Planning and executing a live event takes a lot of time, money, and creative energy. But in order to generate a positive return on these investments, you have to get people to pre-register. And whether you want to admit it or not, your event marketing strategy plays a direct role in how many people you attract.
The Importance of Events for Businesses
Most businesses don’t leverage events – which is a huge mistake. Even for businesses that aren’t in traditional event-focused spaces, live events provide an exceptional value-add. Perks are both direct and indirect, including benefits like:
- Revenue. For starters, selling tickets to a live event allows you to generate additional revenue for your business. It also provides a platform for upselling and cross-selling – both of which can be more profitable than the ticket price (which typically only covers event expenses).
- Brand awareness. When marketing your event, you get the chance to put your brand in front of your target audience. This enhances brand awareness and establishes positive associations.
- Engagement. Face-to-face interaction provides optimal engagement with customers and gives your brand a chance to build powerful, long-lasting relationships. Events help you cut through the clutter and noise and have meaningful discussions with customers in a distraction-free environment.
- Education. Events are typically built on the premise of providing some sort of education or information. Events pack more punch than any webinar, blog post, book, or online course.
- Credibility. Finally, there’s something about live events that enhance credibility and help businesses establish thought leadership in crowded spaces. If you hire out speakers and use your company’s most reputable individuals, you can make a lasting impact.
You don’t need to be in the sports or entertainment industry to deliver live events. Whether you run an accounting firm or sell hot dogs, there are opportunities and benefits waiting to be seized.
6 Event Marketing Tips for More Registrations
Deciding to launch an event is the first big decision – but it’s not the only one. An event is only effective if you have people in seats. This means you have to drum up attention and get people to register.
Here are some useful event marketing suggestions to help you increase your numbers:
1. Develop Targeted Content
Content marketing plays a key role in drumming up awareness and excitement for your event. While there’s nothing wrong with press releases, your attention is best focused on things like onsite blog posts, guest blog posts, and podcast interviews.
The objective with pre-event content is to clearly convey the value that attendees can expect to acquire. Be as specific as possible – focusing on tangible takeaways that address real needs, wants, desires, and points of concern.
2. Leverage Social Media
No event marketing strategy should be initiated or executed without an emphasis on social media marketing and advertising.
“The most crucial aspect of social media marketing is getting your audience to interact with your posts,” content marketer Andriana Moskovska writes. “There are a number of ways to do this, depending on the platform and the content you publish. Facebook, for example, allows you to publish a diverse array of content, from plain text and photos to videos and live streams. Be as flexible and diverse as the medium allows you to, and publish content that encourages your audience to react.”
In terms of social media advertising, platforms like Instagram make it easy to create stunning visuals and target them to very specific audiences. Since Instagram owns the platform, users have access to rich and diverse data sets for powerful ad targeting.
3. Make Registration a Breeze
Any little hitch or unnecessary step in the registration process could lead to lost conversions and/or frustrated attendees. You need to eliminate as much friction as you possibly can.
One of the best ways to streamline the registration process is by using online event registration software that gives you a scalable and efficient way of registering attendees, sending out communication, tracking sign-ups, and speeding up the physical check-in queue on event day.
4. Use Sign-Up Incentives
One of the more frustrating aspects of event registration is the fact that most people will wait until last minute to sign up. This creates numerous challenges and headaches for the event team – not to mention anxiety over the possibility of a flop. Sign-up incentives can help.
Sign-up incentives can include any tangible or monetary benefit that you give to attendees for registering by a certain deadline (which is typically a few weeks or months prior to the actual event). This may consist of brand swag (like hats and t-shirts), discounts, premium ticketing, and/or deals on flights and accommodations.
5. Try Influencer Marketing
If you lack significant reach, you may struggle to generate attention for your event. One of the quickest and most cost-effective ways of getting results is to align with an online influencer.
Influencer marketing is great because it allows you to handpick reputable figures who have audiences that directly overlap your own. You may even be able hire influencers to speak at your event, which makes it more likely that their followers will sign up and engage. Here are some tips on finding the right influencers for your brand/needs.
6. Be Strategic With Pricing
Finally, make sure you’re intentional with how you price your event.
If there are other brands running similar events, see what they’re charging and what sort of results they’ve had. Competitive pricing is crucial. If you want to go for a premium price point, be prepared to prove value.
Tiered pricing is helpful for getting early signups. This strategy typically involves price increases as the event nears. It can also involve low, medium, and high prices with different value offerings and benefits. (Note: Most people will go with the middle price point – so plan accordingly.)
Give Your Event Marketing a Boost
An event is nothing without a proper event marketing strategy that’s geared towards increasing registration. Review the insights outlined in this article and search for opportunities to connect with your target audience. Don’t miss this opportunity!
signing papers -DepositPhotos
