Mastering Event Promotion in 2024

As 2023 comes to a very fast end, it’s time to start looking ahead at your event marketing plans for 2024. Planning and organising an event can be an exciting yet challenging process with many things to consider. Whether it’s a corporate conference, music festival or a community engagement opportunity, the success of your event hinges on effective promotion and marketing . In this blog, we'll dive into the world of event promotion, offering insights and tips to target your event marketing in 2024.

So, let’s get stuck into it!

Understand your audience

Before you race off and start considering the multiple promotional options at your fingertips, it's crucial to understand your target audience. Who are the people you want to attract to your event? What are their interests, preferences and buying behaviours? By understanding this, you can tailor your marketing efforts to resonate with your target demographic. Now, I hear you ask, how do I work this out? If this is not your first time hosting the event, then it’s time to pull out your sales and attendance data from the previous event and start reviewing it. Plus, don’t forget to review any post event survey data if you collected it. If it’s your first time creating the event, look at similar events, review their marketing activities and consider if these could be relevant to your project.

This understanding will guide your promotional strategy, helping you choose the most effective channels and messaging.

Craft a compelling story

Every successful event has a story, and it's your job to tell it in a way that captivates your audience. The most successful events have developed a narrative around their event, highlighting its unique aspects, key features and the value the attendees will gain. Sometimes the best way to kick it off is to brainstorm ‘the WOW’, and from there you can start to pull together the story. If you are not a great story writer, then now is the time to reach out to an expert in the content development or copywriting arena to help you craft your story.

The use of storytelling techniques can evoke emotion and create a connection with your audience. Keep in mind that this story will serve as the foundation for all your promotional materials, so don’t skip this part of the process!

Build a strong online presence

Considering the majority of everyone’s research starts online, whether it’s on our laptop or mobile device, a strong online presence is non-negotiable for any event. Start by creating a dedicated event website that serves as a central hub for your attendees to access all the information they need. There are some amazing template-based websites available through providers like Squarespace or WordPress, or if you’re not tech-savvy, you can find a contractor to help build the site (which will cost less than a couple of thousand dollars to get up and running). When creating the website, ensure it is user-friendly, mobile-responsive and contains all essential details, such as date, venue, schedule of activities and ticket information. If you are engaging someone to help create the site for you, ensure you ask about optimising the website for search engines in order to increase visibility.

Leverage social media platforms

In 2024, social media will continue to be the most powerful tool for promoting events and engaging with your audience. You need to ensure that you are selecting platforms which align with your target demographic, and focus your efforts on those they engage with every day. Platforms like Facebook allow you to create an event within your page, which means your guests can not only indicate their attendance and keep on top of the latest event updates, but it also helps them share with their networks. With all social media platforms, create a content calendar to maintain a consistent posting schedule, and use a mix of visuals, videos and text to keep your audience engaged. The most successful social media campaigns are based on organic reach (your followers) and paid advertising. If you have just established your online presence, you might need to consider increasing your focus on paid advertising to build awareness. This can then be reduced in future years, once you have a greater organic reach.

Through these platforms, you also have the ability to share valuable information, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and interviews with key speakers or performers which will help you drive those much-needed sales.

Influencers continue to increase your reach

Influencers continue to be a cost-effective way to assist with spreading the word of your event. It’s important to ensure that you are selecting influencers who align with your target demographic and have genuine engagement with their audience. Previously, marketing agencies would target influencers with a massive number of followers, however the focus needs to be on their ability to engage with their audience. You can sometimes find that micro-influencers with less than 2,000 followers can better assist with reaching your audience as their followers value genuine engagement, education and keeping up to date on the latest happenings, as opposed to someone with 200k+ followers who just pumps out random content and constantly promotes paid products.

When looking to collaborate with influencers, consider whether it will be through sponsored posts, takeovers, sneak peaks of the event or simply testimonials of previous attendance. Selecting the right influencers can significantly extend your reach and add credibility to your event.

Email marketing is not dead!

