Modern digital methods have replaced traditional methods of advertising events. Online reservations, live streaming, and QR codes have mostly replaced traditional billboard advertising. The worldwide event sector also gains a lot from these handy enhancements. It is anticipated that the industry will be worth $2 trillion by 2028. This means that if you are about to host an event, you need to consider using digital promotion methods. Strategic online event advertising may do wonders for your next gathering. Therefore, to help you make the most of your marketing, we will give you five ideas to promote your upcoming event.
What Is Event Promotion?
We need to define what we mean by “event promotion” before discussing the various strategies for promoting it. Generally, marketing and advertising an event is all about coming up with clever ways to attract attendees and boost registrations. It’s not enough to just put up a notice with the date and time of your event. You need to make it exciting and enticing at the same time. This is crucial because nobody will attend your event if your promotion doesn’t hook them. Understanding the event’s purpose and intended attendees is the first step in attracting them to sign up. If you know these two things, it’s going to enable you to promote your upcoming event much more quickly.
1. Use Event-finding Resources
Advertising your event should begin on pages people already know and trust as good resources for finding events. Try publishing your event online on a general event site like Eventbrite or a site that lists events in your unique sector. Don’t forget to include any pertinent information and a link to further resources (like a landing page) for further reading.
2. Make Full Use of Your Event's Hashtag
You should make it a habit to always include an event hashtag when talking about your event. This includes social media posts and offline marketing materials, such as flyers and posters. Constantly using your event hashtag can help people remember your event and keep it on their minds. Furthermore, make sure you include your event’s hashtag in the account biographies if you’ve created specific accounts for it on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+ are all social networking platforms that naturally accept hashtags.
Additionally, you should get the word out to the attendees and encourage them to use the event’s hashtag in their social media posts and updates about the event. That will increase the likelihood of your content being seen by members in their target demographic. That being said, you need to avoid spamming. Using a hashtag in a Tweet has been found to boost interaction, although using too many might be annoying. Simply Measured discovered that the average post with more than two hashtags had 32% fewer interactions than those without any hashtags.
3. Build a Website Landing Page
A landing page is a separate part of your website where visitors “land” (or arrive) to engage with your content. Its purpose is to get you to buy something, give something a try, or promote your upcoming event. Having a landing page for your event is crucial because it establishes legitimacy and serves as a central hub for all promotional efforts, including but not limited to email, social media, and online advertisements. All relevant information about the event, including how to sign up and pay, is presented on the landing page. Your prospective guests won’t become bored or give up if they can find everything they need in one convenient location.
You should have these elements on your homepage:
- All event specifics, including time, date, venue, guest appearances, and objectives.
- An event schedule.
- Photographs and videos from your most recent event.
- Handles on social media (with links).
- An invitation to register or purchase tickets.
In the grand scheme of things, your landing page will be the main attraction of your advertising campaign for the event. Therefore, you need to make your copy compelling throughout creating high-conversion landing pages. Otherwise, people will not want to engage with your marketing material and, ultimately, your event.
4. Make use of Search Engine Optimization
Build a search engine optimization (SEO) plan around your blog posts and video uploads to increase the visibility of your content and attract more visitors. Look into which keywords have a somewhat high monthly search volume and low levels of competition. Use Google’s Keyword Planner or any similar tool to do this analysis. For example, following that, you may design a plan to answer frequently asked questions on the subject matter of your event. You can also try to use your event’s hashtag as a keyword.
5. Use Targeted Email Advertising
Email marketing is cheap and effective for getting the word out about your event. But there is a catch: your emails must stand out from the myriad spam mail people receive daily. Don’t make the mistake of sending everyone the same message through email. Instead, try tailoring your strategy to each unique client. Most marketers agree that customization is crucial to the effectiveness of email marketing. In order to get the best possible results, you should:
- Using database segmentation to locate persons that share traits.
- Adapting email communications to the needs and interests of recipients.
- Tailoring Calls-to-action (CTAs) depending on email engagement data.
- Developing pertinent subject lines based on popular subjects or previous attendance.
- Using A/B testing to optimize subject lines, content, and CTAs.
Get your coworkers involved in the email campaign for maximum effect. Instruct your staff to reach out to their clients, potential business associates, and other contacts in their personal networks through email. And make sure your team has the URL to your event website in their email signatures. If you do it correctly, this can be the best of the five ideas to promote your upcoming event.