Although it can be a difficult and time-consuming process, event marketing is crucial to the success of your event. A well-designed event marketing strategy enables you to reach your target audience, create interest in your event, and increase ticket sales.
Are you wondering how to make an event marketing plan? The following 12 steps will assist you in developing a marketing strategy focused on success:
- Establish your Objectives and Goals
What do you want your event to accomplish? Are you trying to educate your audience, build brand awareness, or create leads? Knowing your objectives can help you create a marketing strategy that will help you reach them.
For instance, if you are organizing a trade exhibition, you could aim to generate 100 leads. You could aim for a 20% increase in brand recognition if you are organizing a conference.
- Determine Your Target Audience
With your event, who are you hoping to reach? Adjust your marketing platforms and messaging to appeal to your target demographic once you know who they are.
For instance, if you are organizing a conference for marketing experts, you might target individuals who hold marketing positions at businesses of all sizes. You could use email marketing, trade journals, and social media to advertise your event.
- Craft an engaging message for the event
What distinguishes your event? What benefits will participants receive from going? Your event message should address the question, “What’s in it for me?” and outline the advantages of attending your event.
What attendees gain from the event should be clear. If your marketing efforts aren’t able to convey the value proposition, the event content needs to be more well-structured and written.
The more clearly potential attendees understand how the event will benefit them, the more likely they are to attend.
To attend the event, a manager or senior executive must approve the purchase. To expedite the purchasing process in these situations, it becomes appropriate to develop marketing materials that specifically address the issues raised by these decision-makers.
- Select the Appropriate Channels for Marketing
There are many different marketing channels accessible, and the best ones will change based on your budget and target market. Among the well-known marketing avenues are:
- Social media
- Email advertising
- Advertising that is paid for
- Public relations
- Marketing with content
For instance, you could utilize social media to advertise your trade exhibition to prospective guests. Email marketing is another way to connect with previous participants and other contacts in the industry.
- Use Your Imagination to Create Captivating Content
You may prepare and schedule your marketing material ahead of time with the aid of a content calendar. This will guarantee that you are continuously advertising your event and assist you in staying on course.
Your marketing material should be interesting and educational. You should craft it to spark curiosity and encourage readers to delve deeper into your event.
Showing folks why they will like the event is sometimes preferable to telling them. To help prospective attendees envision what it will be like to be a part of the event, successful event marketing strategies should incorporate pictures and videos from past events. Video testimonials further cement potential registrants’ perceptions of the experience.
- Create an Eye-Catching Event Website
Your potential attendees will become actual participants on the event website. It’s possibly one of your most important pieces of marketing material only for that reason.
Since a great user experience will increase excitement for the event, a great event website is a marketing tactic in and of itself. In light of this, devote a significant amount of time and energy to creating an event website that is both aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. The following example could be useful for website design.
Be careful to highlight your event brand when creating the design of your website. The brand will be unified, and website visitors will remember the event if all pages use the same colors and fonts.
- Make Sure to Promote Your Event Before, During, and After
When you start your event promotion early, you have enough time to reach your target audience.
To keep the audience interested, develop an email marketing plan that involves sending multiple emails. The goal of a nurturing email campaign is to use emails to progressively encourage the recipient to take the desired action (such as signing up for the event). Each communication should be sent at a different time to avoid overflowing the recipient’s inbox and making the experience unpleasant.
Your emails should be segmented to make each message as pertinent to the recipient as feasible, in addition to scheduling. You can make sure that the proper people receive relevant communications by filtering by industry, job description, and area. This will increase click-through rates and, consequently, registrations.
- Work With Sponsors to plan event co-marketing campaigns
Sponsors can work together to develop co-marketing plans, much as attendees can participate in the event marketing plan. Additionally, sponsors have a strong motivation to draw huge crowds because this will increase the audience for their onsite event marketing objectives.
Develop innovative and proactive co-marketing methods that benefit both you and your sponsors. Using sponsors’ logos and brand colors on marketing materials is an easy method to accomplish this.
- Convert Attendees into Advocates
Keep in mind that the organizer does not have to be the only one promoting the event. Additionally, attendees can act as advocates for you by urging their networks to sign up for the event. This may occur as a result of attendance’s sincere excitement, but another good way to encourage people to spread the word about the event is to offer an incentive.
- Use KPIs to Monitor Your Progress
The goal of every effective marketing strategy is to convert the target population through a variety of channels. A good strategy, however, is more than just carrying out several projects.
Even though it would seem good to have AdWords, email, and social media campaigns running concurrently, these efforts are meaningless if the success is not clearly defined or quantified. Establish clear KPIs for every marketing campaign to accurately gauge its success over time.
How often do people share your event website on social media? What is the AdWords keyword bidding click-through rate? Setting up KPIs is crucial to comprehending each campaign’s performance level.
The total number of event registrations is the ultimate KPI that any event marketer wishes to track. They are particularly interested in determining which channels result in the highest number of completed registrations.
To obtain precise insight into this subject, integrate your platforms so that each database can communicate with the others. The key to correctly assigning each registration to the appropriate campaign is the ability to link all campaigns into the primary event management platform.
By highlighting the most successful channels, the resulting insights will guide future event marketing tactics. Software integrations provide clear, consistent KPIs across platforms and facilitate progress tracking.
- Make Alterations As You Need
You may need to adjust your marketing strategy as you track your results. This is quite typical. Being adaptable and willing to change course when necessary is crucial. For instance, you may need to alter your marketing message or focus on a different demographic if your event website is not receiving enough visitors.
- Iterate and follow up with attendees!
Make sure to get in touch with attendees after your event. Make use of this opportunity to thank them and ask about your event. You may do a post-event networking event, send a thank-you email, or administer a survey.
Conclusion
Event marketing is an essential component of any successful event strategy. By following the 12 steps outlined above, you can craft a comprehensive marketing plan that not only promotes your event effectively but also ensures it reaches the right audience. From setting clear objectives and leveraging appropriate marketing channels to creating engaging content and monitoring KPIs, each step plays a vital role in achieving event success.
For those seeking to deepen their understanding of marketing techniques, pursuing a digital marketing course can provide invaluable insights and hands-on experience. Institutions like the School of Digital Marketing at AAFT offer specialized programs designed to equip students with the skills needed to excel in event marketing and beyond.
Whether you’re a budding marketer or an experienced professional, adopting a strategic approach to event marketing will empower you to not only meet your goals but also leave a lasting impact on your audience.
