It is a tough task to stand out in an already crowded marketplace. There is no doubt that with each passing day, the event industry becomes even more competitive to the point where it is no longer enough to simply plan a good event. More needs to be done if you wish to be noticed.
A high-quality marketing strategy is essential if you wish to earn the attention of potential attendees. You can create the greatest event in the world, but if you do not tell anyone about it then it is simply set to fail. It is rare for ideas to come together unless they are shared with the right people. Once these people have been found, the next step is to spark their interest, engage and inspire them. However, this is just the beginning.
Event Marketing Starts with your Audience
You need to remain relevant, important and keep on inspiring them. You want them to be your biggest fans. Getting this right can make these people become your greatest assets. Be sure they are spreading the word about your events, buying the ticket and encouraging others to do the same. Make sure they continue to talk about it afterwards, writing reviews and showing others what they have missed. It is your job to keep them happy and engaged across all platforms, the entire time. If you cannot keep your audiences inspired, then you will only lose them.
Does this sound difficult? That’s because if it were easy then every business in the world would be getting it right. A successful event requires research, planning, vision, imagination, hard work, time and money. This week, we have six tactics to enhance your event marketing strategy.
Learn from Inspirational Companies to Boost your Marketing Strategy
As opposed to staying focused on what your rivals are going, take a look at who inspires you instead. From start-ups in the industry such as Eventbrite. Investigate your chosen organisations and deconstruct their stories and their milestones. Why do people care about them and what do they offer that is different from others? Think about how these principles can be applied to your own events management – what is your own version of this?
Debate Current Marketing Issues
You and your marketing team should be meeting each week to discuss and debate the latest marketing trends. These could be topics such as what is new that other event organisers and companies are doing, or key developments in technology. From the latest Google Algorithm update, to social trends on Twitter, there are countless things for you to discuss and draw inspiration from. These meetings should always finish with a creative brainstorm around your company events.
Start Creating and Actioning Recommendations from the Beginning
Whether you fill a white wall with Post-it notes, share a Google Doc, use a project management tool such as Trello or a private board on Pinterest, you need a space for everyone to share their ideas. Do not wait until you have completed the research section of your strategy to begin building recommendations. Also, do not wait until you have finished your strategy to begin putting your great ideas into action. If your great ideas are over spilling, make them happen as soon as possible.
Define your Customers in an Intelligent Manager
All customers are different. This will make the job more difficult. Avoid solely grouping together customers based on age, gender, location, job titles or industries and then making assumptions. Instead, group them by pain points, common interests, what they tend to buy, or how they found your website. By finding alternative ways to group together potential attendees, you can develop tactics to acquire more of them at a faster rate. You can the build relationships, solve more of their problems and offer them a tailored experience which is sure to bring in a greater return on investment.
Collaborate with Others
When building something or developing a new event idea, try taking coffee and cake around to existing customers or local businesses and ask them what they think. Do not just do this as a one-off thing. Be sure to get as much information as possible from them to consistently learn and improve ideas, quickly discarding any that are bad, help them to get what they want faster and to help you build personalised journeys for that group. A scalable way of collecting data quickly would be to engage your email database or connections via social media. Making use of your established networks is a wonderful way to validate your ideas early on.
Does your Event Marketing Campaign Pass the Test?
When developing a new campaign idea around your event marketing, don’t just guess whether it will work. Get out there and find out! Start explaining it to people to see how they react. Their responses will let you know whether or not your idea will spark interest will get people talking. If you get the impression the idea is something they will tell their friends about, then you could be onto a winner.
Get a Twitter Wall with Social Sticker
Once you have built everything you need for a successful event marketing campaign, it is time to get ready for the big day. Having people talk about your event while there, is essential. A Twitter Wall from Social Sticker can certainly help. Contact us for more information.
