The ultimate
Event marketing guide
Includes 15 lessons
The ultimate
Includes 15 lessons
Lesson 1: Goals & Budget 3-8
Lesson 2: Finding Your Target Audience 9-10
Lesson 3: Analytics & Trackable Links 11-14
Lesson 4: Appearance Matters 15 - 20
Lesson 5: Designing Your Facebook Event 21-24
Lesson 6: Embrace Trends & Market Them 25-28
Lesson 7: Integrations & Discover Sites 29-31
Lesson 8: Social Media Promotions 32-36
Lesson 9: Event Website & Registration 37-40
Lesson 10: Go Traditional 41-42
Lesson 11: Facebook Event Check - In 43-44
Lesson 12: Adding Video 45-47
Lesson 13: Nontraditional venues 48-50
Lesson 14: Using Unified Hashtags 51-53
Lesson 15: Ways to Market Your Event 54-58
Lesson #1
With any planning, marketing strategies, and events come attainable budgets to help meet your financial goals. Marketing is about having fun, getting creative and exploring what works best for your brand.
However, for setting goals and budgets, it needs to be realistic to make our goals achievable.
Foremost, you need to know your entire event costs or have an idea before starting anything; some basic costs for event planning are laid out in the list below:
Now that you know what to expect, it’s time to create a budget to be your guide along your event planning journey. Create a spreadsheet outlining all your costs, what you can spend on each item and add that to your total budget.
This budget sheet is your guideline and negotiation point when discussing costs with each vendor. When your event has ended, you can return to your budget sheet and see if you exceeded your budget or not to help plan for expenses next year.
Once your event budget is set, that is just the beginning. Analyze your goals, traffic and engagement needs, and current audience and set a budget for marketing.
You can find budget templates free online instead of starting from scratch.
CoSchedule.com has a variety of free marketing budget template kits to choose from so that there is something for everyone.
Going digital cuts down your costs substantially!
Electronic ads, newsletters, social media, registration, and e-blasts reduce your use of print and keep you organized.
Encourage customers to participate in print-at-home tickets or using their smartphones to cut down costs of printing tickets on your end for registration.
Give yourself enough time to search out the perfect venue, catering, etc. to compare prices and get the best options for you! Booking anything event related early is the best way to save money!
Most places offer an incentive to book soon such as “early bird discounts,” and by doing so; you’ll also have a wide selection to choose from with open availability before it’s too late.
With marketing comes a lot of research.
Make sure you have enough time to scout out paid advertisements, event integrations, plan out your graphics, promo videos, etc. making sure you have everything you need to market your event.
Early planning will also cut your marketing costs whether its finding deals in advance or reducing your hours spent on research closer to the event
Because we are such a digital world, there are so many free options online to start marketing your event. Social media scheduling, real-time analytics, websites, pop up tools, survey generators, email marketing, newsletters, blogging and so much more.
Here is a list of some favorite marketing tools that are entirely free brought to you by Buffer.
Buffer
Canva
Google Analytics
Hotjar
Simply Measured
Open Site Explorer
Charlie
Hubspot Marketing
WordPress Crowdfire
Hemingway
Onpage Optimization Tool
After the Deadline
Readability Test Tool
Save Publishing
Followerwonk
Latest.is
Tweriod Must Be Present
Medium
Wistia
SumoMe
Segment
Peek
Google Scholar
Google Trends
Blog Topic Generator
Content Idea Generator
Conversation Score
Wolfram Alpha
LikeAlyzer
Fanpage Karma
Facebook Page Barometer
Quicksprout
Website Grader
SharedCount
NewsleRapportive
There are plenty of people out there looking for experience, to grow their resume or community service by working volunteer events.
Social media is a full-time job; eventually, as your event gets closer, you won’t be able to focus all your energy on just that. With a solid brand, clear goals and budget, it is easy to hire a few interns to handle these platforms for you.
Even if you can’t offer college credit, providing a glowing letter of recommendation is enough motivation for interns/volunteers.
SponsorMyEvent and Sponsorship.com are just a few of the places you can post your event to get a sponsor to help with costs.
Promise a few advertisements or promotions during the event mention them on your website, registration or pass out fliers; whatever it is, it’s easy to get a sponsor and a quick way to minimize your spending.
However, this sponsorship should include your marketing budget and be prepared to know what you can offer each sponsor before.
Lesson #2
Event attendees’ decisions are continually changing, so how do you market to an audience that can’t decide.
