You’re excited. You have organized a once in a lifetime event. It’s going be amazing!
Now is the time to share it with the world. Your budget is limited (read: nonexistent), and you don’t know where to start. How can you advertise your event?
We’re here to assist you. It doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive to promote your event. You can actually make a lot of money without spending anything. You heard it right. Your event can be promoted for free.
These are great ways to promote your event online, whether you are a social media expert, an email marketer, or just need a place to sell tickets. This guide can be used as a step by step guide for promoting your event or as a reference whenever you need it.
Let’s go…
1. Get organized
Let’s start with the basics. (Well, obviously. It’s not a very wise saying.
You can make your event a success by planning ahead. This will help you stay focused and see the bigger picture. Begin to brainstorm with fellow organizers. What promotion strategies will you use? What channels will you first use? Which person will be responsible to promote the event?
Are you feeling overwhelmed? Don’t be. Here is a helpful checklist that we have put together to assist you in getting started. Follow these steps to create a solid plan.
2. Your event page should shine
Your event page should be a focal point for all information. First, you must be noticed in order to get sign-ups for your event and sell tickets.
What can you do to make this happen? There are many things you can do!
Keep people coming back to your event page, not leaving to e.g. YouTube is a great place to look for videos of the venue and the comedian you have hired. They might never return once they are gone. All relevant images, videos and media can be embedded directly to your event page.
Professional photos of the venue and performers are a great idea. You can find great images online if you have limited time or resources.
Don’t forget to include the important details. Do you have a dress code? Is it necessary to register in advance? Is it difficult to find the location? It would be a good idea to embed a Google Map. Your key to success is keeping your event page beautiful and informative.
3. Google will help you find your event
It may be surprising to you that many people use Google to search for things. This includes, you guessed correctly, events. It would be incredible if your event was found by someone searching for “events nearby me”.
You want to include keywords in your event description to help Google direct relevant people to your page. It’s a good idea to use the phrase “stargazing in London” if you have organized a London stargazing event.
To help you with this task, you can also find the most popular keywords. You can use free tools such as the Keyword Tool or Google’s Keyword Planner. To access these, you’ll need an AdWords account.
It is important to know the basics of SEO (search engine optimization). This guide is a quick reference to SEO that event managers can use. Although you don’t need to be an SEO expert overnight, it is worth learning some tricks.
4. Get involved in the event community
Let’s face facts: Every city has a vibrant community that goes out to various events. Look for them. Reach out to them.
It sounds simple, and it is. It shouldn’t be. It’s the age and rise of the Internet. Google will show you active forums in just a few clicks. You can post your event, invite people to spread it, or offer a discount for that particular community. You are free to be creative.
If you create your event on a dedicated event ticketing site like… Eventalways, it will instantly be seen by the site’s community. This will ensure that you get free publicity as soon as your event is published. What’s not great about that?
5. Embrace social media
This was obvious. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all essential tools for free event promotion.
It’s not enough just to be aware of the existence of these social media platforms. It is important to learn how to make the most of them. We won’t leave you hanging. This guide to social media marketing events is a good place to start.
You can also use social media to run competitions that include ticket giveaways and other promotions. Your event will be viral if you find the right hashtag and hit the sweet spot in your offer.
6. Your ticket sales should be creative
You might be asking, “What is there to be creative about?” “I’ll just set an affordable price for my tickets, and hope people will buy them!”
Smart ticket pricing can be used to promote your event online. You can increase your ticket sales by offering discounted tickets for groups, or bundles of event tickets with other goodies, such as food vouchers. We’ll walk you through how to increase your ticket sales prior to the event.
You also have the opportunity to promote your event online free of charge. You can also announce your special tickets on your social media channels to create buzz about your event. Eventalways, and other event ticketing websites allow you to add as many ticket types as you like to your events. This is a great opportunity to think of innovative ways to sell tickets.
7. Activate your attendees
Remember: Your guests will be your best advocates. There are no surprises. They already love your event and have bought tickets. It takes only a gentle push to persuade them to spread the word.
Encourage them to share the event with their friends. Give them drink vouchers and other perks. You’ll find them willing to do the extra work for you if you show them appreciation.
This is not limited to your guests. Perhaps you have a new band or DJ at your event. Are they interested in being heard as much as possible? Do you think they would be interested in doing some promotion?
These aren’t tricks questions – of course they would!
Allow them to share the event easily. You can give them a ticket widget that they can embed on their website if they have the option. Your fans will be able buy tickets to your event from their site without needing to travel anywhere else. right?
8. Don’t forget email marketing
It’s easy for people to forget the power of email in the midst all the buzz around social media. Don’t. Email remains the most effective channel for online marketing. McKinsey estimates that email is 40% more effective in acquiring customers than Facebook or Twitter.
This approach requires you to have a list of people that you can send emails to. Get started building this list immediately. This doesn’t need to be difficult. Encourage your guests to share the news and make it as simple as possible for them to sign up for your newsletter. Give them an incentive to sign-up.
This article will provide you with many ideas. Email marketing for events: We have lots of suggestions.
9. All your events can be held in one location
Wait. But we’re not suggesting that you promote all events on the same channels. LinkedIn is great for business conferences, but Facebook is best for paintball matches. We are implying that it is smart to have your event pages in one place.
It may seem like a small thing. It can be a good idea to keep all your events in one place if you are organizing multiple events. There’s a good chance that someone will visit your event and become curious. It doesn’t matter if they don’t find it relevant, but maybe they know someone who would be interested.
Eventalways, and other event websites, allow you to showcase your events by sharing it with others. They act as an online ticket shop, making it easy to promote your event online. You can create your online ticket shop. It’s easy and free.
10. Learn, track, and improve
Knowledge is power or, in your case, a way to promote your event more effectively. Google Analytics is a great tool to gather lots of data. Track as much data as possible: Which tickets are most popular? They are often bought by who? Which are your most effective marketing channels?
This data is free and will help you promote your event online more effectively. This data will allow you to decide which tickets to discontinue or discount, which marketing channels to use and which customers to target with your banners.
Eventalways allows you to integrate your event pages with both Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel. This will ensure that you have all the relevant data. We will even show you the best way to analyze this data.
Now you can start promoting your event.
You’ve got a great event planned, and you just found some great ideas to promote it. So what are you waiting? Start selling tickets and advertising right away!
We’re happy to help you make Eventalways an option if you choose to give it a shot. We won’t even charge you a dime for this. Reach out to us, we are a friendly bunch.