With an upcoming event on the horizon, you’ve got a lot to think about.
But before you can devote yourself to ordering the catering, decorating, and making a killer Spotify playlist, it’s crucial to make sure your event marketing strategy is down pat.
After all, your special event is nothing without the right attendees.
Brilliant Event Marketing Tactics for Organizations Big and Small
You’ve hung the flyers. You’ve created a Facebook event. You’ve sent out an email marketing newsletter to past attendees and other interested parties. You’ve created an event page on your website with all relevant info. You may have even hired influencers and created an event hashtag and a custom Snapchat filter. But now what?
With a bit of cunning and forethought, you can structure some of the crucial elements of your event marketing to work like Jedi mind tricks. If you’re looking for some clever event promotion ideas that will bring some extra oomph to your marketing efforts and draw attendees to your event like moths to a flame, here are some effective ways to use human psychology to your advantage:
1. Create tiered ticketing options
Tiered pricing options open up a world of opportunity for event marketing. Not only can you use tiered pricing to tantalize guests with the details of VIP packages and special access, but it also gives you the chance to employ powerful strategies like decoy pricing, scarcity effect, and reciprocity.
Looking to convince more people to shell out for the VIP pass instead of a standard ticket? Try creating a middle-tier pass that doesn’t offer too many extra goodies and isn’t a particularly good deal. This will make the VIP pass, the one you really want to sell, seem like all the more bang for the buck.
2. Orchestrate an early bird raffle and giveaway
Every event manager loves early ticket sales — they take a lot of the guesswork out of event planning and are a reassuring sign that your efforts are appreciated.
One of the best ways to boost early bird ticket sales is through a raffle. Everyone who buys early gets automatically entered into a contest to win special prizes. These prizes can range from free parking, to VIP access, to branded giveaways, to a year-long membership. This added incentive may just be the little detail that pushes a significant portion of your audience to take the plunge and buy tickets early.
3. Space out the reveal of your lineup to build anticipation
Don’t play all your cards at once! If your event will feature some big names, consider holding a few aces in your pocket until your reticence has generated enough buzz and speculation.
By spacing out the reveal of your lineup like an advent calendar, you can maximize coverage and attention on social media platforms. You’ll keep both ticket holders and prospective buyers alike on the edge of their seats until the final reveal. It will also give you a newsworthy reason to create social media posts and reach out to the press on a regular basis.
4. Donate tickets and merchandise to non-profit partners
Charities and community organizations are excellent long-term partners for event marketers. Over time, promotional messaging and marketing campaigns can sometimes grow tiresome and seem too commercial to be effective. By authentically engaging with with good causes, you can appeal to the hearts of your audience.
In addition to the opportunities for continued collaborations, teaming up with charitable organizations in their efforts to do good can help you reach a wider audience who appreciates your service. Besides, it feels good to do good!
5. Publish your manifesto and code of conduct
One of the most effective ways to appeal to audiences is to evoke their convictions and make them feel like their interests and identities are represented. People are often eager to fly the flag of causes and groups that are close to their hearts; and it is totally gratifying when organizations and events conscientiously show their support for something important to you.
Make it clear who your event is meant for by making an open declaration of the kind of identities, causes, and behavior you want your event to foster and give space to, as well as those that will not be tolerated under your watch. This sort of “I see you!” messaging can be hugely powerful in winning your event support from identity-based communities.
6. Gamify registration, referrals, and testimonials
From a countdown clock to leader boards, from profiles with badges to gratifying benchmarks, a well-designed platform for booking tickets and referring friends can take your event registration game to the next level.
Processes that reward attendees for each stage they progress through tickle that part of our brains that really just wants to win. And especially for reoccurring events and regular programming, badges for seniority or Easter eggs for submitting testimonials can be a huge incentive to keep both new and past attendees coming back time and time again.
7. Intermittently promote limited-time offers
Your seventh social media post or email marketing blast of the month detailing the same ticketing price and event information is going to fall on deaf ears. By promoting limited-time offers for discounted tickets or extra freebies in short bursts throughout your promotion cycle, you can keep your target audience on their toes and build a sense of urgency. This can lead to spikes of engagement and contribute to FOMO among those who didn’t see the notification until the offer had already expired.
Effective event promotion won’t just help boost the number of attendees at your event, but it will also help to prime your attendees to have an amazing time at the event itself. By appealing to the parts of human nature that want to feel seen, to win, to snag a great deal, and to do good in the world, you can in turn make people feel great about taking part in your big day.