October 18, 2017

5 Simple Event Marketing Tips Guaranteed to Increase Brand Engagement

Reading time about 5 min

So, you’ve invested time and energy (not to mention a fair amount of money) into planning an event or sponsorship that is certain to launch your brand into the stratosphere.

But, how do you ensure that you reach the right audience and convert them into brand advocates moving forward?

Going through the motions won’t cut it. Plus, why would you want to waste all that time and money when event leads can be some of the best marketing leads out there.

This article will go over 5 event marketing tips to make sure you get the most out of participating in or running a marketing event.

Leading up to the event

While it’s easy to get lost in the planning of an event (what swag should I bring, how do I want my display to look, etc.), you shouldn’t forget about the attendees.

You have to get the word out and generate some excitement or all of your planning won’t mean much.

Promote the event on social media

If you’re sponsoring the event, you should start posting about your attendance on social media.

Not only does this give your current followers and customers a chance to come interact with your brand in person, it’s also an excellent chance to amplify your reach on social media. You can achieve this by mentioning the event and host in your social media posts. This puts in touch with a whole new audience!

If you’re the host, you have an even greater opportunity on social media: creating a Facebook event for the event itself using your company page as the host.

This makes it super easy to invite all of your followers. You can even do a free ticket giveaway to a lucky follower for liking or sharing the event.

But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you’re willing to invest more time, there are tons of ways to take your Facebook event marketing to the next level.

Bonus: This is also a really great way to increase your followers and stay in touch with people after events!

Get the word out to the right audience

Making sure you’re inviting the right people is essential for hosting a successful marketing event. While this can be challenging, event aggregation sites like Eventbrite make this process a whole lot easier.

These sites give your event more visibility for potential attendees to find you, and some even provide their own promotional tools.

Invite your loyal supporters

Whether you’re sponsoring or hosting the event, it’s always a great idea to invite your current customers and subscribers.

Send out a well-designed email campaign with a catchy subject line to get their attention. There are sure to be a few recipients who will be interested in the event.

You might be thinking, “Why should I invite customers? This event is about finding NEW leads.”

While these attendees might not be new leads, they have the potential to be great brand advocates for your business. After all, they ARE your current customers.

By giving them another opportunity to interact with your brand, you’ll give them even more reason to like you!

During and after the event

Now that you’ve got all the planning, invitations, and outreach out of the way, it’s game time!

Keep track of new leads

Whatever you do, don’t forget to have new leads provide you with a way to get in touch later.

Events are crazy, and they go by quickly. You won’t be able to remember everyone’s name or contact information, so it’s important to have a way to keep track of this information. There are a few ways to do this:

Old fashioned signup sheet
Opt-in form (e.g. Have a table with your website open and have people sign up)
Contest entry slips

Follow up with your leads

Last, but certainly not least, you need to reconnect with everyone you met at the event.

This is probably the most crucial step for event marketing. After working so hard to generate interest in your business at the event, you need to follow through with the correspondence to capitalize on the enthusiasm.

The best way to do this is through email.

This email usually includes a few things:

Mini-recap of the event theme/content
A quick thank you for attending and showing an interest in your business
A promotional discount offer for your product or store to entice them to make a purchase
Extra – A survey question with a chance to win an additional prize!

Another way you can leverage your new contacts is to run a Facebook ad campaign that only targets the people who gave you their email at the event.

These ad campaigns are nice because they are a bit more subtle than a direct email, and the small audience size makes them rather inexpensive.