For years, email marketing has been used by most major brands as an effective way to promote their products or services to their target markets, and it can still be a highly effective tool for event promotion. The great thing about email marketing is that you have gained the email address of someone who has previously attended your event or has provided their email address as they have a valied interest in the event. This means they are a hot lead, and you just need to work out the best angle to close the deal. The best way to launch off this is to build a segmented email list and create targeted campaigns to reach different audience segments. When someone has provided their email address by purchasing a ticket to a previous event, you will find that they do not need to be oversold on the basics of the event, but more the new WOW aspects to drive their excitement to purchase  their tickets early and not miss out. In the case of a new attendee, they will need to receive more content to help sell the event overall, and encourage them to commit to tickets. Ensure that for both lists you use personalised content, include exclusive offers and countdowns to help build anticipation.

Always ensure that your email marketing has a very clear call to action (click through to access tickets) and do not bombard your subscribers with too many emails. I always encourage regular monitoring of the reporting features within these tools, such as the number of subscribers who open the emails, and those who unsubscribe. All of this information will help you craft future emails.

Implement guerrilla marketing tactics

Most people are terrified when they think of guerrilla marketing, as it involves unconventional or non-traditional marketing methods, however it can be a cost-effective strategy to create maximum impact. When thinking of guerrilla marketing strategies, consider activities such as street art, flash mobs or other attention-grabbing tactics that align with the theme of your event. An element of surprise can generate buzz and increase curiosity, driving more people to seek event information through your website or social media. (Always ensure that you investigate and obtain approvals for any of your guerrilla marketing activities, as you don’t want to attract bad media attention for it!) I’ve seen (and used myself!) some effective strategies, such as installing decal installations during the night in areas where the target audience resides. Another approach which had great impact involved organising a flash mob during an event. What better way is there to get the attention of your ideal attendee than market during an event they are already at?

Everyone loves discounts and special offers

Whilst we’re all aware it’s a marketing tactic, we do love a good deal, and early bird discounts are a great way to get some fast wins on the sales board. By creating a sense of urgency and encouraging early ticket purchases by offering exclusive discounts or perks, you can help your audience make a quicker decision to attend your event, as well as increasing the chance of them sharing the offer with their network. These one-time offers and early bird specials can also help you estimate the number of people interested in attending the event. I’ve offered early bird event pricing in the past which have sold out in less then 30 minutes, indicating a high level of interest in the event.

My advice is to limit the numbers of deals that you roll out though, as you don’t want your attendees holding off because they know next week they might get a free set of steak knives!

Host a pre-event event

Now I know that this might sound crazy, but creating smaller and cost-effective pop up events in the lead up to the main event can increase awareness and interest in participating in the event itself. These smaller events can bring together some of your existing followers, along with new prospects who have never experienced it before. If you think outside the box, you might find clever ways to give back to a sponsor that has a product that aligns with your story or theme. For example, we previously hosted a beer and beef festival, so in the lead up to the main event we created a burger-eating competition that was sponsored by the hotel, with beer prizes provided by another sponsor. Not only did we increase awareness of the event, we also ramped up our sponsors’ exposure through additional marketing.

Encourage user-generated content

While it’s always a good idea to encourage attendees to create and share content related to your event while they’re in attendance, you could also encourage them to consider sharing their favourite memory from the previous year’s event in the lead-up.  This could include photos, videos and testimonials. Create event-specific hashtags to streamline content aggregation on social media and consider offering a prize package for the most engaged content. You would be surprised how people can dig-out great content from the previous year when there’s a chance to win a prize!

User-generated content is the most authentic promotion, and provides social proof of the positive experiences others have had at your event.

In conclusion

Promoting and marketing your upcoming event requires careful planning and execution, but by understanding your audience, crafting a compelling story and leveraging a mix of online and offline strategies, you can create a buzz and ensure a successful turnout. Promotion is not a one-size-fits-all process, so be open to experimenting with your audience and adjusting your approach on the fly, based on the response and feedback.

Happy marketing!

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
David Yakas