How to Create the Best Event Marketing Plan?

Originally featured on lovecreativemarketing.com

An event isn’t really an event if no one comes to it. We can all agree on that, but how can we make our event a dream? How can we get the venue filled with people who are thrilled that they’re there? Well, it takes a lot more work than kicking back and hoping it will happen on its own — we can tell you that much. To get there, you’ll have to learn how to create the best event marketing plan and stick to it. The latter is on you, but we can surely help with the former.

In essence, the goal is to get people excited about attending your event. It sounds logical and simple enough, but it’s far more tricky than it might seem. You’ll have to deal with plenty of moving parts, and if only one of them fails, it could all go downhill from there.

So, corporate event planning isn’t exactly a piece of cake, but you can make it easier. If you follow all the steps we’ll go over today — it’ll be a breeze. Don’t get us wrong, there will still be plenty of work, but you will be sure that there will be enough people to hear you out and that nothing will get out of hand.

Without further ado, let’s see what you need to do to promote your event in the best way possible.

Design an amazing Event Website

Your event website is where your potential guests become actual attendees. Hence, it’s a vital part of the process. If your site is bad, people won’t think much of your event or want to go to it. On the other hand, if your website delivers a positive user experience, it will get people excited.

So, it pays off to spend some time and money developing a website that will be nice-looking and easy to use. Keep the aesthetics close to what your brand is doing, and think of this website as an extension of your main one. That said, feel free to mix things up a bit. For example, throw in a different color or font to make your site visitors memorize what they saw.

Make a Content Strategy for Your Event

Whether we’re talking about an online or offline event, it’s a singular moment that people should look forward to. Thus, you need to create anticipation to get them to take action. At this stage, content marketing is the tool you want to use. For many marketers, it’s a go-to channel for building up momentum and attracting the right audience. But how can you use it?

Since online events are very popular, let’s take them as an example. Of course, online events don’t always bring as many benefits as in-person ones, but they can still get you many customers or leads. So, it makes sense for you to try to make the most of them. Here’s a shortlist of things to focus on:

• Listen to others. Find out what your audience expects from you and deliver it. Listen to their questions and be proactive about them. Take a look at what the buzz is about on niche forums reflecting your event’s message, and talk to people who have already visited your events.
• Provide answers. The research will give you questions, but now you have to answer them. Create content, be it text or video, and introduce it to the world. Mention your upcoming event and explain why people should attend it.
• Work on the proper channels. Consider the phase of your event and the platforms on which your audience is active to decide which channels you should use to reach them.
• Track the results. Find a few metrics to track that will give you insights into your campaign. You want your audience to be as engaged as possible, and you want their engagement to rise as the event date is closing in.

Work on Your Email Marketing

To create the best event marketing plan, you’ll have to look further from content marketing. In addition to it, you’ll also want to nurture your potential attendees through an email marketing campaign to get them to sign up. Here, it’s all about the timing.

You need to segment your general message into a few smaller ones and ensure that each of them reaches its recipient at the right moment. You want to keep their mind on your event but avoid flooding their inbox. Get it right, and you’ll see your click-through rate and the number of registrations growing.

Make Your Event’s Value Proposition Stand Out

However they find out about the event, everyone will first think, ”What’s in it for me?”. And that’s the question you have to answer right away. You must be clear about what people are getting from attending your event, and it must be something they all want.

If you don’t manage to explain what they’ll walk away with, you’ll miss out on a big chunk of the audience that would come otherwise. Thus, it’s essential that you go out of your way to show that you’re doing this for your customers and not yourself.

Make Event Attendees Your Advocates

You don’t have to be the only one promoting your event. As a matter of fact, you’d be much better off if you could make your signed attendees want to advocate on your behalf. You can do that by giving them incentives, and it works great with virtual events.

For example, when they share your event, and someone signs up for it using their referral link, they get a discount. The more people they get on board, the less they need to spend to be a part of it. So, it’ll encourage people to spread the word out, and you’ll make more money thanks to it.

Use Targeted Event Social Media Campaigns for Extra Boost

If you have a solid social media following, it’s only natural to use it to drive your event growth. On the other hand, even if your following is modest, you can still reach many people through paid ads.

If you’re going for an organic social media campaign, you don’t have to do much out of the ordinary. Figure out the best time to post on social media, use shareable hashtags and captions, and utilize eye-catching photos and videos.

However, paid campaigns are a bit more strategizing. You’ll have to specify your target audience, work with a few types of ads simultaneously, and optimize the campaign all the time. It may be more work, but you’ll get more people informed about what you do, so it’s a worthwhile investment.

Conclusion

As you can see, you’ll need to put in a lot of work to create the best event marketing plan. Still, you’ll have a much easier time if you use what you just read as a roadmap. You’ll build momentum and get people excited about the event. They’ll tell their friends about it, and you’ll sell more tickets. Of course, working with a marketing agency is always the best choice, so make sure you contact them on time and start working on your next event.

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