When it comes to organising and promoting events its often the promotion side things which is left to the last minute. Organising an event can be time consuming and we are often so busy organising the details of the event itself that the marketing takes a back seat.
Then we find that the event is upon is and we’re under pressure to spread the word and confirm some event bookings or ticket sales. Which can lead us to incessantly posting about our event of Facebook and spamming all of our friends.
But there is a better way, a smarter way. Which is why I am running a seminar on Better Smarter Marketing for Events next week as part of my mission to help 1,000 businesses for Better Smarter Marketing.
Why do I want to help businesses do Better Smarter Event Marketing?
When I launched Your Marketing Specialist as my full time business last year I noticed a lot of small business owners making the same mistakes when it came to marketing their business. (Like incessantly posting their events on Facebook.)
The worst part of it is that I too fell into the trap; by the time I’d nailed down all the details of my event, dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s, there wasn’t enough time left for marketing. It’s so easy to get caught up in a frantic Facebook whirl, inviting all your friends and sharing your event in lots of groups.
But this isn’t smart.
I’m lucky, I have a decade of marketing experience in some pretty big companies and a professional marketing qualification. So, I was able to dig myself out and start doing things differently. But many small business owners don’t have this luxury. So, I want to help them get out of the Facebook trap, stop doing what everyone else is doing and avoid bad advice from the ‘experts’ who only want to show you what worked for them.
I want to help people find the right approach for marketing their event. For some businesses it might be Facebook (just done smarter) for others Facebook might not be the right fit at all for promoting their event.
As a volunteer on the York International Women’s Festival committee we aim to empower women to run their own events. In March 2017 we have over 60 events taking place across the City of York and I want to make sure that all event organisers also feel empowered when it comes to marketing their event online. Because gone are the days when an advert in a festival brochure is enough to sell out an event.
Unfortunately we no longer live in a ‘build it and they will come’ society. There are so many distractions and things clamouring for our attention that to effectively promote an event you need a coordinated approach across multiple channels, where your potential attendees can find you.
But that can sound overwhelming and daunting. So the first port of call is to develop a plan. Having a plan is one of the fundamental principles of Better Smarter Marketing, so you know what you are doing, when you are doing it and why you are doing it.
If you are stuck when it comes to creating a Better Smarter Event Marketing Plan then come along to Better Smarter Marketing for Events Seminar in York where we’ll be talking about creating effective communication strategies pre and post event, how to promote your event on social media, video marketing ideas and what you can do offline to promote your event.
Event marketing isn’t just about attracting people to your event, if you run repeat events you’ll want to think about how to keep event customers coming back too.
I am on the campaign! Thanks Louise for your tips.