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Event marketing – must-try ideas for event promotions

When you have an event to market and want to foster engagement, marketing comes into play.
Not all companies have a dedicated marketing department so the ideas I’m sharing in this blog are ideas that can be adopted by everyone. Simple but effective ideas to get an event promoted to your audience, using social media and other traditional methods.

Pitch perfect
Many factors need to be considered to pitch your event at the right level and to the right audience, but these marketing and promotion techniques can be adapted accordingly. 

Promoting an event typically seeks to:

• Drive brand awareness

• Increase exposure visibility

• Reach your target audience by the most appropriate channel

Activities should be planned for:

• Launch
  

• During

• Post-event

Messaging should be aligned to what you want to happen – the call to action. Is it to register, share, enter details, comment or scan a QR code for more details? Messaging should signpost the ‘what’s in it for me’ of the audience and how your event addresses the attendee’s needs/challenges.

Simple and effective techniques
To start, do your analysis of where your audience hangs out and work on a promotion strategy to reach them.

Social media can reach the masses and connects communities. Use social media to create the buzz. Plan and create graphics/infographics for the duration of the promotion. There are lots of free tools like Canva for amateurs and pros. Create a series of designs for each channel. Canva is good for auto creating graphic sizes for all platforms. I also recommend trying a variety of social media channels. See what works to build engagement and have a clear strapline. This should be a short phrase that emulates teaser information and what makes you stand out.

Instagram serves LemonZest well when sharing images and video reels of our events. LinkedIn is great for connecting with like-minded networks. If you want to brush up on your social media skills and build a strategy, this webinar is one to watch – a beginner’s guide to building the perfect social media strategy.

I recommend using video to not only promote the event but also communicate the value proposition. This can be self-recording a short reel, a Tik-Tok or engagement on LinkedIn. Video is a powerful tool for engagement to grab the audience’s attention and get across the message succinctly.

Good old email marketing has come a long way. Personalised invites are a must and make sure emails are mobile-optimised. There are lots of tools to support email marketing creation and automation, from the simple to the sledgehammers. Target your audience with specific content, try A/B testing to see what works best and measure opens, clicks and engagement.

I hope you’ve found these ideas useful to market your next event. As LemonZest’s marketing strapline says, ‘we speak your language’. When it comes to anything event related, we are here for you if you have any event plans, want support making it stress-free or need our expertise to make it a professional gig!

Finally, Look out for comms about our latest production. A project called Frost Bitten, a documentary filmed in Alaska by our team following the extraordinary journey of Nigel Vardy FRGS! 🎥❄️

Utterly fascinating!