Creative Ways To Promote Your Next Event

You might have planned the perfect event, whether it’s a super fun party or incredible fundraiser [Link to blog 0004 on successful fundraising event], but now you need to promote it. But when there are so many other events happening, and a sea of posts constantly rolling through people’s screens, how can you cut through the noise?It’s time to ditch boring social media posts and uninspired emails left unopened in inboxes. To create some serious buzz, you’ll need to get creative. Read on for 10 cool ideas you can use to promote your next party or event, and stand out from the crowd.

What is event promotion?

Event promotion is any method you use to promote an event, with the goal of getting people to buy tickets. It includes a range of different marketing strategies. The goals of event promotion, broadly, are:

• To widen the audience of people who are aware of your event
• To entice people who are interested to purchase tickets
• To create buzz around the event, including (possibly) media write-ups.

What are the main ways you can promote your event?

Generally, there are a number of broad methods and channels that you want to include in your event promotion strategy. This includes:

• Social media (including paid social media)
• Advertising (both digital and analogue)
• Email marketing
• Sending press releases about the event
• Video marketing
• Experiential marketing

1. Create an experience

Experiential marketing is a bit of a buzz word at the moment, and for good reason [Link to our blog on experiential marketing]. A report suggests some big brands are dedicating up to 50% of their marketing budget towards creating these experiences. Once people are allowed back into public spaces, it is worth thinking about a creative experience you can put up that will help market your event.

Some ideas that we loved have included:

• Volkswagen’s famous piano staircase
• Miserior’s charity donation billboard, where people walking past can make donations using their card (because who carries cash anymore?)
• Rick and Morty creating a real life ‘Rickmobile’, which went viral on social media.

For more inspiration, check out our free ‘showstoppers on a shoestring’ ebook!

2. Find a brand partner

Finding a marketing partner can be a win-win when it comes to promoting your next event. If you are serving a particular drink, why not reach out and see if you can partner with the company that makes it? Cross-promotion across both platforms can help boost both brands.

This can be a particularly good tactic if your event is fundraising for a cause. Even if you don’t have a huge social media following or reach to offer a potential partner, you can provide an opportunity for them to do some good and be a good corporate citizen.

3. Go on a podcast

Is there a podcast whose audience has a strong cross-over with your desired attendees? Reach out and see if you can get a guest spot to talk about the event, and what your company does. This can be a great way to reach people with similar interests and who are likely to want to buy a ticket. For example, if you are hosting a literary event, it’s a great idea to reach out to some book-based podcasts!

4. Get some influencers on board!

Make sure you do your research and find influencers with aligned interests. And also consider trying to have a few brand ambassadors - paid social media influencers - who can post about the event, and even attend in person. This can be a great way to reach a specific audience who you know follow particular influencers.

And remember the famous ‘Glass-Stone-Berry’ tweet from Paul McCartney that set off wild rumours ahead of Glastonbury? You might not be able to get Paul McCartney on board, but it does show that you can get a lot of hype for free if you are clever about who will promote your event on their own channels.

5. Create video content

Coming up with a creative video campaign is a fun way to show what your event will look and feel like. This is especially helpful if you have footage from past events to edit together into an epic montage. Use some inspiring music and you have a very enticing marketing package!

6. Lookalike audiences

It’s a great idea, before advertising, to work out your audience. Make sure you know exactly who the ideal, or target, attendees of your event are. This might be people who purchased tickets to your last event or the main demographics who follow or subscribe to your content.

Once you know your audience, go searching for other events, websites or social media pages that target and appeal to that same audience.

7. Geotag your event

Geotagging, simply, is adding information about the location of your event. This metadata can be used for more targeted advertising. After all, if you are having a party in Sydney, it would make sense to try and promote it to people already in Sydney. You can geotag almost all content that you want to share, from images and videos to web pages.

8. Go offline!

There is something to be said for old ‘analogue’ techniques - flyers, posters, or offering a taster session can all be effective ways of reaching audiences. Just make sure your chosen techniques aligns with other values, like sustainability.

9. Engage Street Artists

Why not reach out to partner with a street artist, and get some brand recognition through using their art? While you probably won’t want your brand painted ‘illegally’ on the side of a building, there is now a whole industry around partnering street artists with brands. You can collaborate to create large (legally rented) public displays.

10. Send out some swag!

Everyone loves to get sent a little treat in the mail - especially influencers and journalists or writers who can help give some promo to your event. Whether in the form of cupcakes, personalised wine bottles or a branded frisbee set, think outside the box when it comes to sending out some swag.

This worked well for s p a c e, who hosted Australia’s biggest virtual dinner party (and listed it through Humanitix). Before the big night, they sent out party boxes to attendees - complete with recipe cards and placemats. This certainly helped ensure the night was a success!

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