Marketing events is a thorough job. Not only does it require knowledge, expertise, and sufficient resources, but also extensive creativity.
Each event presents a significant opportunity to grow your audience, leads, or increase your brand presence on the market. And when it comes to hosting and marketing your own event, you should use all the tools you have on hand. After all, marketing your event implies building hype, planning, execution, and follow-ups. In other words, you should try and make the most of your investment.
See, sometimes, one good campaign, or even one good post, can be more effective than years of “hard work.” At this point, it might sound overwhelming. But worry not, we have three exciting suggestions to set you on the right path of gaining a competitive advantage in event marketing in 2021.
Out-Of-The-Box Tactics For Marketing Events In 2021
Marketing event strategies, tools, and dedication vary depending on whether you are working on your or another entity’s event. Sure thing, you can build your brand presence at another event. However, organizing everything from start to end, having your audience and goals takes things to another level.
In continuance, you can find event marketing suggestions for your own event. So, let’s dive right in!
Incorporate Monthly Event Themes
Each month has its special days and dates. At this point, you can think of daily holidays, company-related celebratory causes, and so on.
Daily holidays might be steeped in tradition, wacky, bizarre, unique, or special. It’s an objective matter. What’s important is that people worldwide, or say your potential visitors, love to have a cause for celebration. So, one fantastic suggestion for marketing events is using this opportunity.
Say it’s October. It’s the month of Halloween. You might organize your event around it, set up an interesting theme, and have your employees and visitors dress up. If you manage to do so engagingly and creatively, they will all share the experience on social media platforms. In turn, you will improve your brand awareness or even customer loyalty.
Better yet, you can use the potential of observance days with colored ribbons as international symbols, such as Take Your Dog to Work Day or World Down Syndrome Day.
At this point, you need to detect a day or even a month that aligns with your business mission and vision statements. Then, you can incorporate it into your event marketing strategy. The cause can help you build a sense of community, especially within your local audience. Furthermore, it can improve how people identify your business and team in the long term.
Keep in mind, having a theme also facilitates your work of marketing events. You will have a clear focus, palette of colors, and overall direction. Thus, your in-house teams can make faster and more effective decisions.
Hire A Designated Tweeter
As much as your existing and potential customers trust your brand or in-house team, they will always value a third-party opinion. Think of it like this – you would perceive another person’s opinion much more objectively if they are “not paid” for it.
One great example of marketing events in this regard is hiring a designated tweeter. It would help if you went with someone unrelated to your business. Or at least, you should present it that way. While you communicate all you will work on with your hired individual, your attendees must not know about it.
Instead, this person should act as a regular customer. They can initiate discussions or cover breakout sessions and other speakers—furthermore, the need to always stay in the loop. Your hired tweeters need to join in on conversations regarding your brand’s occasion and continuously comment on other people’s posts. They can do so by tracking hashtags or some general keywords.
And don’t get this wrong – it mustn’t always be Tweeter. It’s only an example. You can hire a person for any social media platform in this regard. Make sure to match your resource spending with your target audience. For instance, if your customers are primarily using TikTok, hire a TikToker instead.
Transparency At Its Finest
Today, most people live at a fast pace. They want to get information and do so fast. Furthermore, no one likes hidden costs or any digging of information. In other words, marketing events, like any other business, is all about transparency.
Here, you should answer one customer question in particular, “Why should I attend the event?”
Your attendees need to perceive the value of your event. They will spend their money and time. So, it would help if you undoubtedly granted them something in return. More importantly, you should communicate this information early on so that your customers have the initiative to purchase a ticket.
Here, you can use testimonials of customers, sponsors, or partners, inspirational videos by your team, or some historical data. For instance, you can include some impressive stats from your previous events.
Furthermore, you can add a “Why Attend” page on your brand or event website. It should cover all benefits that a potential attendee would get by attending your event.
More importantly, it would help if you also were transparent about their part of the deal. Is your discount a flash deal? Is it an early-bird sale, a reoccurring agreement, or a bulk discount? Your customers need to know what they are getting themselves into since no one appreciates misleading information, especially in today’s global marketplace.
Marketing Events – The Secret Ingredient For Success
As mentioned, marketing events in 2021 is a challenging task. Indeed, events hold great value and might serve as a base for developing strong customer loyalty in the long term. An exciting and unique event can positively boost your brand reputation. However, it requires some skills and expertise to get there.
The three tactics explained above are all a great start. Incorporating at least one of the suggestions is enough to increase your presence on the market. So, make sure to test it out!
