For Event Professionals in New York who oversee event marketing, you know that it can be a difficult process. There's a lot more to managing events than just buying the right tickets and making sure people show up on time.
From getting more out of your events to using video content to provide a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into marketing an event, I'll share some tips to help you make your event marketing more effective.
5 Secrets That Have Changed Event Marketing
The world of event marketing is changing fast, and the best way for you to stay on top of it is to know what's going on in the industry. I've got your back with this quick list of the top five trends that are going to change event marketing forever.
- Mobile Is the New Gold Standard
The biggest secret that has changed event marketing is that mobile is now the new gold standard. If you're involved in event marketing, you've probably had to deal with the problem of keeping your attendees engaged. What can you do to ensure they're staying interested?
That's right—you don't have to worry about getting your attendees' attention when they're on their phones, because they already have it! Mobile users spend more time on their phones than desktop users do, and that means a lot of time spent looking for information about events. And if they're not finding what they need, it's easy enough for them to find another vendor who does.
So, what does this mean for event marketers? It means that if you want your attendees to be happy, you need to make sure they have all the information they always want on hand while they're at the event. That means making sure it's available via mobile platforms as well as through traditional desktop sites.
- The Rise of Personalization
Back in the day, event marketing was all about getting your name out there. You'd print up flyers and post them everywhere, you'd make sure to book some prime booth space at a convention, and you'd try to get as many people as possible to come see your product or service. It worked—event marketing was a great way to get people interested in your brand!
But now, with so many different ways for people to find out about your company or event (and so many more channels for communication), it's no longer enough just to get the word out there. You need to be able to track those new customers and make sure they're happy with their experience.
This is where personalized content marketing comes into play so that they'll come back again and bring friends along with them. It's all about understanding how your customers think, what they want from an event (or your brand), and how they'll react once they're there.
Here are some tips for making sure your event feels like it's just for them:
- Use location-based marketing tools like GPS (Global Positioning System) or Wi-Fi tracking so that you can find out exactly where attendees are coming from and tailor your messaging accordingly.
- Offer personalized deals on tickets or exclusive access in exchange for sharing personal information such as email address or phone number.
- Encourage attendees to share photos or videos on social media using hashtag campaigns so that you can get real-time feedback about what's working well at your event.
- Content Marketing Is King
It's the secret that has changed event marketing forever.
Here's why:
- It's a great way to tell your story in a way that engages potential customers and makes them want to know more about you and what you have to offer.
- It can be used as part of an integrated marketing strategy, which helps to ensure that all of your efforts are working together in concert rather than as individual pieces that don't necessarily support one another.
Readers can't get enough of content marketing, and for a good reason: it works. In fact, according to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, B2B companies that use content marketing see an average increase in revenue of as much as 74% over two years.
This is due in large part to how much time people spend on the Internet. According to Comscore, the average person spends about 3 hours per day on their phone or tablet. That's more than an hour more than they spend sleeping! That's a lot of time for companies to get their message across—and a lot of time for customers to decide whether or not they want that message.
So, what does this mean for event planners in New York? It means that people are going online during their downtime at work (or even during work), which means that there's a huge opportunity for event planners to reach potential attendees through blogs and social media posts about their upcoming events—and maybe even bring them back around again with some interesting news from last year's event.
- Social Media Marketing Powers Events Everywhere
Social media marketing powers events everywhere. It's the secret that's changing the face of event marketing.
In spite of this, not everyone is utilizing its full potential for event marketing.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about the most common mistakes event managers make with social media. Here they are:
- Not having a strategy or plan for your social media channels before you start posting
- Being afraid to share bad news or failures because you don't want to be judged by your followers
- Not using influencers to help promote your event on their channels
How should you change this you ask?
There are three steps to consider when using social media marketing to power your next event:
1. Build a Community: Social media is based on building relationships with people, so before you launch an event, start building up an audience for it by posting about things related to your industry or niche. This way, when you announce your upcoming event, they'll already be excited about it and will be more likely to attend!
2. Use Hashtag Optimization: Hashtags are a great way to connect with people who share similar interests as yours and help them find out about your event! Make sure to use relevant hashtags in all of your posts about your upcoming event so that people can easily find out about it on Twitter or Instagram if they're interested in attending.
3. Give people an opportunity to get involved: Now that you've gotten people excited about your event, it's time to let them know how they can get involved. This could be as simple as posting a link to an online registration form or something more elaborate like creating a social media scavenger hunt that leads participants through each step of the registration process. The best part? You'll only need one post per platform—just make sure it's clear where they should click!
5. Live Streaming Events Are Taking Over
If you want to grow your audience, and thus your brand, live streaming events can be a great way to do it. But there’s more to it than just showing up and hoping for the best.
Here are some live streaming tips:
- Make sure there’s an audience first. If you don’t have an audience, then they won’t come. So, before you start planning a live streaming event, make sure that people will be interested in what you have to say. For example, if you’re a company that sells children’s clothing, then having a live stream about how to make your own baby food might not be as appealing as one about how to style your child for photos.
- Check out the competition. It may seem obvious, but if there are already other companies doing something similar (like a live streaming event), then why would anyone bother with yours? You need to stand out from the crowd if you want people to tune in!
- Make sure it's easy enough for them to find what they're looking for—and stick around once they do! This means having clear descriptions of each topic as well as links to social media accounts where people can follow along easily.
Bonus tip: Use video content to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the event.
One of the best ways to use video content is by providing a behind-the-scenes look at your event.
This can be done in a variety of ways:
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- You could interview some attendees or organizers and show their perspective on the event
- You could create an entire series showing how you prepared for it (think home movies).
This content can be used in several ways: It can help promote your event before it happens and after it's over. If you've never tried using video before, this is a great place to start!
Use the right tools to help you with the planning process.
Now that we've covered the basics, it's time to get into the nitty-gritty of how you can use these five secrets to turn your event from a good one into an amazing one.
The first thing you should do is use tools like Eventbrite and Eventbrite event marketing to help plan your event. These tools will help you find out what people want at your events and make sure that they have what they need at those events.
They'll also let you know if anyone has been complaining about any issues with previous events, so that these issues can be fixed before they become problems in future ones.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, your event marketing strategy should be about providing value to your customers. The more you can do to make them feel like they’re getting something out of the experience, the more likely they are to return in the future.
Join us at the 10 Year Anniversary of The Event Planner Expo to learn more about growing your brand through strategic marketing strategies!
