The world of event marketing has expanded from stadiums and festival sites to boardrooms and pop up marketplaces. In 2019, there’s much more to promoting your event than a Facebook post and a few invites. Here are some of Probella’s tips on how to make event marketing work for you in 2019.
Ensure You Have Taken Care of the Basics
It doesn’t matter how slick your campaign is if you have forgotten to include the date, time or venue of your event in your content. Believe it or not, this kind of mistake is surprisingly common as many marketing professionals and event organisers can find themselves so engaged with the minutiae of project, that they simply forget the importance of the key message. Double and even triple check anything that is due to be sent to print, posted online or distributed via email. Unless you are trying to generate a buzz well in advance of an event, missing out key information like this will just seem unprofessional. Similarly, neglecting to include information about transport, accommodation or refreshments can also be reflect badly on event promoters. There’s no denying the aesthetics, tone and style of an event marketing campaign are critical factors but never forget the basics, either.
Build Hype
There’s no escaping hype culture in 2019. From midnight sneaker launches to pre order parties for games, marketing events that are designed to create more buzz than an organic honey farm are here to stay. For many consumers, part of the fun is embracing the feverish excitement that comes with the launch of a new product or event. In the nightlife and entertainment industries, “teaser” trailers are often a good way to do this. This form of short video content is relatively quick to produce, easy to consume and a great way of getting your event brand out there, well in advance. Sharing short, engaging video clips across all social media platforms will pique your potential audiences’ interest and make them receptive to any further posts you make about the same subject.
Release Information in Intervals, Not All at Once
This approach may not be appropriate for business events and more traditional, daytime functions but for nightclubs, gigs, festivals and conventions, it can work fantastically well. When you announce your event, consider keeping some of the line up a mystery until a certain amount of tickets have been sold. Providing that your initial reveal generates enough significant interest, this technique can be very effective. To use this approach successfully, you will need to know your industry very well. Music promoters often have decades of experience and knowledge, meaning that they understand how well certain names or acts will perform in terms of generating interest and more importantly, sales. The good thing about this approach is that if it doesn’t work as well as you would like, you still have the option of revealing one or two more artists you have booked. Sometimes a headline act will be enough to kickstart ticket sales and other times, the lesser known or “up and coming” artists will motivate any potential buyers who were on the fence.
If You Can Afford it, Offline Marketing Still Works
It’s easy to forget the digital world once you’ve logged off, but a physical flyer, leaflet or poster is something your potential customers can interact with. Though it can be expensive and time consuming, making the time to promote your event using old fashioned means can make the difference between meeting your breakeven point and not. Even if you’ve had amazing engagement on Facebook and there are potentially 500 people who have clicked “attending” there are no guarantees of this unless you have already sold that number of tickets. Many younger event promoters, students and newcomers to the nightlife industry will neglect physical, offline marketing, only to realise how influential it can be later down the line. Target other similar events and make sure you’re ready to answer any questions and “sell” your event in person. This can mean hanging around outside gig venues and nightclubs at very unsociable hours, but in order to be successful in event marketing, this is the kind of dedication you will need to have.
Tiered Ticket Sales
This technique is now commonplace, especially amongst festival promoters and other music industry professionals. “Early Bird” tickets are a great way of measuring initial interest and engagement as well as being a good way to offer people a cheaper alternative to a full price ticket. Generally speaking, most promoters will gradually increase the price of tickets as the event itself gets closer. Combined with regular, multiplatform social media posts, this approach is one of the most effective ways of encouraging engagement and creating a buzz around your event. As always, overkill will simply result in people ignoring you, but regular reminders that include plenty of plus points and reasons to attend will serve you will. Being too greedy will always come back to bite you but similarly, be realistic about how much you need to make from your event. You can sell early bird tickets at a loss but as time goes on, your price will need to be high enough to make sure you are recouping any losses and ideally, still make a profit.
Indirect Content Marketing for Events
Instead of posting the same info every day, consider using content such as links to previous DJ sets, gigs or performances to sustain the buzz around your event. Even quick, humorous memes and silly, five-minute polls that you post on social media can help to generate interest. Providing you keep it relevant; most audiences enjoy interacting with content like this. Interactive content is also a good idea as it allows you to measure engagement and absorb any feedback you can pick up from the comments. Essentially, you are trying to source content that reflects what your potential audience can expect from your event so as always, quality, clarity and attention to detail are paramount.