The answer is simple, and that is, determine your target audience and what influences their buying.
However, It’s easier said than done and takes time.
This approach is becoming a little easier thanks to the analytics that Google and most platforms offer to evaluate your audiences’ patterns.
Before you can test your data, you need to understand your demographics and who you are targeting for your event.
These are just a few basic demographics that you need to determine and match with your event.
Once you have identified each category, you can start your marketing strategies based on this new data. Demographics help determine where your ads will be posted.
If your event is for mom bloggers in California, you can advertise your event on online shopping pages, other mom blogs, Babies R Us, etc. You can also use these demographics to create campaigns geared towards their needs and why this event would benefit them.
Use your analytics to evaluate who is paying attention to what ads, and to assess what marketing strategies are working for this audience.
For more on using Google Analytics, see lesson 3.
Lesson #3
One of the coolest things about marketing is seeing the results of your work!
The best way to calculate your success is through analytics, insights, and trackable links.
Use this type of data to track your marketing efforts and understand what is working and what is not.
One of the most common tools used to test performance on a website, blogs and campaigns is Google Analytics.
However, Google Analytics reports are incredibly detailed and specific that if you don’t understand what you are reading, you won’t get the full benefits of this tool.
Here are some terms you need to understand before reviewing your analytics and insights:
When you log into your Google Analytics account, it automatically shows you the last 30 days of data, but you can adjust the time periods for longer and shorter depending on your needs. The homepage is overwhelming, but each box is sectioned off and has its own personalized overviews.
Take it one section at a time.
It’s important to know where your new leads and ticket sales are coming from to measure the success of a campaign. The reason we recommend Google Analytics is that it also has incredible tools for creating trackable links for each campaign; Google URL Builder and Google URL Shortener.
First, it’s essential to understand why you should be using trackable links while marketing your event. For example, you sent out an email campaign, and a few days later you got a lot of ticket sales.
You assume it was the mass email that drew people to your event page so you sent out another email; however, you didn’t get any more ticket sales.
When you go back to your Google Analytics, you realize you had a few other campaigns go out the same time as this email. You check your trackable links to see that a campaign on social media you sent out caused a lot of traffic to your sight, not the email you assumed did in the beginning. Now instead of wasting your efforts on more emails, you can focus on your social media.
So how do you create your links?
When you are in the Campaign URL builder, you can add your campaign URL as well as parameters so you can track it in your analytics.
States where the link originated from.
Whatever you name your source, “Facebook” or “FB” make sure it stays a consistent name over time. This way you can search all your links under this source name.
This is optional, but I recommend completing this category; it is there for a reason.
This is basically the mode of transportation for your link.
Social media, banner, email, but again whatever you name your medium make sure it stays consistent.
This is used to group together all trackable links that connect to one product or campaign.
All links relating to “Free Ticket” campaign should be labeled as such in this field. This way you can quickly compare links and how the overall campaign is doing.
Once everything is named, submit your link, and special tags will be added at the end of your URL. If you don’t like how long your new link is, you can use Google URL Shortener to shorten it.
Lesson #4
Does appearance matter? It’s about what’s on the inside, right?
That may be true for people and relationships, but everything else is out the window. Unfortunately, in the event world, appearances are everything!
Your presence and appearance represents your brand and communicates your message whether or not you realize it. Designing a signature look or color can help make your event more memorable and easier to market.
Whether it’s your event website, registration, mobile ticketing app, whatever you are using as your home base for your event, it better be consistent. If you are using these platforms and more, their designs need to match your overall brand and stay consistent with your look.
Not being steady across all platforms is one of the fastest ways to lose your audience, because there is nothing to identify your brand with.
If your website’s design is not clean, eye-catching, or maybe there isn’t a design element at all, no one will want to attend your event.
Your website represents your brand, so make sure the design communicates what you want people to know about your event.
Fun, colorful, sad, serious, party, professional, relaxed, etc. a design can communicate the setting of your event or determine the viewer’s mood towards it.
Understanding how color psychology works is another powerful tool in helping create a brand that captures what you want others to feel.
Color psychology is the study of how color influences perceptions that are not obvious to us at the time. Colors can affect our mind, emotions, moods, and tastes in a way we don’t even realize.
Because of the effect color can have on someone, brands focus on color psychology to establish what they want their brands to say or to control how their audience feels.
Events do the same thing when advertising themselves and creating a theme to control how their audience feels.
If you are a genuine believer of themes, you know your color scheme is everything for creating a memorable space.
