Event season is heating up! Regardless if you are doing an in-person, virtual or hybrid event, marketing is key to generating interest and, even more importantly, attendees. If you are looking for some fail-proof ways to market your events and nurture your leads, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve gathered our top five favorite ways to market an event, check them out below.
Wanna be the trendsetter? Check out these top 3 event trends for 2022.
5 ways to event marketing excellence
1. Use a video (or two) to drum up interest. There is no doubt that people eagerly consume video content. Just ask YouTube, which in 2020 alone had more than 2.1 billion users worldwide, who watched an estimated one billion + hours of video each day. With stats like that, it’s a no-brainer to use video to generate interest for your event.
Start with an event invite video. Film your leader —or whoever makes the most sense — and offer a personal invitation to the event. Keep it short, exciting, and share just enough detail to pique interest (and most importantly, don’t forget to include the basic event details).
Highlight reels are another great way to generate interest. Use clips from the previous year’s event for pre-event outreach. This is an effective way to show actual people enjoying the conference and having fun. During your event, don’t forget to capture candid moments, interviews with attendees, and even parts of presentations —these can all be used to create another highlight reel for post-event marketing and next year’s outreach.
2. Get social. Promoting your event on social media should be a no-brainer. According to Hootsuite and We Are Social’s The Global State of Digital 2022, “there are now 4.62 billion people using social media around the world.” Why not take advantage of that huge number and generate some interest in your event:
- Start small with teaser posts as you begin the planning phases of your event, and really put on the heat once you have the event details solidified and your event page or website created (see tip 3).
- Promote attendee usage of social media by creating an event hashtag and groups or pages on various platforms.
- Encourage your sponsors and vendors to post, and promote their involvement in your event. To make it easy, you can provide a few posts they can use.
- Kick it up a notch and go live to prompt your event. Have a speaker or sponsor join you to make it more interactive and fun.
3. Create a standalone event page or site. One of the most important things you can do is put all event information in one, easy-to-find spot. Potential attendees, attendees, sponsors and the like can get everything they need in one spot, removing any potential confusion or frustration.
Make it a priority to update information as you go, so that you can utilize this page for promotion before, as well as an information source during and after the event. Some starter elements to include:
- A count down to your event
- The invite video and/or highlight reel
- All event details and registration form
- Keynote speakers
- A ‘convince my boss’ letter
- Sponsorship information
- The event agenda
- Contact information
4. Don’t forget about email. Your pre-and post-event nurture email campaigns are important, so don’t put these on the back burner. Studies show that email generates $42 for every $1 spent, so why not capitalize on that spending power for your event?
Start with the early bird specials and continue to offer incentives as you get closer to the event. Be creative with your email messaging, and make sure to include your invite video, highlight reels, keynote speakers, sample agendas, teasers from presentations, and social events. Segment your list by interest or industry, so that you can tailor your message to each recipient.
After the event, continue to engage your attendees with thank you emails, and access to recorded presentations, and special offers. Don’t forget to tap into all the rich content generated from your event. (Hint: check out these 8 ways you can repurpose your conference or event content into new marketing material).
5. Event special offers. Your event is an ideal time to tap into a captive audience. For example, if you have a new product launching, event attendees can get a sneak preview of what’s to come. Your sales team can use this as an opportunity to offer 1×1 meetings with potential or current customers, and your tech team can even have a kiosk for answering product-specific questions.
As your event winds down, you can use the time to promote your next event. Include special offers for those who have attended through the use of promo or QR codes. Have your sponsors and vendors participate in these promotions, to keep them top of mind as attendees head home.
Get this party started!
It’s never too early to start your event marketing. Use these five tips as a taking-off point for your planning and strategy. Above all, ensure all your messaging resonates with your specific audience, and each outreach should highlight the benefits of attending your event.
Need a little help with your event marketing strategy? We got you covered. At Content Matterz, events are one of our specialties. Reach out to us today for a consultation and to learn more about how we can take your event to the next level.