Creative Ways To Promote Your Event

75% of the event managers struggle with their event promotions. Here are a few creative techniques to promote your events by Townscript team.

Events are merely an excuse for most of the marketing professionals to take a break from regular work routine and explore a change. This is an opportunity for the event organizers to create an experience that marketers and other participants can’t deny. The worst fear for any event marketer is to plan every detail of an event and when it comes down to the big day, no one shows up. For those in the event marketing space, events hold much more important than just free food and a short vacay. In fact, each event represents a huge opportunity to grow their company’s list of leads and further build its brand presence.

Marketers and event planners are in the constant hunger to create campaigns that are unique, fresh and brings in loads of energy in an event. The idea is to convert someone’s vacay into a full-blown business deal. In this blog, we are going to discuss ideas about how can you attract more attendees, even if you have no money or a very minimal marketing budget to spend.

10 Creative Ways To Promote Your Event:

1. Digital Media

Digital media marketing is never going to be stale. It has changed the face of marketing altogether and is going to stay as long as people are hooked to the internet. The overflow of information, however, can be overwhelming sometimes. Use the following ways to make it more targeted.

• Facebook marketing: Starting off as a networking platform, Facebook has redefined digital marketing. Event planners need to remind their potential customers that there is something out there which they must attend. According to Pew Research, nearly 45% of people in America only get news from Facebook. Given the statistics, you can reach 2 billion people at a time using facebook.
• Instagram: Have you seen the stories they run? Sheer brilliance, isn’t it? After the acquisition by Facebook, Instagram has changed a gradual shift. Stories are also a wonderful way to promote your future presence at a big event. Show your team preparing, have one of your salespeople introduce themselves, and try to think of fun ways to get people to come to your booth once the event begins.
• Email marketing: It is still not dead. Ask your content team to write a warm and crisp email targeting potential customers. A crisp email with an infographic followed by regular follow-up emails is a good way to remind customers about the event.

2. Podcasts

Podcasts are the new ways to listen to stories. When you don’t have enough time to sit back and read, switch on to a podcast and listen to it rather. Start a podcast and begin to build a following you can promote your event to. Influencers can be a great help to build up a podcast. Ask then to feature in your podcast. In return, you can offer them free tickets and maybe exclusive passes to attend the after-party for networking purposes.

3. Henna Tattoo Bar

It is not a good idea to mix business with pleasure, but it surely is a good idea to mix business with cultures. If you are hosting your event out of a Southeast Asian or a Gulf country, a henna tattoo can do wonders. Place the booth strategically at the event. It will surely attract women and men alike. Ask the booth operator or henna artist to give brand logos as tattoos- a long term brand recognition technique.

4. Run a Ticket Giveaway Campaign

People love free stuff. It’s just plain old human nature. So why not give away a small set of tickets for free. It attracts interest in the event. Run some social ads around the giveaway, create a hashtag, and get people interested. The rules are simple where people have to tag their friends in the post. Your potential attendees will spread the world, and drive more word-of-mouth marketing for your event. this is a fun way to get more attendees registered and treat some lucky winner to a free ticket.

5. Set a Theme

From baby showers to weddings, from business dinners to grand events, everything is running on specific themes. Embrace this change. Choosing a theme helps you organize the message you’re trying to get out to attendees and better yet, ensures those attendees remember that message long after the event concludes. Themes are the playground for adults and allow them to become children again. Let them feel that way and give them experience.

6. Exclusive Events

People like being given VIP treatment. Give them what they want. Elite and invite-only sessions are a great way to engage people. You can piggyback this with free event entry to encourage them to mix and mingle. Having VIP presence at your events boosts the cachet of your audience and amplifies your online promotion, too.

7. Branded Cupcakes

You don’t have to shell out a bomb in your branded giveaways. Some of the simpler and cost-effective options can be found in the food and beverage section. Try getting cupcakes with your brand’s logo or maybe sponsors’ logo. Send them cupcakes as invitations to special guests, or maybe offer as a free snack in the event. This will garner some sweet attention and long term retention for the sheer awesomeness (Make sure the cupcakes tastes like heaven)!

8. Flashmob

The possibilities are endless here and you can create flash mobs that are all singing and dancing or something that is particularly event-specific like special entertainers or an immersive role-play experience in public. If flashmobs can bring a change in people’s mindsets around social issues, it will surely help your event get more attendees.

9. Human Billboards

They are fun and they are interactive. Make sure that this is someone from your staff or if through an external agency, the person should know everything about your event. Have something fun yet informative written on their oversized clothing and let people ask them questions and click pictures. People have this habit of posting pictures on Instagram and Facebook. Let them click pictures with your human billboard and post on social media. It is free of cost marketing and very effective too.

10. Run Geo-targeted Search

Geo-targeting will become your best friend before these events. You want to make it very clear to your audience that you’re going to be at this event because you are paying to be there. Don’t miss out the opportunity to promote your brand’s presence before the event using geo-targeted search and social ads.

Summary of Creative Ways to Promote Your Event

There are so many ideas that can be implemented to make your event a bomb. Focus on what works for your event and promote until your event starts.

So if you want to know more about promoting the events digitally and want a platform to do it for you, Townscript is tailor-made to promote your event and help you sell your event out online. Try out Townscript now!

Originally published at blog.townscript.com on July 22, 2019.