But most people don’t consider the psychology behind the color when they choose it.
For example, your event is about everything food in your city. You’re going to have food trucks, catering, free tastings, and demonstrations.
You also want your color scheme to be eggplant/purple because you enjoy those colors.
Well, eggplant, red onions, purple cabbage, all foods people tend to not get hungry about, are associated with this color you have chosen. These color shades are notorious for making people feel less hungry and less excited about food without even realizing their change in appetite.
Color psychology is a robust science, and if you don’t research your color scheme beforehand, you may choose a theme that hurts your event without even knowing it.
Another critical thing to remember with colors is their complementary shades (see below).
If you don’t have a theme, you don’t have an event. Why are people coming? What makes you special?
Pick a theme and stick to it! People come to events for the experience, whether it’s Neon Garden, Back to School, Great Gatsby, Education, Classic China, Plant and Sip, and I can keep going!
A theme can be as simple as your color scheme; used to unifies your event and makes it unique.
Picking a theme is part of the fun of event planning; use that theme to market your event and make it something memorable and new for your guests to experience.
Black & White
Carnival
Environment/Go Green
People in History
Rock of Ages
Toga Party
Medieval
Hippies
Roaring 20s
Prom
City of Lovey wood Class Speakeasy
Under the Sea
70s/80s
Disney
Safari
Fitness
Western
Egyptian
Welcome to the Jungle
Murder Mystery
Retro
Cops & Robbers Around the World
Disco Inferno
Fire and Ice
Wonderland
Midsummer Nights
Masquerade
Outdoor casual/ BBQ
Futuristic
Casino Night
Choosing a prominent theme, color scheme, event design, and venue space all translate into one thing for your guests… social media opportunities!!
Guests document everything and anything because they want the world to know they were here and to capture the memorable evening.
An event that encourages costumes, special attire, or comes with photo booths gives them something to document.
If this applies, let people know there will be a free photo booth, event photographers, and encourage people to use your hashtags or tag your event when posting their photos.
Make your job easier and let them market the experience for you.
Read lesson 14 to learn more about using hashtags.
Lesson #5
New to Facebook?
This platform is the best way to start connecting your business and events to an entire community of people on Facebook.
Facebook makes it easy to get started and puts you in the right category to maximize your audience reach.
Just select a few categories that describe your business and you will be directed to your new page.
Add a profile picture, cover image, do a few posts, invite some friends and become one step closer to promoting your business and event.
To create an event, select the option from your business page under the icon “…”.
From there, set all the necessary information your guests will need to learn more about your event and where to purchase tickets.
Add event photos, locations, dates, and other details for your guests. You can even connect your ticket URL to make buying that much easier. Facebook does an outstanding job at making sure you don’t miss any details when creating your event page.
After creating your event, there are still more features you can use to organize your event page and make it more interactive.
Some events need that extra push, so sharing might be the best way to do that.
Each event you create comes with buttons for your guest to select, “Interested” or “Going.” That way you can view your guest list right from Facebook or see possible interested people and send more advertisements their way.
Instagram is notorious for their live features and stories that appear at the top of the page, but did you know Facebook offers these same features?
Facebook works the same way by putting your account at the top of your feed so your followers can’t miss it.
If you are a fan of Instagram stories, you can also share those stories from your IG account directly to Facebook at the same time!
Going live at your event, with featured artists, doing a giveaway, whatever the case, is another way to engage with your community and let them know you acknowledge their presence.
Boost your posts! Whether it’s for $50 or $5, boosting is a sure way to reach a concentrated audience. Boosted posts help you narrow in on a specific audience you want to target. You can target a particular location, age groups, demographic, or people who like your page.
Facebook gives you a variety of options to work with your budget, breaking it down for the number of days it will run and the average amount of people that will see it.
Be sure your ad is perfect before submitting it to Facebook, as you cannot make changes once it is submitted.
If you are creating campaigns and using the “ad options” on Facebook, Ad Manager lets you see the engagement these ads are bringing in.
Each campaign will have their unique results including total reach, impressions, costs per results and the amount you spent. By using these features, you can see what ads reach the biggest audience and can replicate those to increase your reach.
Your account overview breaks down your demographics, traffic, reach and total engagement to understand your followers entirely.
The overview also breaks down the times your followers are online and engaged with your content to help you post at better times.
Lesson #6
With marketing, it is your job to stay updated on the latest trends, what all the buzz is about, and new ones that are emerging.
