Image by Cristiano Betta via Flickr
If you have the task of promoting events for your company or organization then you, no doubt, understand the importance of promoting the event itself. You may think that you have the event of the century planned but if you fail to promote the event properly that event could turn into a disaster.
Here are a few tips to help you. Some you would consider common sense items however you’d be surprised at how often these steps are overlooked.
Leave Yourself Enough Time for Promoting Events
This is imperative. I was once working with the client who actually had put together a very good social media speakers event. However she was only leaving herself around five weeks from beginning to end to promote the event. I tried to tell her at the onset that she just was not leaving enough time. She didn’t agree with me. So we did all that we could do, through all of the various channels available to us to get the word out. Well the event did proceed, however the room itself was about half full. Most of the invitees that did not attend replied to me indicating that if they had enough time or notice they would have loved to attend. It’s important when promoting events that you factor the amount of time it is going to take you to make sure that you get the word out properly.
Promoting Events to the Right Audience
For this tip I’m going to refer you to your Facebook account. It’s important that when you set up your social media accounts you have an understanding of what you’re going to use those accounts for. For example, I would not recommend mixing your personal life with your work life on the one Facebook account. You’ll end up sending very confused messages to your friends and colleagues. So before you start promoting events to your contacts, make sure the people you’re marketing to are appropriate for the event theme. In other words keep clean lists.
Promoting Events That Occur on Days and Times Favorable To Your Potential Attendees
I’ve referred to this before. You’re not planning the event for yourself rather you’re planning the event for the potential attendees. Therefore it’s important to take the pulse of those people. It’s crucial to find out what days of the week and times that are most popular. Use surveys properly and find out what the attendees want. Keep the surveys short (only a few simple questions) and to the point – and don’t over survey your lists.
Offer Incentives When Promoting Events
Many people love to receive gifts. Even if they are sometimes just a token of your appreciation, gifts or giveaways are a nice gesture for recognizing people. It can simply be a discount for registering early, or perhaps a white paper on a hot topic within your industry. Basically something that people in your industry would find useful. You don’t have to blow the budget on incentives.
Promoting events to be a success does take a considerable amount of planning. However this crucial planning can make all the difference in whether or not your event will be a success. Always keep in mind that you’re doing the event for the attendees and not yourself. As Walt Disney once said “you don’t build it for yourself, you find out what the people want and you build it for them”. With social media and many great e-mail marketing websites on the market at reasonable rates, you have a lot of tools at your disposal to assist you with promoting events the right way.
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