The Importance of Using Marketing for Event Promotion

For someone who works in marketing, it is hard to define what ‘marketing is’ and what you achieve on a day-to-day basis. Dictionary.com defines marketing as, “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” But one thing for certain is that marketing is an essential part of any business or event strategy. Marketing is the process of getting potential clients or customers invested in your products or services.

Marketing helps to:

  • Inform customers about the service, product or event
  • Build brand awareness

But where do you start? There are many, many steps to marketing so we wanted to break some of the most important for you below, focussing specifically on marketing events.

Creating a marketing strategy with measurable goals

Start by setting your objectives and decide what you want to achieve. Use these objectives and keep referring back to them as you make decisions about content, delivery and promotion. Remember, these objectives also need to be in line with the overall purpose of the event, too, for example, the target number of delegates you want to attend the event. Start by writing down in priority order, everything you want to achieve, it could be audience engagement, income generation, brand exposure, website traffic or creation of thought-leadership.

Key areas to focus on:

  • Website/landing page
  • Social media content
  • Email marketing
  • Partnerships
  • Paid promotion and budgets

Identify your audience

Who do you want to target? Who do you want to attend? What data have you already got? Take time to research demographics, interests, and preferences. What motivates them? What challenges do they face? There isn’t any point in creating content that isn’t relevant to the audience you want to approach and advertise to. Overall, this helps shape your strategy, aids in structuring your content and keeps you on track.

Also, don’t forget about your existing email audience, these are one of your best sources as an already cultivated and engaged audience.

Build an event marketing tool kit

Using the strategy, identify what your creative concept will look like and what additional support you are going to need. If you’re planning on using email communication and/or social media, then you will need to ensure that you have graphics or prepared statements and key selling points to aid the event promotion as well as brand exposure.

A handy tip – if you’re using ambassadors such as speakers and exhibitors to help you promote your event, by providing them with prepared graphics and statements, you are making it easier for them to share your event with their networks, helping you to expand your reach. You’ll want this kind of free promotion.

As well as the creative concept, you’ll want to build a communications plan which also focuses on the overall delegate’s journey, and each touchpoint to event day – you’ll also need to include those that are registered to keep the excitement building.

Branding

Your branding is the first thing a potential delegate will see of your event, so you want it to catch their attention.

Your tone of voice should shine throughout, from website copy and your email marketing to social media posts. Remember with marketing messages, you can’t use the same language that’s expected in the board room, it’s engaging, persuasive copy that is required. Every element should be in line and integrated so that nothing gets lost and it’s clear it’s part of the same campaign.

Event website/landing page

One key focal point of your campaign is to create an amazing website or landing page to draw customers in, signpost further information and allow for everything to be in one easy, accessible place.

Consider if you want a standalone website or simply build a landing page on your existing website. If you chose the second option, make sure you have a viable link somewhere on your current website to direct traffic to your event site as you don’t want to lose potential attendees.

Include the following information:

  • Key information
  • Agenda
  • Pricing
  • What to expect from the event

Create relevant and engaging content

Build into the communications plan exciting and relevant information so you can count down to the event and engage your audience with regular touch points and teasers as you build anticipation to the big day – incorporate weekly/fortnightly/monthly newsletters depending on how much content you feel like you will have. Think about including guest blogs, speaker announcements, programme messages etc. Everyone loves a save-the-date email so it’s a great idea to incorporate this before launching. You want to generate excitement for your event – share sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes footage, and testimonials to generate anticipation.

Don’t forget about social media, too. Social media is one of the most cost-effective ways to communicate with your potential audience, plus interacting with your audience is a great way to build relationships and turn these into attendees. Keep a steady schedule of posts so you can monitor what you’re sharing and refer to successful posts in the future.

While the definition of marketing may vary, its pivotal role in any business or event strategy is undeniable. Marketing serves as the catalyst for informing potential delegates, building brand awareness, and ultimately driving engagement and attendance. With a clear marketing strategy in place, event organisers can effectively reach their target audience and achieve their objectives.

Key points to take away:

  • Develop a marketing strategy with measurable goals aligned with your event’s purpose.
  • Research and understand your target audience’s demographics, interests, and preferences to shape your content.
  • Create a comprehensive toolkit, including graphics and prepared statements to support event promotion, utilising your event ambassadors.
  • Ensure your branding is consistent across all channels.
  • Build anticipation and excitement through relevant and engaging content, incorporating newsletters, and blogs. Speaker announcements, and social media posts to generate anticipation and encourage attendee interaction.