It’s time to understand what event trends are changing the event industry for the better and how to attract a more engaged crowd by following these new trends.
Technology is how the world has come to breathe and connect; whether you like it or not. It’s a trend that has become a lifestyle for everyone. In today’s world, it is all about efficiency, saving time and energy and using whatever technology gets the job done. If people want to buy tickets, there better be an app, a website, and online access.
Box offices, will-calls, these are foreign words to most, primarily if you are targeting a younger generation.
Your event doesn’t have to be technology crazy, just your registration. Let technology make your event more accessible and go paperless, which ties back to being more sustainable!
If you haven’t noticed by now, trends that weren’t in style before, well, we are bringing them back. People are starting to care about their environment and going green has become a huge trend and continues to grow.
Venues that are nature-based or have sustainable properties are a big hit for event planners; anything down to handing out succulents as party favors can follow this trend that people are crazy about.
An event that is 100% sustainable, no plastic, no straws, earth-friendly won’t go unnoticed. Sustainability has become noticeably popular among the millennial generation, but has started to grow and hasn’t stopped since.
There are so many venue options out there, but why have it at city hall or in a business office when you have so many other options available. Get creative with your space; the more creative, the more people will be interested in attending.
Read lesson 13 to learn more.
Charitable events help create fun atmospheres that are also supporting a good cause. That’s why color runs, marathons, events like “Skydive for Charity,” donation match drives, etc. all easily attract sizeable crowds. It is easier to spend money if you know it’s making a difference, plus it can be your good deed for the day.
According to TheStreet, an American financial news and services website, 84% of Millennials give to charitable organizations and are far more likely to donate clothes, food and their time than any other generation!
If you are following this trend for your next event, Millennials are one of the more willing generations to target.
Host an event where people can volunteer, do giveaways for everyone that brings in canned food, or even something as simple as an option to donate to a charity upon purchasing a ticket.
If your event is planning on having any food at all, you need to provide options for all diets. Some call it a lifestyle, others a trend, but vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan diets are increasing more every day.
I know it’s hard to accommodate the variety of diets out there, gluten-free, lactose intolerant, pescatarian, etc. However, the vegetarian/vegan diet is becoming a worldwide trend and roughly 3.2% or 7.3 million U.S adults follow vegetarianism according to Vegetarian Times.
Why not offer and market a variety of food choices at your event! It’s what will set your event apart from the rest!
Because we are so filled with technology, this trend forces your guests to disconnect.
By creating cell phone-free zones, it forces us to become humans again and connect physically beyond our screens before technology took those qualities away from us.
Everyone feels guilty about the time they spend on their screens, but an event that forces you to disconnect is becoming increasingly popular because it creates a more mindful experience.
Everyone loves their dogs!
More people are choosing dogs over having kids, and these are the ones throwing the dog parties, heading to Starbucks for the puppuccinos, and booking the best doggie hotels for when they are away.
Any event that allows dogs is a start to attracting your loving dog crowd.
No one likes to leave their pets at home, so if you have the option to, make your event dog-friendly. San Diego is notorious for their dog events such as the Doggie Street Festivals, Dog Fest Walks, La Jolla Art & Wine Festivals allow dogs, and of course
Yappy Hours!
Lesson #7
Integrations are created to make your lives a little easier while getting the free exposure you deserve.
They allow you to compile all your event information and email lists from your account to another platform.
Best part, they do the work for you.
MailChimp integrations allow you to automatically sync the contact information of your ticket purchasers directly to your MailChimp account.
Make marketing your event even easier with MailChimp!
With Constant Contact, you can create the most effective email marketing campaigns to promote your events.
By enabling Constant Contact integration, Purplepass will sync and add all of your customer’s contact information to your account.
Find more ways to sample your audience’s needs with Survey Monkey!
Design surveys, reach more people, and maximize your data’s potential.
All ticket buyers contact information through Purplepass is automatically synced to your Survey Monkey account to make sending out surveys to customers easier.
This is an excellent tool for asking post-event questions, gain actionable insights, and getting to know your audience to allow you to drive business forward for your next event.
WordPress is the most popular and user-friendly place to create websites for events, blogs and more.
Now you can build a website for your event and make accessing tickets even faster with our new ticket widget.
Our Purplepass plugin allows you to install our ticket widget directly onto your WordPress site in a few easy steps; click the Purplepass button, choose your widget and options, and it automatically connects.
