to make your event a success before it starts.
First, I want to start by saying there are things that I would suggest avoiding as a marketing push. The three following things are phrases you see in event marketing all the time, "For a Limited Time," "The Biggest Event in the Industry of its kind," and "Space is Limited!"
We have all seen and used these phrases in our marketing They sound stale and are usually not entirely true (and people know it). There are many other phrases like these that have become commonplace in event marketing, so before putting "tickets are going fast," think that people have become accustomed to receiving that line and will probably put no urgency behind it to make the purchase.
How do I think you should take your event marketing to the next level and generate much-needed hype? Let's start with the content.
1) Blogging
Setting up a blog dedicated to highlighting the performers, speakers, or awardees, can be a great way to get people involved in the event before it starts. Keeping it focused on the purpose, goals, and the benefits of the game help give great information and create an organic marketing opportunity to help with search results. Blogs can be hard to keep up, though, but are worth it in the long run giving you exciting content that you can promote through your social media and keep everyone up to date creatively. Suppose you find yourself running out of time to maintain the blog up-to-date on a regular schedule. In that case, there is power in your community. Enlist guest bloggers to help control through the busy times and act as advocates for the event.
2) Get Social
We all know that social media has become king when it comes to promotion. With over a billion accounts on Facebook and more people entering the social media space every day, it would be irresponsible to ignore it. But you need to get social with more than the occasional media blast. However, automated campaigns for your social media are great for planned content. You need to keep in contact with your followers, answer questions, and stay on top of the commentator. The last thing you want is for something on your social media to blow up negatively, and you are not there to douse the fire.
3) Prove your Worth Through Social Proof
Anyone can say that their event is excellent, but what makes for the best promotion is what your fans and attendees say about it. So after the event, reach out to your attendees and get them to fill out a short satisfaction survey. This can be quickly done through email or on your social media page. Suppose you think your response rate may not be desirable. In that case, you can also hold a contest for those who attended the event after a short survey (including a place for fans to say something significant about their experience). The other way is to go through your social media, get ready to re-tweet, share, like, and comment on inevitable post-event feedback. Remember, your fans will always be your best advocates!
4) Location Location Location
Never let anyone say that your location doesn't matter. It does. If you have a great location, it lets you tap into the venue's features and help you spread the word about your event through their established promotional channels.
5) Get your Social Sharing on!
Social sharing is one of the greatest phenomenons for marketers. Google search has created a feature on everything you search, so use this to help your event! Create great rewards for your attendees if they share your event with friends that can benefit your event.
6) Give your Content Life
When you make content for the community, you want to promote your event, but you don't want it to fall flat. When you choose a content creator, they should be able to breathe life into each sentence of the article. They should speak the truth about the event, be engaging, ask questions, ask opinions, and be genuinely interested in what they're writing about.
Because if your writer doesn't care about the event and what they are writing about, why should anyone else?
7) Get Organized
Not all events have a year to plan their big event. Sometimes an idea needs to come together in just a few months. But there are ways to help you get through the crunch when getting your idea off the ground. The first is to create an attractive design that will not only engage fans but sponsors.
The next is to create a schedule for the event and what needs to be put together by when so that the event can go off without a hitch. That means, getting your speakers or performers picked and signed on, your location booked, figuring out your ticketing, get your event crisis plan together and getting your marketing plan ready. Though it can seem overwhelming, especially for newcomers to the event planning world, if you can make and stick to an even planning schedule, you should have no problem pulling off a legendary event!
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