Now is the time for small businesses to start thinking about event marketing.

Hosting an Event is an effective marketing tool to promote your business, while strengthening connections to your local community, and those looking for your products and services.

People are ready to hear and learn about your business and what you can do for them. They’re eager to know more about your products and how to use them. They want to know what services you offer, and how those services will make their lives easier.

What is Event Marketing?

• Event marketing is used for the purpose of promoting a product, service or a Brand.

• Businesses greatly benefit from hosting their own even, but often participate by attending events as a sponsor or an exhibitor.

• Events come in all shapes and sizes, budgets, and purposes.

• Events can be used to promote a cause, demo or launch products, show customer appreciation, celebrate a business milestone, or network with the community 

• Events can be held offline or offline.

Event Marketing Benefits

Planning and executing a successful Event will help:

• Build your contact and customer lists.
• Introduce your products/services to those not already aware.
• Foster leadership and credibility.
• Establish community connections.
• Create buzz for your Brand.

How to Start Planning an Event

Remember - Event marketing should be creative, flexible and tailored to meet your business needs.

Define the Goal

What’s your motive and objection for hosting an Event?

Define the Budget

If you’ll be hosting an Event at your place of business, then make a list of extras that may cost you money, such as extra staff, printed hand-outs, refreshments, incentive gifts, samples, etc.

Define the Marketing

While there are many ways to market an Event, 40% of businesses use Social media, while 76% of businesses feel that Email marketing is the most popular and effective.

You may want to:

• Add a dedicated Event landing page to your site.
• A non-intrusive website pop-up to bring awareness.
• Create video content, maybe an Event trailer, behind-the-scenes content and a sneak-peek of what’s to come.
• Create enticing content with images to motivate people to want to register, RSVP, and attend.

Define How You’ll Manage the Event

The most efficient way to manage an Event is to utilize your automated Email marketing platform. Using Automated Email will save you time, and make the entire Event process easy.

We find the Constant Contact professional Event promotion and registration tool makes Event management simple, so your Event runs seamlessly from start to finish with out any hiccups.

If you use a different automated Email system, confirm their ability to create, share, and manage your event with detailed reporting.

Define the Promotion

Determine who you’ll be directing the promotion to.

Make a list of where you’ll be promoting your Event, online and offline.

Example:

• Existing customers.
• Potential customers.
• Emails lists.
• Social Media.
• Website.

Creating Social Engagement:

• Create and use Event #Hashtags.
• Promote Social sharing.
• Social Comments.
• Audience interaction.
• Asking questions.
• Start discussions. 

Learn how to promote an Event on Social media.

Evaluate and Tweak

During the promotion process, measure and evaluate how your efforts are performing. Whether your promotion efforts are online or offline - measure and evaluate the data against pre-promo goals and objectives. 

Effective Event Marketing Strategies

You’ve planned amazing things for your attendees.
You know your event is going to be exceptional.
You want to create a buzz about it.

Use Event marketing strategies to make an impact building up to the Event, and continue the momentum for your business or non-profit when it’s concluded.

Use this opportunity to show people their needs and priorities are important to you and your company.

• Go Live on Facebook to Promote Your Event
  If you’ve started building a local following on Facebook – use Facebook Live. This is a great venue to send out Event invites, but also to give a sneak-peek of what your Event offers for them, as individuals. Ask them to spread the word around the community.

• Issue a Press Release
  Share your Event with the media in the form of a formal press release. Invite local media to attend your Event. Releases spark the attention of influencers, and reporters and will definitely help spread awareness and interest.

• Use FOMO to Your Advantage
  Use video or images to create hype about what people will be missing out on, if they don’t attend the Event.

• Promise and Deliver
  Offer an incentive to all attendees, and be sure to elude to this incentive throughout all of your promotion efforts.

Event Marketing Examples

Event scheduling can be key to its success. Always check your community calendar for potential conflicts.

Holding an Event at your place of business might revolve around:

• An instruction session for one or more of your products, how, why and when to use, complimentary products, etc, etc.

• An education session for one or more of your services, how they’re gifted, and why they’re useful.

• A meet-n-greet gives you the opportunity to let people sample (food/drink) or use your products (see how they work), and gives you the opportunity to talk about how the business started and where it’s going.

• Networking Events for those sharing the same interest – pet owners, pizza lovers, tech minds, book clubs, sewing circles, home bakers, hiking and outdoor fanatics, DIY home owners, etc, etc.

• Community Event nights for non-profits and businesses that work with or cater to children might include a movie night, game afternoon or crafting sessions (paint, pottery, etc).

• Guest speakers might include anyone who’s an expert in their field … think barista, baker, arborist, organic gardener, plumber, carpenter, auto mechanic, electrician, community outreach programs, animal shelters, local zoo, firemen, home alarm installer, etc, etc.

Online Events are popular and allow you to host an online webinar or class. You can livestream new product reveals, demonstrate products, explain services, all while answering questions with a live audience. You can record online events and use as shared content in the future.

Online events can even be recorded and used as valuable content to be shared in the future. For example, you could use email marketing to send a recording of a product tutorial to your customer and prospect base.

Learn how to manage registrations for virtual Events.

Do It Well 

Event marketing can convert potential clients and customers into repeat buyers by giving them something special with your business or organization that can be enjoyed, shared, and remembered.

Promote your Event with pre-made stunning invitations that include social sharing links.

Run your next Event using the Constant Contact promotion and registration tool - free for 30 days. Learn more.

 

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