WordPress is free and easy to manage, provides a unique domain name, personalized template options, and access to statistics and reports. Accessing tickets has just gotten easier for you and your customers!
When choosing a registration look for what integrations they offer, the more they have the less marketing work you have to do!
Event discovery sites are a crucial way of selling more tickets. Each company will list your event where you have the option to make it possible to buy tickets directly from their website. It is best to keep ticket buyers on one site instead of navigating them through multiple sites to purchase tickets.
Depending on your registration, these sites may be offered as a syndication to which they will automatically publish your event after creating your event registration, so you don’t have to. These sites help people discover upcoming local events, concerts, festivals and more.
Through these sites, events are published across the internet to event listing sites, local newspapers, and listings.
Here are some popular event discovery sites you can post your events to:
Lesson #8
For event marketing, social media has just become your best friend! However, if you plan on using social media, which you should, you need to be fully invested.
You can’t just exist online, but you need to have an audience that is engaging.
Before creating a social media marketing plan, you need to understand how to use it, because there is a lot of strategizing that goes into these platforms.
The Dos and Don’ts of using social media to market your event.
DO use more than one platform (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.)
DO be visually appealing. Content such as photos and videos can ensure more engagement and clicks.
DO remember who your audience is and that you’re sharing appropriate information to satisfy them and that demographic.
DO create your own personalized hashtag. Find one that is unique and not being used by anyone else. This can be used for social networking and allows your event to be more discoverable by other users.
DO share content, video reels, testimonies and feedback from previous customers or events to show proof of your event’s success.
DO build suspense. Posting behind the scenes pictures of the event, planned guest speakers, contests in the making, anything to make your followers more curious about your event. Doing so helps to humanize your brand and makes it more relatable.
DO brag about your event. You should be proud of what you are marketing so make sure you post everything from raving reviews, articles or press releases online and anything else you find that makes your event shine.
BUT don’t say your event is the best unless you have something to back up this statement like an article stating it was ranked “The Best”.
DON’T have bad grammar. Consistently having incorrect information and spelling errors could show your brand as careless and illiterate. Use a spell checking system like Grammarly, Spell Checker etc.
DON’T share information that is too personal. Keep your personal accounts separate from your event’s accounts.
DON’T ignore social media. Make sure to always respond to positive and negative comments, messages and reviews.
DON’T be afraid to have fun with your followers. Post funny memes relating to your event, keep up with the national holidays like “National Donut Day”, or post for “throwback Thursday”.
This is not only staying with the trends but branding your event as trendy and fun.
DON’T be needy. By asking your followers to retweet, share or like your post can make you seem desperate and annoying. Instead, creatively do this; “double tap if you want to see more posts like this,” “send to someone who should be going to this event” etc.
DON’T post in all caps. This can come off as aggressive and pushy. It is okay to put individual words in all caps like “SALE” or “FREE,” but any more than that is offensive and visually abrupt.
Instagram is one of the most popular platforms to use for event marketing and probably the most interactive. Here are some tips I recommend you do to make sure your content goes unnoticed.
If you’re asking this question, don’t worry it’s super easy to learn and also makes Instagram more fun for you and your followers. Your story appears at the top of any user’s live feed page and stays there for 24 hours.
To post a story, all you have to do is swipe to the left, and a camera will appear.
From there you can post pictures, live videos, boomerangs, and have other fun text options! Because your posts can easily get lost in the mix, by posting live or to your story guarantees your content is on the top of your follower’s page.
Research also shows that users will most likely check the stories posted over the content feed below.
Another bonus to posting a story is being able to add polls or allowing your followers to ask you a question.
This encourages interaction and quality feedback depending on what you ask
Haven’t you heard of the saying?
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?
If you want people to like, share or comment, you need to do the same. Look at what you have been hash tagging and search those same tags. Hashtags are a simple way to find your audience and who you are advertising to. From there you can go through different posts and like ones that you find interesting to engage with your community.
The easiest way to view your Insights is through your business profile on the Instagram app. Located on the top right corner, you can find the icon for your Insights account. From here, you can view your account activity, content, and audience. You can see your interactions each day, how many people you reached through a post, your audience age range, gender and location, and when your followers are active.
The number one thing users look at is the days of the week when their followers are the most active. You can schedule all your content based on this data because you know more followers will be online and will likely see your post.
It’s important to stick to a theme, so your followers know what to expect. People follow your site for specific reasons. For example, travel sites are all about travel and their followers expect that.
