The biggest fear that event organizers face is the possibility that their event may flop due to low turnout. Luckily, proper pre-event promotions can ensure a sold-out event with guaranteed revenue. But the quantity and quality of your event promotions are often limited by the event’s budget.
Huge events often have the sponsors and budget to pay for billboards and advertising segments on TV or streaming apps. But in case of a limited budget, what can an organizer do to sell out an event? Keep reading for 7 cost-effective event promotion ideas that will ensure you get the biggest turnout to your event.
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Online Event Promotion
The popularity of the internet makes it difficult to have a successful event without an online presence. Any event you are hosting should have a website. This is where you will inform potential attendees about what they can expect at the event. The event website will also act as the main place for registrations and payments for the event.
Have a countdown timer on your page that shows the days left until the event takes place. You should also have a blog where you can write more about the event and the performers or speaker. You can also post updates on how your team is getting ready to host your party.
Make your event website an effective promotional tool by testing its usability before launching it. One of the best ways to do this is A/B testing. This involves testing different versions of the website to see what elements bring in the most visits, engagement and event registrations. Google Analytics is also a must-use tool to analyze how effective your website is and what elements you can improve to increase engagement.
Leverage Social Media Event Promotion
Social media marketing is one of the best event promotion ideas you can use to achieve a sold-out event. There are currently over 3.6 billion social media users worldwide and the number rises daily. So, your desired event attendees are most likely to be users of at least one if not all the major platforms.
The best about social media is that it will cost you nothing to create an event page on popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. Even paying for advertising spots on these platforms is relatively cheap.
To make the best use of social media promotion you could work with social media influencers to promote your event. Find out who your target market follows and approach them to promote your event for you.
Check and Respond to Event Hashtags and News
Another one of the best event promotion ideas that won’t cost you money is to track and respond to hashtags and news about your event. On Google and Social Media platforms it is easy to track internet posts about your event by setting alerts for hashtags and news related to the event.
Whenever you get an alert about your event you must respond quickly with answers to any questions, liking posts about your events, sharing news about it, etc. Responding to posts about your event will help spread the news about it.
Offer Early Bird Discounts
Event attendees might wait until the last minute to buy tickets if you don’t prompt them. This can be stressful for you as an event organizer as you won’t be able to predict how many tickets you will sell. Avoid the stress by encouraging people to buy tickets early using early bird offers.
For instance, you can sell tickets at a reduced rate up to two weeks before the event. You could also sell a limited number of tickets at a lower price. Scarcity marketing where only a few people enjoy the early bird discount works well because people are afraid of losing out on a bargain.
Post Your Event on Online Guides and Apps
Another great event promotion idea is to register your event with popular online guides and apps. These include applications like Facebook events, Meetup.com and Eventbrite. 64% of event-goers look up online guides and neighborhood apps when searching for what to do. So it’s important to list your event on at least one or two neighborhood guides or apps.
To ensure the best value for money, pick guides or apps that your target market is likely to use. For example, meetup.com may be great for dating or singles events whereas Facebook may be great for art exhibitions.
Remember to allow people to buy event tickets directly on the online guides. You may lose a significant number of ticket sales if you make it impossible for users to buy tickets at other sites and platforms.
Use In-Event Promotion
If you’re having an outdoor event that anyone can walk into or are taking part in an exhibition, set up great displays to attract visitors. Professional event booths like these here will make you stand out from other exhibitors. You can also attract attendees to your events by having crowd grabbing activities like presentations, demonstrations, games, and contests.
You should take advantage of in-event event promotion ideas to encourage people to attend for a day if your event will run over a few days. Do this by using gimmicks such as mascots or a fun photo booth that will encourage visitors to take photos of your event and share them on their social media pages.
Handing out free branded merchandise is another great idea that can encourage visitors to attend your event as everyone loves freebies. You can also post interesting event updates on your social media page and use Facebook live to post-event video updates.
Partner With Speakers, Performers or Partners to Promote the Event
Another great way to promote your event would be to empower your speakers or performers to sell tickets. Any speaker or performer you choose for your event will have their tribe. They will be able to get a few event registrations by posting about the event on their social media pages or website.
You could even have the arrangement to give them a percentage of each ticket sale that comes through their promotions.
The Best Event Promotion Ideas to Achieve a Sold Out Event
Selling out of event tickets is the mark of a great event promotion strategy. Use a combination of these event promotion ideas given above to achieve this status.
For more information on how to plan and promote a successful event, read the rest of our blog.
