Marketing Your Event

This is the time of year when there events start to be on all over the place (a lot outdoors if the British weather doesn't let us down) so we thought it was time we pulled together a few tips for marketing an event, as by their nature events are often one-off activities away from your mainstream marketing.

1. Business to Business events – where your delegates are other businesses. These often take the form of training, informing or networking and occasionally awards ceremonies or conferences. If this is your target audience here are our top tips:

1. Dig out existing customers' details so that you tell them first
2. Make sure you give people plenty of notice to get it in their diaries, we recommend at least one month in advance, preferably two.
3. Think of an innovative way to let your target audience know about the event – a quirky hand delivered invite or special voucher incentives for people to bring along with them work well. And email marketing makes it easy to send out invites while being able to track who opened the email and whether or not they clicked through to your website.
   
4. Don't miss all of the obvious opportunities to market your business event: On your website (do you have a news section?), on the bottom of your invoices; posters near or in your premises (if you have them) or at the venue where the event will be held (if you don't) and at any business networking that you do
5. Give them an irresistible reason to attend! Can you get a high profile guest speaker perhaps or offer expertise that's topical and cutting edge?
6. Make sure you've got a good reason to follow up afterwards, perhaps post your slides on Slideshare and sent out the url by email, or invite them to fill in a feedback form where they can indicate interest for your products or services.
7. If you video the event, post a snapshot on YouTube the next day. That way your event will still be found after it's all over - with a link back to your website.
8. Set up a "hashtag" on Twitter so people can track all mentions of your event and tweet using it as a reference. (More on hashtags at Twitter).
   

2. Consumer Events – marketing to the general public. These are often more fun as you can be more creative if you've got a budget. The reasons for events might be different but the principles are the same, so whether you're planning a festival in a local farmers field or an open evening in a shop, here are our top tips for success:

1. More “in your face” tends to be more effective – if you've got the budget for a celebrity that can work a treat to attract visitors, if you don't can you call in a favour or book an unusual act?
2. Promotion needs to be as public as you can make it but doesn't always have to be expensive– get in touch with the local newspapers, local radio stations, tourist offices, schools and libraries to see if you can post the details on their websites, in their outlets or even outside their premises.
3. Get some banners (as big as you can) made to publicise the date and time anywhere people will let you put one up. Try your local council for permission to use bridges and roundabouts, otherwise approach owners of buildings direct. Try a local printer for good prices for a batch of banners.
4. Create some instant PR with a good press release to local papers with headline information and top reasons to come to your event.
5. If you've got the budget, look at AA or RAC road signs up to a week before the event and while it's on. If you don't, get your own lamp-post signs made (you may need to check with the local council before you put them up)
6. Mention the event in all of your social networks, both personal and business, with a link back to your website.
7. Investigate local community websites that will let you post your event details on for free and take advantage of their website traffic.
   
8. Book a photographer and get some video footage if you can. This will be great for adding to your website afterwards and posting into your social networks.
   

Events are often fun to promote because you can use a few more techniques from your marketing toolbox than you might normally. The most important thing is usually to get bums on seats, so spreading the word as far as you can is the best thing you can do. The Internet makes that easier than ever, and if your event can go viral you might be surprised by the response!

Karen McNulty
www.MarketingPlanWiz.co.uk