However, if they posted one day about “how to apply false lashes correctly,” that’s not what the viewers want. Not keeping consistency is one of the fastest ways to lose followers.
Know who your audience is, know why they follow you and make sure the overall content is consistent.
The examples above show different images, but they all hold a theme. It could be color palettes, location, graphics, the overall tone, etc. whatever it is, make sure it looks cohesive when you look at the account as a whole.
You should choose which platforms you use based on your audiences and demographics. You have so many to choose from with some top being:
Google+
YouTube
Pinterest
Flickr.
Tumblr.
Research, experiment and discover what platforms work for you!
Lesson #9
One of the first interactions that your guests’ experience for your event is the website and registration process. Registration is usually their first impression of your event, and you don’t want it to be their last.
The average time a consumer can focus on one thing is around 8 minutes. If your site is slow, unorganized, hard to access, not available online, anything and more can turn off someone from buying tickets, especially with an 8 minute focus time.
It is essential to know what qualities determine an excellent registration and event website.
Every event needs a website or a central place with all the event information, tickets, point of contact, etc.; merely a typical meeting place for your audiences and guests attending.
All of your marketing efforts are going towards getting your traffic here to purchase tickets. Your registration will be a part of this website unless you do it independently on the registration company’s website.
Most consumers can’t differentiate between the event and their registration provider. Meaning, their first impression will never be negative towards the registration company, but the event itself. People like to purchase tickets in advance online; it’s easy; it’s fast and hopefully hassles free!
Make sure your registration is online and is a clean, concise process!
No chunky forms, no paragraphs of texts to battle through; it needs to be straightforward and simple, or you will lose your audience, and your marketing will go to waste.
For example, Purplepass Ticketing online ticket registration comprises one short form, with limited writing, clearly marked boxes, and a price breakdown.
What you see is what you get.
You can use these qualities to market your ticketing options as fast and painless, so your audience isn’t afraid to try it out.
You should use a registration that will represent your company and event in the best light possible! Your brand is your brand, and it needs to be consistent throughout.
Small touches such as customized tickets, retail merchandise online, or your registration design goes a long way of representing your brand.
Purplepass is always willing to listen and work with needs specific for your event. Especially when it comes to custom features and packages, you can create for your event.
Purplepass is continuously adding new features/tools based on event feedback and reviews from our clients, making sure our new features are customized to them.
Let's not forget this guide is all about marketing.
If you have a good event registration team, they will help market your event in the upcoming weeks before opening day by promoting your event on social media through blogs, press releases, and other platforms; whatever helps connect with the targeted audience and encourages a proper registration.
Purplepass offers marketing services with different packages (Starter, Silver, and Purple) with a variety of platforms used to show off your brand along with other free marketing tools!
Talk to your Purplepass representative today and learn about your marketing options or email us at support@purplepass.com
Lesson #10
We live in a digital age, but don’t forget about the traditional ways of advertising. Paper flyers, posters, newspaper, etc.; step back from your devices and look to your community beyond the screens.
Post your event flyers in accessible areas where your target audience hangs out, go to your community listings to advertise your event or even pass out invites at favorite venues.
Our complete list of
Competitive Traditional Advertising Ideas
Lesson #11
It’s a small lesson that can make a big impact in your presence and ticket sales on social media.
Let your guess be your best form of marketing. Pick a registration that offers integration with Facebook to get love from your followers every time they purchase a ticket!
Advanced integrations allow you to request or even require guests to “Like” your page before purchasing tickets, share with their friends they purchased tickets to your event, and best of all, they can be automatically checked in on Facebook when they arrive at your event and have their tickets scanned.
Come the day of your event, Facebook will light up with all your guests checking in automatically that links back to your event page.
Purplepass Ticketing gives you the following above, so you have all the options for building your social media.
Lesson #12
If you are looking for a fresh, modern new marketing strategy, include videos! According to a Nielsen Report, video campaigns are 36% more trusted and authentic to viewers over digital or signage ads.
If your viewers enjoy your videos, their engagement and purchase intent increases by 97%!
That’s huge! Forrester Research has also determined that one minute of video is worth approximately 1.8 million words and is 1200% times more likely to be shared than any other text campaigns.
Going live has become more accessible due to Instagram and Facebook live features available on your smartphone. If you have a high following on social media, I recommend this form of video marketing either before or during your event.
Go live for behind-the-scenes shots, talks with featured artists, sneak peeks, whatever works with your event. It is a fast way to get your audience not only engaged but to feel more involved with your event and acknowledged from your end.
