Proven Strategies to Boost Attendance and Engagement
Events play a central role in building budgets and providing an essential investment in your brand’s marketing and bottom line. According to a report by Bizzabo, 95% of marketers believe that live events give attendees a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world. This statistic highlights the immense potential of well-executed event marketing strategies to drive meaningful results.
But marketing teams and event planners feel frustrated with dwindling attendance and countless events vying for attention. So how do you make your event stand out when your competition one-ups you, or so many other things compete for your customers’ time? You know your clients will find your event enjoyable, engaging, fun and a good use of their time, so how do you convince them to come when they’d rather be home streaming their favorite show in their comfy pants?
Leveling up your event and getting more people in the door means showing your customers that attending your event is more valuable than any other thing they would rather do with their time. The key to achieving this is through strategic event marketing.
What is event marketing?
This discussion focuses on a crucial part of Event Marketing: promotion and outreach for an already planned event. This phase is distinct from the initial event planning and organization (to learn more about event marketing, read our blog post, “Step Up Your Association Through Strategic Event Marketing”).
Effective promotion is essential because even the most meticulously planned event will fail to meet its goals if potential attendees are unaware of its existence or lack information on how to participate.
Think about it – you’ve put in all this work to set up an awesome event, but if nobody knows it’s happening or how to show up, what’s the point? It’s like throwing a party and forgetting to send invites. You need to spread the news far and wide, whether through social media, emails, flyers or even good old-fashioned word of mouth. The better job you do at telling people about your event and making it easy for them to join, the more likely you are to have a packed house and a successful shindig.
Event promotion typically involves strategies such as targeted advertising, social media campaigns, email marketing, press releases and leveraging partnerships to maximize visibility and attendance. The success of an event often hinges on the effectiveness of these promotional efforts, as they directly impact turnout, engagement, and ultimately, the event’s overall impact and return on investment.
So, what is the first step in marketing your event? How do you tell customers about the fantastic event you planned and let them understand it’s better than anything else they are committed to on their calendar? The key is identifying the value.
Where does event marketing start?
When countless events are vying for attention, event planners must create experiences that resonate with their target audience. The key to achieving this lies in identifying and communicating the event’s unique value proposition (UVP)—the specific benefits and experiences attendees can expect to gain by participating. A UVP typically demonstrates what sets your event apart from the competition.
Event marketing starts with identifying the UVP, or why attending your event is valuable to your customers or potential clients. Your event’s UVP is what makes it stand out and what will make it worthwhile for your members or customers to attend.
Communicating your UVP is all about finding those golden nuggets that set your event apart from the rest of the pack. The best marketers in this game are like magicians—they can spot what’s awesome about an event from a mile away and know just how to spin it to get folks excited. It’s about being quick on your feet and creative when you’re working with what you’ve got.
This requires analyzing the event’s components – such as speakers, topics or networking opportunities and determining which parts will most appeal to the target audience. Effective marketers in this scenario develop a keen eye for spotting potential selling points and the creativity to frame these in ways that capture attention and drive interest, emphasizing adaptability and resourcefulness in their approach.
Once you establish the UVP, it’s essential to communicate it clearly and consistently across all marketing channels and communications. A concise statement, such as “Attend our event to connect with industry peers and learn about the latest technology,” is an example that can serve as a guiding principle for all marketing efforts. Delivering the value of your event in a quick, concise manner is important not only for your staff to easily understand and convey the message, but also for capturing the attention of a cold audience and convincing them to go to a new event.
Building the message
To build your UVP, first dig into the specifics of your event programming. Does your lineup include cutting-edge topics that aren’t being covered elsewhere? Are you offering hands-on workshops or interactive sessions that provide real-world skills? Highlight these unique aspects to show how your event delivers on its promise. If you’ve snagged a notable speaker, someone who’s a big deal in your industry or has a fresh perspective to share, shout about it. Big names can be a major draw and lend credibility to your event.
Don’t underestimate the power of perks. If you’re offering free food (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love that?), exclusive networking opportunities or special giveaways, make these a prominent part of your message. These extras can often be the tipping point for someone deciding whether to attend. Also, if you’ve hosted similar events in the past, don’t be shy about touting your track record. Sharing attendance numbers or testimonials from previous events can provide social proof and build trust with potential attendees.
Remember, the goal is to create a well-rounded message that proves the value you’re promising. By compiling a list of your event’s selling points – from the content and speakers to the perks and past successes – you’re arming yourself with ammunition to back up your UVP.
This comprehensive approach lets you tailor your marketing efforts to different audiences and channels, always with concrete evidence to support why your event is unmissable. When someone asks for the “receipts” on why your event is worth their time and money, you’ll have plenty to show.
Where are the people?
Finding people to attend your event might be more complex than you think. Even if you clearly understand our target audience, events can be tricky because, unfortunately, your target audience has a life outside of work and many things competing for their time. They may want to spend their spare time with their family, complete DIY projects around the house or just chill out instead of putting on their nice shoes to go to your event. Attending your event is also often a financial investment. You have to make sure you find the right channels and content that clearly communicate the event’s value in the most convenient way for your target audience.
Meeting your target attendees where they are is key, so identify which communication channels they are most likely to respond to. You can use traditional methods like social media, public relations and advertising, but it’s important to be strategic when selecting the channels where the audience will most likely engage. Planners and marketers can maximize their communications’ impact by focusing on key channels and providing valuable, engaging content that showcases the event’s UVP.
Your first impression
When attendees receive your communications and make a move to navigate to your event landing page or website, it’s the mission-critical step in event registration. The event website or landing page serves as the digital face of the event and plays an important role in converting potential attendees into registered participants.
A visually appealing, user-friendly design that prominently features the UVP and includes creative marketing elements can help generate buzz and excitement. Your website or landing page should make registration simple and easy, and don’t forget the event basics, such as when and where the event will take place.
Following up
You might think your job is done once the event is over, but hold up! If you want your event to leave a lasting impression and make sure your attendees know just how much value they got out of it, you have to build a solid follow-up plan.
Get creative and think about how you can help your attendees relive the best parts of the event, reflect on what they learned and take some action. You could whip up a blog post recapping the highlights, share some bonus content from the speakers or even put together a video montage or photo gallery of all the fun moments.
Keep the good vibes going by sending out automated emails for about a week after the event. Give your attendees a little nudge to share their favorite photos on social media or sign up for your next event. Even a little post-event follow-up can enhance the overall impact of the event and foster lasting connections with attendees.
How Uptimize Marketing can help
We can’t overstate the importance of effective event marketing, whether you’re selling a live webinar or a large conference. By focusing on the unique value proposition and using strategic marketing techniques, event planners and marketers can create experiences that not only captivate attendees but also drive results.
If you feel one-upped by competing events and are vying for attendees’ time, Uptimize Marketing can help identify what makes your event different and compelling for your target market.
If you’re sick of spending money on marketing that hasn’t worked in the past, our team has the hands and experience to understand your event’s goals and ensure you reach your target market with your event’s value at the right place and time. We can track your marketing efforts and provide transparent progress reports.
To learn more about what we do or answer any event marketing questions, please visit our website at www.uptimize.marketing and book a free 30-minute consultation.
Sources:
- Bizzabo. (2019). Event Marketing 2020: Benchmarks and Trends. Retrieved from https://welcome.bizzabo.com/event-marketing-2020
- Markletic. (2021). Event Marketing Statistics, Trends & Data. Retrieved from https://www.markletic.com/event-marketing-statistics/
