As an event planner or promoter, you juggle a lot of things… and eventually, a mistake is bound to happen.
We are not referring to an error that is an easy fix, we are referring to a mistake that creates a financial consequence for your client.
Before we dive into how to MARKET your event, let’s quickly make sure that you’ve got the right FOUNDATIONS in place.
An example of a financial loss would be if an event is canceled last minute due to your error, and you are responsible for refunding your client all the money they had to return to their attendees for the cost of plane tickets, hotel reservation, event tickets, etc.
Professional liability insurance is designed to protect you from situations such as this.
This will cover the legal costs should your client decide to sue you as well as any financial restitution you are obligated to make. This type of insurance policy is essential for businesses who provide advice or professional services (such as event planning) for a living.
Another essential insurance policy is a General Liability policy which can be described as a companion policy to its’ Professional Policy counterpart. This policy covers you from a lawsuit alleging general wrongdoings such as slander, libel, slip and fall type injuries, etc.
Now that we got that important information out of the way, let’s talk about what you can do to market your next event more effectively:
How To Successfully Market Your Events Online
1. Run Social Media Ads
If you have a budget, use geo-targeting to create targeted ads to reach your desired audience.
2. Create A Special Hashtag
Use a descriptive and catchy #hashtag to stand out and become instantly recognizable. Creative hashtags generate free word of mouth because people like to talk about things they see that are fun.
3. Create Relevant Content
Generate content leading up to the event such as articles, giveaways, etc. Make sure to link to where people can buy tickets in all the content you put out. Remember if someone has to spend longer than a minute trying to find a signup link, you have already lost them.
4. Create A Facebook Event
Make sure to share the event on other social media channels, via email, on blog posts, etc.
5. Harness Bloggers
If you don’t have a large audience yourself, it’s a good idea to reach out to bloggers to see if they would be willing to write a post about your event. A good idea would be to invite them to your event free of charge and monetary compensation depending on how large their audience is.
Just make sure the blogger’s audience is your target market to make it worthwhile. Here is an example of how to guest post to reach 150,000+ career-minded women located in the USA: LadyBossBlogger.com/guest-post.
6. Offer A Free “Teaser”
This is a known technique to build trust and relationship with your audience. Consider creating a free webinar, offering a free mini-course, e-book or printables if applicable. Of course, the purpose of creating these pieces of content is to try to upsell the event to the attendees.
A good strategy is to offer a limited time discount for people who participate in your freebies by creating a sense of urgency. A successful teaser will generate interest, introduce the people who may not be familiar with the brand to the event, which will lead them to purchase a ticket.
7. Run Ticket Giveaways
Timing is everything when it comes to giveaways. Make sure to do a giveaway at the beginning, middle and very end of your promotional period. Reach out to a few social media influencers to help market your giveaway. Once again make sure that their audience is aligned to who you’re trying to reach.
Good influencers will have a solid media kit that lists out their audience stats, check out Elaine Rau’s media kit for the perfect example: LadyBossBlogger.com/influencer.
8. Create A Landing Page
None of the ideas we provided above will work if you don’t have a landing page. All the teasers, giveaways, etc. need to lead your potential attendee somewhere where they can purchase tickets or sign up for event updates. An expertly crafted landing page will further sell your event and accomplish those goals.
9. Offer Social Proof
People trust other people when they see them have fun or hear their testimonials. Pictures of past attendees having fun, excerpts from interviews with past attendees or even “behind the scenes” footage from the organizers will help build the connection and trust with your audience. In turn, it will help sell more tickets for your event.
Look for bloggers and media outlets who are willing to interview you before the event to advertise it on their sites. Here is an example of how to collaborate on an interview exchange post: LadyBossBlogger.com/how-to-get-featured.
10. Make Your Event Searchable
When people search for a subject matter related to your event, ideally they should be able to find the link to your event’s page in the first few search links that pop up. This requires you to dive into SEO and make sure you target the correct keywords.
Here are some articles about SEO you may find helpful:
- 5 SEO Tools Every Online Business Owner Should Have
- 11 Reasons SEO Is Crucial For Business Growth
- 7 SEO Techniques For Fashion Brands And Blogs
- 5 Things You Need To Know About SEO
And two more articles about successful event planning: