ID3AS Blog

What was the last event that you attended? Was it a startup launch party or a trade show? A 5K or seminar? While these events seem very different, and they are, to the brands and businesses who host them, they all have a common purpose: entertain and engage potential clients and customers. 

Event marketing is a valuable strategy for all businesses. Events benefit their hosts and sponsors, but they also enrich the lives of those who attend, as well as teach, inspire, and entertain - bringing people together in a way like no other. 

How do you plan for these events? Better yet, how do you build an event marketing plan? You must implement your marketing strategy, cross-promote, and set goals. Allow the experts at D3 to walk you through the steps and guide your business in leveraging event marketing as a part of your marketing strategy. 

Event Marketing Roadmap

Maybe part of your event marketing strategy includes driving ticket sales and registrations, but how do you maximize attendance? A promotional calendar will help you make the most of your strategy by making sure that you’re sending out the right message, at the right time, through the most appropriate channels. Use D3’s Roadmap to Event Marketing to help you guide your marketing and advertising efforts to make your next event a success. 

Sixteen Weeks Before Your Event

Now is the time to build the anticipation and excitement for your event. Utilize your social media channels to let your community know the date and time that tickets go on sale, or registration opens. You should also send an email to your current email list saying the same. Internally, you should be collaborating with speakers, sponsors, and other community partners to coordinate a cross-promotion strategy. 

Fourteen Weeks Before Your Event

At this point, registration should be open, and tickets should be on sale. Send out the first invite to your email list to let them know that tickets are now available, and do the same on social media, as well as your blog and website. Launch your online ads on Facebook and Google. Finally, be sure that your sponsors, speakers, or other partners know that the tickets are available so they can begin promoting the event. Set up tracking links to monitor the progress and check in monthly. 

Ten Weeks Before Your Event

Your messaging across all of your platforms should now represent the value of your event. Highlight speakers and topics, as well as other content that will attract attendees to the experience via social media and blog posts. Consider getting your partners to “guest post” and share with their networks, extra distribution can help to spread the word. Next, segment your emails into groups, and speak directly to the needs for that specific list. Finally, review your Google, Facebook, and other online advertising, evaluate keywords and targeting, cut what’s not working, and reallocate that budget into what is working. 

Six Weeks Before Your Event

The messaging that you use should now create urgency. Ads, social media, and blog posts should tell those who are interested in attending that time is running out. In addition, send out emails to let those who are on the fence know that there is limited time to buy. Utilize retargeting to reach out to those who have started to purchase but haven’t completed the process yet. Another way to entice potential attendees to purchase their tickets now is to offer a cheaper ticket price for buying in advance. For example, if your event costs $20 to attend, allow those who order their tickets early a price of $15 to lock them into attending. 

Two Weeks Before Your Event

The last push is here, send out one final email to people who have received, but have not opened your previous emails, and let them know that it’s the “last call”. Urge people via social media and blog posts to register before it’s too late with a direct call to action. 

Note: If you are short on time or only have a few weeks before your event, it is possible to condense this timeline! Sending out event emails, and getting in contact with possible attendees is a great way to spread the word and ensure the success of your event. 

Organizing an event and implementing a strategy can be daunting. Whether you’re aiming to build your clientele or contact list, event marketing could be the solution that your business has been looking for! 

Have questions? We can help! For more information about how D3 can benefit your business, please contact D3 at 410-213-2400, or email us at solutions@d3corp.com.