Event strategy and planning require a supreme level of organisation, time management, and communication skills. In addition to the benefits events inherently offer creators, such as revenue and engagement, creating events can be a highly effective marketing tool for companies, providing a platform to promote your business and build relationships with your target audience.

Whether you’re hosting a conference, trade show, or networking event, there are a number of strategies and ideas you can use to make your event a success. So, we created this event marketing guide to light the way. We’ve included tips, event strategy examples, and links to templates that you can use to get started.

Table of contents

What is event marketing?

What are the 6 Ps in event marketing?

What are the benefits of event marketing?

Event marketing examples to inspire your planning

Identifying your event marketing goals

Promotional channels for event marketing and how to use them

9-step guide to successful event marketing

Event marketing ideas to drive attendance and engagement

Your 12-month event marketing checklist

What is event marketing?

At its simplest, event marketing is focused on creating live experiences that promote a brand, service, or product.

One of the biggest reasons companies attend, or host events is to establish and build their brand and identity. There are different types of event marketing, including industry events hosted by a single company, trade shows, and digital experiences such as virtual conferences or live-streamed workshops. When deciding which approach is right for you, think about who your customer is and what kind of event they’re likely to attend.

Successful event marketing strategies also include effective promotional efforts that encourage potential attendees to buy tickets. Promotion of the event encompasses various inbound and outbound marketing techniques, such as email, social media, event discovery sites, retargeting, and search engine optimisation (SEO). We’ll go over each of these in detail later.

What are the 6 Ps in event marketing?

The keys to successful event marketing can be boiled down to six essential components, also known as the 6 Ps. These components are:

What are the benefits of event marketing?

Events are multi-sensory experiences that engage an audience on a level that is simply not possible through other types of marketing. Events can help you meet important business goals, including:

With a clear strategy and a plan to get you there, events are well worth the marketing investment – you just need to find the right event activity that fits your brand. Need some inspiration? Read on.

Event marketing examples to inspire your planning

Choosing the right event activity for your business will depend on the industry you’re in, your goals, and your budget. Here we’ve reviewed some of the most common types of in-person and online event marketing ideas.

In-person examples

Online examples

Identifying your event marketing goals

Before you start planning your event, you need to make a list of your trackable goals, also known as key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs will provide a yardstick by which to measure your event’s success after everything is over.

Having the right event metrics can help you fine-tune your event marketing strategies, improve sales, and increase attendance turnout. If you’re not sure where to start, here are six metrics to measure your success.

1. Registrations

Registrations are the most important metric to consider as the precursor to overall event marketing success. Look at peaks in registration to determine if any particular marketing effort drove the spike and use the final number of attendees as a benchmark for your next event.

2. Attendance

Compare the number of registrants you had to the number of attendees who showed up. A large percentage of no-shows could indicate that your event was marketed well, but people didn’t feel invested or interested enough to actually attend – fortunately, there are ways to avoid no-shows.

3. Lead generation

Many businesses choose to use event marketing to generate leads, and you can measure how many leads your event brings in for your sales funnel (the quality of which is up to you to establish pre-event).

4. Attendee feedback

A post-event survey is a valuable opportunity to get feedback directly from attendees about their experience at your event. KPIs from surveys can include attendee satisfaction, intent to return, and net promoter score (NPS).

5. Brand impressions

Develop an event hashtag to share with your attendees; 59% of Gen Zers attend events, so they need something to share on social channels. Monitor the hashtag to see whether your event was worth sharing and whether your event brand is reaching a wider potential audience through social sharing.

6. New customers

Depending on the length of your sales cycle, you’ll be able to track how many leads generated by your event turn into customers. This may not be the most immediately measurable KPI, but it’s useful for demonstrating the business value of your event.

Promotional channels for event marketing and how to use them

If you host an event, but no one comes, did it really happen? You need to utilise a variety of marketing channels to reach your target audience and entice them to attend.

Social media marketing for events

One of the best ways to spread the buzz about an upcoming event is by using social media. To maximise your social media event marketing efforts, do some promotion on a few different platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to ensure that you’re reaching a variety of potential attendees. The more you use social media, the more you’ll be able to get a sense of what’s working and resonating with your followers.

When you’re making these tweaks, make sure to measure these key metrics:

Search engine optimisation for events

To make your event rank in Google search results, it helps to know about search engine optimisation (SEO). Here are three tips to get your event to rank on Google.

