It’s Poppin’ Off! The 5-Minute Guide to Event Marketing
If you’re looking for new ways to reach your customers, you have to think beyond commercials and TV spots. Think experiential marketing, which goes beyond advertising a product.
With experiential marketing, the focus is on delivering unique experiences that engage consumers. A live event that boosts your brand’s fun image, for example, is a great way to do experiential marketing.
But before you hold a concert or a workshop, you need to know the basics of event marketing and promotion. Here, we’ll discuss in detail the things you need to pull off a successful marketing event.
Event Marketing Must-Have: A Plan
You wouldn’t think about launching an online marketing campaign without a plan. The same applies to events. If you want your event to go well, you need to have a plan that details your ideas, strategies, and promotion tactics.
To create your event marketing plan, first, set your goals and budget. And then identify where you will hold the event. Are you going to offer the event online, offline, or both?
Of course, your plan should also define your target audience and how your event is going to benefit them. Once you’re clear on the why and for whom you’re doing this event for, you can begin refining your plan.
Fine-Tuning Your Plan with the Right Strategies
Your event marketing ideas are no good if you don’t pair them with the right strategies. You know your target audience. But do you know where to find them and how to get them to attend your event?
And if you try to entice them to check out your event, how will you convince them that yours is better than the ones your competitors offer? What is so awesome about your brand that will make potential customers flock to it?
You’ll also have to figure out your pricing and sales strategies. Will you give out discounts for those who buy their tickets early? Are you going to give out freebies with every ticket bought?
Where you’ll sell the tickets and how you’ll handle refunds and complaints should also be part of your overall strategy.
Executing Your Event Marketing Plan
Depending on the scale of your event, you could hold it yourself or work with an industry expert. For example, if you’re staging a concert, you might want to work with a company like King Sixteen, whose expertise involves booking bands.
It’s also at this stage where you’ll work the marketing channels best suited for promotion before, during, and after the event. Email, social media, digital ads, and a series of blog posts are great options for pre-event marketing.
During the event, you can go for digital signage or print ads. You could also use live videos to stream portions of your event.
Of course, you can’t forget about post-event evaluations, which could mean sending out surveys or newsletters. What you’ll do after the event is just as important. You want to keep your brand fresh in the minds of those who attended and make others curious about checking your future events.
Ready to Promote Your Event?
Now that you know the basics of event marketing, you can start drafting your event marketing plan. Make sure to be as detailed as possible with your event promotion ideas and strategies.
To execute the plan, assign each marketing channel to a member of your marketing team. Or if it’s a big-scale event, think about working with an experienced agency.
For more articles on marketing events, you can check out our posts on marketing/promotion with t-shirts and face-to-face marketing strategies.