In today’s social media world, filters and Photoshop are turning reality into a false face. By going live, it is harder to cover up flaws, and it allows your followers to experience the rawest form of your event.
What is your event about? Who are you? What do you do?
Everyone is going to have so many questions about your event at first. Because videos ensure a higher trust rate, highlight reels or promo videos are very successful in providing the proof your audience is looking for.
Highlight reels are compiled of footage from previous events, real people, and real-life experiences.
Think of this as your movie trailer. Before going to see a movie, most people will watch the movie trailer to understand more about the film and what to expect. This is your event trailer.
Behind the scene videos are another form of raw video marketing you can utilize. It lets your audience/guests follow along on your event journey and what's coming.
The most significant difference with these video series is that you are allowing your viewers to follow you from start to finish.
They want to experience all the trials and tribulations you go through when doing your event. From setting up to opening the gates! It's only natural and human curiosity plays a big part in this.
This a popular marketing strategy via video because it shows honest reviews from event promoters that used their registration. Most people rely on reviews and testimonies as their final proof and reason to trust the product or event.
Time-lapse
Before & After
Demo Video
Interactive Live Stream
Drone Videos
Challenges & Competitions
Interviews
Q&As
Documentaries
Tour Videos
Animation
Commercials
Panel Discussions
Snapchat Campaigns
Bloopers
Lesson #13
It's time to change it up a bit.
Instead of turning to city halls or convention centers to host your next event, try thinking more unconventional.
Here are some nontraditional venue ideas that could work for your next event! BONUS - a unique venue creates a unique experience for your guests; making your event more desirable and exciting!
Warehouses
When you think of a warehouse, you might think of storage, dirt, or maybe the warehouse gang from “The Office.”
Don’t let your thoughts deceive you as this is one of the easiest event spaces to transform.
Warehouses allow you to have the most creativity in your floor plans because of all its empty space! Warehouses are also very accommodating if you have a larger guest-list!
Rooftops
No one likes to be trapped inside, and rooftops are one of the newer trends that people can’t get enough of. Promise a rooftop venue, and trust me you will have a guest-list.
Watch the sunset or get a tan, either way, people would rather be outside than trapped indoors. If you research and book early you can find a rooftop venue for a reasonable price.
Art Galleries & Museums
Depending on your event, an art gallery may be the way to go! Museums can serve as an interactive venue where guests could view the different art pieces adding to their experience.
If you want to add flair to your event, attract an art crowd, and promote local artists choosing a gallery venue might be for you.
Farmhouses & Barns
If there is one place I would want my venue, it would be in a barn! An escape from the city, outdoors surrounded by nature, farm life, and beauty.
This is the ultimate venue! However, it might not be for everyone, so consider your event audience before booking this venue.
Not all farmhouse venues are in the middle of nowhere, and you can find one that is close, with little farm life and an exciting farm venue for your guests. Start researching!
Underground & Basements
Looking for a dark, intimate venue for your guests?
Then underground may be the way to go. An opportunity to escape reality and create an exclusive experience for your guests. Underground or basement sites can also be exciting if they have a secret entrance for your guests to find like through a freezer door or a bookcase.
Outdoors
If it’s not a rooftop, you can always do a venue outdoors in a parking lot or a field, just bring a very large tent or stage!
If your event plans to go into the night, experiencing the sunset, changing from day to night can be exciting for your guests.
Lesson #14
Social media is a clear choice to use when promoting your event, however, with all the buzz it’s hard to be noticed on these platforms.
One way to stay organized and get seen is to start using hashtags.
# is the symbol for a hashtag, and it can be seen all over flooding social media. Hashtags help to group certain words, organizes tags into groups and makes searching for a particular post or topic more effective and fast. However, it only works if you use it consistently!
Hashtags will help boost online conversations about your event and allows the audience to identify your posts better.
Okay, so you came up with your hashtag. Now it’s time to put it to good use. Once you are positive this will be your hashtag, you need to remain consistent when using it, meaning every post affiliated with your event should be accompanied by your hashtag.
Make sure your hashtag is used across all platforms you use; Facebook, Instagram, email marketing, printed material, signage etc.
One important thing to note is the number of hashtags you are using. Online research and studies show that approximately nine hashtags are the most engaging.
The more specific your hashtags are to your community, the better.
You can also use your tags to find your niche and target audience and determine where the engagement is.
When creating your campaign, think about how you want your hashtags to look.
