Have you ever tried to define event marketing? If not, let us explain. Today, we live in a technology era. So, most individuals associate the term with digital marketing and promotion, using social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, to name a few.
And sure, these platforms hold great potential, especially for virtual events. However, they miss several components, such as social interaction, foot traffic, or improving your local SEO campaign.
Local event marketing can help you achieve these goals. It can help your business ‘hit it big,’ and it’s for a reason! Anyway, let’s start with the basics.
How To Define Event Marketing On A Local Level?
Two criteria define event marketing on a local level. First, your target should mainly consist of your local audience. And second, you need to stage everything primarily for its social, fun, and entertainment value.
So, local event marketing covers all:
- Product/service debuts and promotions
- Grand award ceremonies
- Store re-openings
- Conferences
- Festivals
- Storewide sales
- Charity events
- Big fun parties
- And so on
In other words, you should develop your event marketing strategy in a way that helps you properly introduce yourself as a local business to your community.
Now, the question is, are local events worth it? Let’s get into statistics.
According to Event MB, 41.1% of event planners would only attend a physical event in-person if it was local. Furthermore, event organizers reported 23.6% of their events in 2021 would be smaller local events with fewer than 25 attendees that require no air travel or hotel rooms, said AMEX.
See, the current COVID-19 crisis played a crucial role in this trend. However, there’s more to it. Local events have proven especially beneficial, even before the pandemic.
Top 5 Benefits Of Local Event Marketing
Now that you know how to define event marketing let’s see how local event marketing can help your business thrive. Here are the top five advantages.
Meet Your Customers Face-To-Face
If you can meet and interact with your potential customers in person, you can market to them directly. Local events add a personal touch to the gathering that’s not present in online events; essentially, that’s how we define event marketing on a local level.
For instance, local events allow you to show your products to potential customers. Sure, you can do the same with a camera. However, in this case, the attendees will not be able to touch, feel, or test the products themselves. So, it’s not as convenient nor as convincing.
Essentially, local events allow you to create a memorable impression and establish long-lasting relationships. You can take things to a whole other level with community event ideas, such as cook-offs, live shows, marathons, treasure hunts, and so on. Unfortunately, you cannot do the same with any other form of marketing.
Finally, you can ask for feedback to improve in the future to better meet their needs and demands. At this point, you must make sure to establish valuable conversations with your attendees so that they will also return in the future.
Increase Sales Or Conversions
Word-of-mouth marketing plays a key role in communities. If your event runs smoothly, you can soon expect increased foot traffic. However, ensure you have the needed capacities and staff to handle this volume.
You can further incentivize customers to buy. For example, you can give promotional coupons during the event. Then, attendees can return and use the discount at a later date. This way, you will not only get increased sales during the event but also after it. In turn, you can hope to build a community of regular customers.
Improve Your Brand Exposure
If you properly define event marketing strategies for your local event, you can quickly get lots of media attention. The rule of thumb is that the more significant and more unusual the event, the better your media coverage. Naturally, charity-related events get the most attention.
At this point, you can also check other local events and their media representatives. You can then get these names and contact information for your event.
Better yet, you can make many more valuable contacts and connections during the marketing process. Apart from media representatives, you can also meet caterers, neighboring business owners, and various influential people in town. So, next time you host an event, you will be much more equipped.
Boost Your Local SEO Campaign
When you host a local event, it would be best to list it on every local calendar published, online, and in print. Furthermore, you should include your business name, address, and phone number in each listing. In turn, you can expect valuable citations that will boost your rating with local search engines.
Also, when you define event marketing lists, make sure to include a link back to your website in all of them. Once again, it can immensely benefit your local SEO campaign.
Get Materials For Your Social Media Campaign
Finally, local event marketing fits excellent in the bigger picture. You can gather materials, such as photos and videos of this occasion for your social media campaign for up to a year.
Better yet, you can encourage the attendees to check-in at the event, take pictures, and share them on social media. One great strategy is to use an event-related hashtag. You can promote it well in advance, during the big day, and even after the occasion. It will link all social media content of your event, further spreading your brand awareness.
Final Thought – Let’s Define Event Marketing In 2021
Event marketing is a broad definition that covers all channels you can possibly use for promoting your event, brand, products, or services. As mentioned, we can define event marketing on a local level or, with today’s technology, on a global one. Either way, there’s s trade-off.
Global-scale, virtual events can help you reach a broader audience. However, they lack the personal touch that’s present in local event marketing. Having a smaller target audience can help you better market your brand and products to them. As mentioned, customers find these methods more convenient, especially since they can witness your qualities first hand.
