For any business, having a well-planned out promotional strategy is vital. Event marketing is becoming far more prevalent and almost expected as well. Nowadays, if businesses want to get known, they need to get involved in their community and their industry.

Sure, event planning is no easy task and there is a lot that needs to be taken into account for creating a successful event. But in the end, if everything goes well, and it’s organized, it can be a great way to build a lot of buzz and grow the reputation. There are plenty of brands that are known for their event marketing, Red Bull being one of the best examples of this. 

Even if you’re not a fan of their product or don’t use it, their marketing campaign (especially event marketing) has been an excellent way to spread the word about the brand. No matter what industry you’re in, your brand can build a presence through event marketing.  These are some helpful tips for making your marketing event a major success! 

Understand that a successful event takes months to prepare

It’s absolutely true, you’ll want to have three months at the very least for preparing an event, but it’s far better to aim towards six to eight months in advance. This will ensure that things are properly planned out.  There is a lot that goes into planning a successful event and it truly cannot be crunched in a short period of time.

This will only lead to too much stress, and you want to improve the well-being in the workplace by being as well prepared and organized as possible. No one likes chaos in the office, so don’t try to create chaos by expecting a magnificent event in a short span of time.

Set up a website for the event

Sure, there are websites like Eventbrite, a LinkedIn Events page, and even the Facebook Event pages, but it’s best to have an entire website dedicated to the event. The other websites such as Eventbrite or social media should be nothing more than something additional.

Having a basic landing page for your event is going to instantly make it appear far more professional. You’ll be able to put your branding and SEO efforts into the event page, but insufficient information, contact information, plus this domain can be used for the future whenever you choose to create other events.

Look into using popups

Sure, pop-ups can be annoying but If you use them strategically, they can be very beneficial. They’re known for boosting conversation rates, so make sure to add a popup on your business’s website about your event and have a link in the popup to the event landing page.

Look for guest speakers

If you’ve ever looked at an event’s website, you’ve most likely have noticed that there tend to be guest speakers. Not only that but there are even pictures of guest speakers on the landing page too. It’s key to draw in popular speakers, as they’re going to draw more people to your event. If your event is geared towards the locals in your community then you may want to choose someone that the community may be familiar with.

If your event is targeting an audience within the same industry as you, then you may want to just look into hiring a guest speaker that is an industry influencer. In general, just make sure to get some guest speakers, add their photo, credentials, and their experience onto your landing page.

Look into what may need to be rented

When it comes to event marketing, if you want to make sure that it’s a success, then you’ll most likely have to look into renting some things out. This may include hotspot rentals, renting out space such as a venue or major conference space, and maybe other things such as furniture, games, entertainment, services, and so much more. 

Sure, it can get overwhelming, but if you want to ensure that this event is a success, you simply cannot think about being as cheap as possible.  Planning out a good event takes a lot of time and money, plus guests (and guest speakers) are going to expect certain types of amenities as well.

Write a press release

You don’t need to hire a PR agency to help you out in creating a press release. Distributing a press release about your event is going to majorly help out in getting your event pick up by news portals and media sites. The journalist will even be compelled to write about your event if there is something unique about it.

In your press release, you’ll want to make sure to give out relevant dates, who the speakers are, how readers and register, and what’s so important about the event. Even invite some journalists and the local news agencies to come to the event!

Create an affiliate program

If you’re planning on charging for the event then an affiliate program may be very helpful for your event. This is something that will need some time to prepare, so once you have all the details for your event, you’ll want to then create an affiliate program.

An affiliate program can help gain traction such as getting influencers to write about your post. It’s also going to get people to sign up, especially if there is a special promo code attached for affiliate marketers to promote. Overall, you can generate a lot of revenue, attendance, and a very efficient, yet affordable method of marketing by utilizing this.

Create some free swag

People love getting free swag at events. Those little grab bags that people pick up are one of the things that people look forward to at these events. Freebies can be anything from shirts, tote bags, stationery, bottles, you name it! But it’s best to look into giving out functional items that you know people would use.

People do appreciate shirts, and they tend to wear them for a bit, so that could be an option. In general, if you’re going to plan to give out some free swag, make sure it’s useful and not junk that will be thrown straight into the trash.