An event marketing plan is a valuable tool during the event planning process. It sets out your path to success – from attracting the right people to generating hype to maximizing ticket sales. Creating a plan for your marketing activities also helps cut down on mistakes, which will reduce your stress. And you don’t need to make one from scratch! Event marketing plan templates are available from experts who have walked the path before you.
Our EventPro professionals have provided an event marketing plan template below that you can adapt for all future events.
As you move through this event marketing plan template, be sure to keep your event type, target audience, and event goals in mind to ensure that the event promotion is in line with them.
This is crucial because an event website converts potential attendees to actual attendees. The website needs to provide a positive user experience and generate a high level of enthusiasm for the event itself. Because this acts as a foundation for your marketing efforts, you need to invest time into building it with a clear and logical layout, detailed content, as well as professional images and videos.
The aesthetic of your event website should show off your event brand with appropriate and consistent colors, fonts, and images. They will unify the brand and make it memorable for website visitors.
Our event webpages feature can simplify the registration process for attendees and include travel information or additional accommodations, depending on the event.
Effective event marketing plans should include images and videos of past events to show potential attendees what to expect and help them form an idea of what it’s like to be part of the event. Video testimonials are another great way to encourage website visitors to sign up for your event.
No matter the type of event, there is a certain level of anticipation attendees feel. You can leverage and build upon that with content marketing to strengthen your marketing campaign. Videos or video transcripts of interviews and “behind-the-scenes” are effective ways to generate anticipation and interest. Attendees gain a better understanding of speakers’ expertise along with activities to expect.
Effective event marketing strategies include periodically sending emails to pique the audience’s interest, keep them engaged, and move them to action. It’s a way to nudge the recipient. Therefore, timing is everything. Spread the emails out to ensure a positive experience.
Each email must be relevant to the recipient. What we mean by this is that you need to be sure that you’re sending the emails to the right people. Review their job description, location, and industry, for example. Also ensure that the links in the emails function. You wouldn’t want to convince the recipient to register only to have the link to your website’s registration page be broken. This can be enough to change people’s minds about attending.
With a complete event management system, you have access to the communications log feature, so you can save time thanks to templates for letters, contracts, and reports.
Event attendees need to see the benefits of their registration and attendance. For example, tell attendees about the type of knowledge they will gain from the speakers and how it can be applied to their life. Clear communication of the value proposition via your marketing efforts will pay off when it comes to ticket sales.
To maximize registration, you need convincing event messaging that reaches the right people. This may be upper management or the CEO of a company. An employee may wish to register for an event that can improve their skill set and that of their co-workers, but they will need help convincing their boss or whoever is responsible for making the purchase.
The solution is to create marketing materials that address all concerns of the decision-maker. A downloadable pre-drafted letter for employees to send to their decision-maker will speed up the registration process. It’s thinking outside of the box like this that will help your email marketing strategy to stand out.
Attendees can become advocates on your behalf to spread the word of your event to their networks. Podcasters, streamers, and TV or radio hosts are the kinds of advocates that can improve your ticket sales. While these advocates may promote your event because they are genuinely excited about it, providing them with an incentive wouldn’t hurt.
This part of a successful event marketing plan is perfect for virtual and hybrid events.
Sponsors can also take part in the event marketing strategy. Since they also want to maximize the number of attendees to reach a wider audience. You and the sponsor will need to be creative in order to satisfy both of your interests and goals.
You can use organic social media campaigns to further promote your event. When advertising through social media channels, keep content short with shareable hashtags and captions. Post a variety of shareable material on each social media platform, such as short videos (30 seconds or less), eye-catching images, as well as infographics. Include ways viewers can share your content and engage with the event before and after the big day; this is useful for virtual and hybrid events.
Strategizing for paid campaigns can be more involved. Keep your target demographic in mind and tailor the ads accordingly to optimize your reach and conversion rate.
Consult our blog for more information on event planning. Now that you know how to write a marketing plan for an event, EventPro can help you stay on track and organized throughout the entire process.
Whether you plan weddings and conferences, or are spreading awareness of your catering business, manage your event successfully with our software. You can choose the features you need and reduce your stress from start to finish.
Request a demo now to use EventPro at your upcoming event!