There are two ways to organize your hashtags while making sure they don’t crowd your post.
1. Post your content without hashtags; once it is live, comment on that post with your hashtags. That way it still can find its community online while staying out the way for your viewers.
2. Or, create your content to accompany your post and add a few spaces before adding your hashtags, so a separation remains. This way your post isn't too crowded and the content gets lost within the hashtags.
Evensi:
Evensi is an online service that allows you to create events for free and they will be immediately recommending it to interested users. Automatically included for all Purplepass account holders. Evensi Basic Upgrade is included in the Silver and Purple marketing services packages through Purplepass.
Eventful:
Eventful allows users to search for and track upcoming entertainment events in their area (such as concerts, festivals, and film presentations) involving specific performers, indicate and share their intent to attend certain events, and indicate their "demand" for certain acts to appear in their region.
Automatically included for all Purplepass account holders.
Use this platform to not only make new connections but is a great place to publish your event to business, professional and independent viewers.
Blogging
Creating a blog for your event not only improves your site’s search engine optimization but adds a human touch behind your event. Write about news reports, interviews, latest updates, info graphics, etc. Anything that highlights your event and gets people talking.
Video promotions
See lesson 12 to learn more.
Paid Social Media
Paid and boosted posts on social media increase your reach and overall impressions made.
Press Releases
This is the surest way for instant worldwide distribution and expanding public knowledge of your upcoming events. It not only optimizes your search engines but announces your event.
Traditional
This form of advertising is before the digital ways of advertising such as newspaper, magazines, broadcasting, billboards, and signage. See lesson 10 for examples.
Email Marketing
Email messaging can be extremely useful for reaching your audience and updating them on your latest events and ticket sales.
Facebook Event
Make it easy for people to find your next event. Use Facebook Events to help you set up an event, reach your audience, increase attendance and sell tickets. Facebook Events has the solutions for your event marketing needs.
Ad Retargeting
Retargeting is a form of online targeted advertising by which online advertising is targeted to consumers based on their previous Internet actions.
Radio
Don’t underestimate the power of radio ads!
Over 90% of Americans still listen to the radio on a daily basis. By being smart about the commercials you air, you have the potential to reach new clients and draw them back to your event.
Giveaways
Participating in a giveaway, meaning auctioning off free tickets or merchandise through online competitions, help create everlasting impressions on your guests. Giveaways are an excellent way of marketing your event and reaching new audiences that weren’t planning on attending.
Direct Mail
Direct mail is a form of direct marketing in which physical promotional materials are sent to prospective or existing customers in the hopes of attaining their business or nurturing an ongoing relationship.
Event Website
Your event website is an easy way to have your event online, with all the necessary details, videos, images, testimonies etc. to draw in an audience. A great website plays a part in convincing viewers if the event is for them or not and helps with the decision-making process.
Adwords
Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers pay to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, video content and generate mobile application installs within the Google ad network to web users.
Community Event Calendars
Try submitting your event to your local event calendar. Community calendars might seem like old-fashion advertising, but sometimes it works just the same as digital.
Submit to Industry Associations
Find an association online that fits your company and event goals and discover the different benefits that come with these memberships.
These groups give you opportunities to sponsor, advertise and submit calendar events for other members to view.
SEO Marketing
SEO is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results.
SEO encompasses both the technical and creative elements required to improve rankings, drive traffic, and increase awareness in search engines.
Live Streaming
Steaming live is becoming more popular in the tech world.
This works for any events from small businesses to concerts. It is a great way to expand your event beyond the room and reach a broader audience while maintaining the current experience of the attendees.
Industry & Media Influencers
Using influencers is a new strategy emerging in the event world. Collaborate with top social media influencers, bloggers, vloggers and other online persona's helping you reach an entirely new audience.
Visual Testimonials
Visual Testimonials can be through video or text where a previous attendee or witness to your event gives their feedback.
Humans are not only drawn in my visuals but other human beings presenting their feels and personal experiences.
Hashtags
Review lesson 14 to understand how hashtags can be used for event marketing.
Sponsorships
See lesson 1 to learn more.
Merchandise and Wearables
By creating and selling custom merchandise, you are extending your brand value to a new audience and producing word-of-mouth marketing.
Let your guests endorse your event and continue to get the exposure you deserve.
Checkout Promotion
If you are a company selling services or products while promoting an event, why not push it upon checkout?
Upon checkout, share your upcoming event digitally or in person depending on how sales are handled.