As a New York event planner, you’re confident in your ability and strategy to promote and market your in-person events. It makes sense. You’ve been marketing parties, weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, conferences, and corporate events in their traditional sense for years. But with the boom and rising popularity of virtual events, you might be scratching your head about how to transition your marketing strategy to entice and invite online audiences. Check out these insights, designed expressly to help promote and market those online, virtual events. With these tips in mind, you can carve out a great marketing strategy that will ensure optimized guest experiences and involvement with even those screen-facing events!
Start By Creating an Attention-Grabbing Event Page
The second you schedule a date for your virtual event, create the event page you’ll use to promote it. This page should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and exciting. Keep the event-specific details prominent, like dates, times, and opt-in links. But also be mindful of sharing all the value this event intends to provide those who attend. Use bullet lists for easy skimming. Provide links to more in-depth informational content elsewhere. This page needs to be attention-grabbing and dazzling in every aspect.
Get Great at Email Marketing About the Virtual Event
With your virtual event landing page created, it’s time to start sharing it. Get great with your email marketing strategy and create a timeline leading up to the event with core messaging that builds anticipation. Structure your sequences to introduce your event first. Then customize a series of reminders, with more intensity, leading up to the day of the event. Highlight the value of attending your virtual event, including key takeaways guests will love. And start delivering those brilliant event pages right to their inboxes.
Tease Sneak Peeks
Provide just enough information to excite and inspire guests to attend. But you don’t have to reveal your entire event lineup hand. Consider teasing surprise guest speakers or celebrities who might show up during the event. Offer sneak peek videos that just peel the curtain back enough that leaves audiences wanting to see more. And roll out different sneak peeks in the weeks leading up to the virtual event to give the impression that the event itself is just getting better and better.
Invite Virtual Event Sponsors
Inviting sponsors makes sense for your in-person events. But New York event planners should also leverage the marketing power of sponsors for online events, too. With sponsors, you can bring more engaging elements to the virtual experience. And sponsors can help reach and attract broader audiences you might not have access to yourself. Power brands sponsoring your online event will also boost credibility and importance in the minds of your potential guests.
Build Excitement Across All Other Marketing Channels
Use that incredibly designed event page to drive awareness and generate excitement across all your other channels. Leverage social media as a great tool for getting conversational about marketing the virtual event. Get your followers to like, share, and interact, only boosting visibility even more. And ask colleagues, partners, and vendors to help spread the word, too.
Create and Promote Incentives
When you plan and organize your in-person events and celebrations, you’ll make smart use of incentives to attract guests. But don’t forget, those methods are great for virtual events, too. Create and promote early-bird ticket specials, giveaways, and VIP packages to entice your audience to take action now instead of later. Dangle a few carrots to sweeten the deal in becoming a virtual event attendee, and watch those RSVPs flow in more frequently.
Take these insights and create your own marketing strategy roadmap for all your upcoming virtual events. And the official waitlist is open for The Event Planner Expo 2023, where you can connect and learn from the best for even more insights into growing your event business!