Email

To sell out your event, you’re going to need a good email marketing strategy. Not only is email a direct line to potential attendees, but it’s also an optimal channel to build your audience.

To make your event email marketing the most effective, you need to pay attention to three key metrics: open rate, click-through rate, and unsubscribe rate. Maximise your results by:

Stand out in an event-goer’s noisy inbox with these event email templates written by the experts at MailChimp.

9-step guide to successful event marketing

There’s an array of reasons why you and your brand should consider event marketing strategies, but you also want to be sure your strategies are successful. Use our guide to make sure you’ve covered your bases and consider some key suggestions such as:

1. Manage your event budget

Without a thorough understanding of every penny you spend, you’re setting yourself up to go over budget.

2. Create an engaging event experience

To make your event stand out, it’s important to plan a memorable event for your attendees. Consider incorporating interactive elements, such as live demonstrations or hands-on workshops, and be sure you’re providing high-quality content that is relevant and valuable to your audience.

3. Reach out to speakers

Your ability to find and secure event speakers is crucial to your event’s success. With a strong sourcing and outreach strategy, you can ensure your agenda will attract the right audience.

4. Connect with sponsors

If your potential sponsors are proving hard to convert, remember what you have to offer. As long as you are reaching out to companies relevant to your event, you have something they want: the attention of their target audience.

5. Create targeted ads

You have a solid list of people who’ve purchased tickets to your events in the past. You want to find more people just like that on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

These platforms have the technology to help you find lookalike audiences – people who match your buyer profile in terms of demographics, geography, stated interests, and online behavior. Using their algorithms and automated tools, create ads targeted to those exact people.

6. Leverage influencer marketing

Partnering with influencers in your industry can help you reach a wider audience and build credibility for your event. Engage them to promote your event on their own social media channels and even speak or participate in the event itself.

7. Maximise PR opportunities

PR stands for “public relations,” and good PR is essential to spreading the word about your event. While advertising on social media and other platforms can be effective, there is a whole network of news outlets and publications that you can use to inform people of your event – and, simultaneously, your brand. Make sure you have the right PR strategy with tips such as:

8. Follow up with attendees

Once your event is over, don’t be lulled into thinking your work is done. Now is the time to follow up with your attendees to find out what marketing efforts they responded to and what campaigns you can forego next time. Surveys are a convenient and inobtrusive method – be sure your guests include an email address when they register for your event so you can communicate with them afterward.

9. Track your event marketing efforts

Once you’ve planned your event and promotions, it’s time to gather data and track your progress. So where can you find the information you need? Here are three places to begin your search:

Event marketing ideas to drive attendance and engagement

Brands are using events to broaden their reach in a full range of ways, with concepts that incorporate sights, sounds, and other sensations to make a lasting impression. The type of event your organisation chooses will depend on factors such as budget, location, and the nature of the product, but we’ve got some ideas to get you started:

Your 12-month event marketing checklist

Promotion is just one part of an event marketer’s job. Reference this checklist frequently during the event planning process to reduce stress and make sure no detail is forgotten.

8-12 months pre-event

Planning ahead gives you enough time to build a plan, get approval on your budget, and research and secure sponsors, speakers, and an amazing venue.

3-4 months pre-event

With the foundation for your event built, the next phase in your planning process puts the final touches on your event before registrations open.

2 months pre-event

A few months out from the big event, you have an opportunity to build excitement and urge interested attendees to register before it’s too late.

The week before the event

There’s plenty to do in the week leading up to your event, from last-minute details to unexpected changes. You’ll also want to do a final promotional push that inspires FOMO in potential attendees who have waited until the last minute to secure their tickets.

Day of event

As your event approaches, your priorities will shift from promotion to execution, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t market your event even as it’s happening. Take full advantage of the content being produced at your event and be sure to:

Post-event

After your event is over, it’s crucial to follow up with attendees, stakeholders, and sponsors immediately. Within 24 hours of your event, you should be sending attendees satisfaction surveys and any post-event content that was promised. Seize the opportunity to keep the conversation going on social media by posting highlights that use your event hashtag.

In summary, post-event you want to:

Put your event marketing strategies to good use

By marketing your event, you also are marketing your brand. With so many types of events and activities to choose from, you’re sure to find the right strategy that fits your brand. So there’s every reason to level up your marketing with events that extend your brand’s reach – and with tools like Eventbrite Boost at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever to spread the word to customers new and old.