Event organizers should aim to sell as many tickets possible. This is both a goal and an important stressor. You may not have all the promotion strategies you need, so consider new ways to expand your reach. These are 20+ creative event promotion ideas to increase ticket sales.
1. Make use of event discovery websites
Eventalways research has shown that more than half of urban event-goers turn to neighborhood guides to find things to do. Eventalways makes your event more visible to them. To promote unique, high-quality events all over the globe, we use our promotional channels to highlight them. To learn more about how to get found, check out the Ultimate Marketing Guide.
2. Native checkout enabled
makes it simple for people to purchase tickets once an event has been discovered. This streamlines the customer experience by allowing customers to purchase tickets from wherever they are. This eliminates the possibility of ticket-buyers being distracted while shopping or bouncing due to slow loading.
Event that sell tickets directly through Facebook generate 2x more sales and 2x as many registrations per event than events that redirect to a ticketing site.
3. Your content marketing efforts should be directed towards leadership
It’s easy to choose the easiest option when it comes to content, whether it be website copy, blog posts or social media posts. Search engine optimization. However, stuffing your copy full of keywords is not the best strategy for SEO and attendance.
Instead, make thoughtful content that positions you as a thought leader and a resource people can turn to for information. Your brand will be more trusted by people, which will increase their willingness to share and purchase from you.
4. Make an infographic
Visually appealing infographics are a great way to share your content across the internet. They combine information and entertainment.
Your content will be shared more often, which means more event-goers will find your event. This is great news because social media accounts account for between 10-20% of all ticket sales.
5. Start a YouTube channel
YouTube’s popularity makes it an ideal place to establish an online presence. YouTubeLive allows you to take advantage of the demand for live video broadcasting to your audience in real-time.
What to film? You have many options for event marketing video. There are sneak peeks, introductions of speakers and sponsors, insights into what participants will gain or tips on how to maximize the event.
6. Explore podcasting
Podcasting should be part of your event marketing strategy. Podcasts are a great way to reach large audiences without spending a lot of money. All you need is a microphone and recording equipment.
Start your podcast with a topic that is relevant to your event. You can also become a guest speaker or sponsor for an already existing podcast with a similar audience.
7. Partner with Empower speakers to promote your products
Your sponsors, speakers, and partners all have an audience that is just waiting for you to introduce them to your event brand. You should empower them with blurbs and images that they can share on social media. There are likely to be at least a few new participants. You can give them a tracking link to register so that you can track where your guests are from.
8. Get more out of your email
You might be missing the point if you are just sending out your entire mailing list whenever you announce an event or book performers,
Instead, divide your email lists by categories. This could be people who have purchased tickets in the past, those who have not, or other demographics of your target audience. Next, create targeted email campaigns to target these smaller groups by using specific messages. Email targeting is a term used to describe the creation of email campaigns that speak to a smaller group with specific messages. This can be done using email marketing platforms such as Emma or MailChimp.
9. Get a boost
Eventalways is the best way to boost your online advertising. Eventalways, the all-in one marketing platform for event organizers, is Eventalways. You have a lot to do, whether you are connecting people in person or virtual, for poetry readings, mariachi lessons, cook-alongs, or concerts. Eventalways allows you to connect with new people, engage followers and grow your attendance directly from your Eventalways profile.
10. You might consider ad-retargeting
Although you might not be familiar with the term, you are probably very familiar with the technology. You search for something online and find ads for it days later on another site.
Many people who were not ready to purchase tickets the first time around are grateful for reminders to do so before they sell out. Eventalways organizers have experienced an average 6x return on their investment with ad-retargeting.
11. Professional photography is worth the investment
Eventalways data has shown that YouTube and Google Images are the most popular online destinations people visit from event pages. Do they like what they see and will they share it with others?
Photographs can set the mood and answer questions from event-goers about the event’s atmosphere. Photographs should be well lit to capture the atmosphere and show what attendees can expect. Photographs are also essential for making other marketing techniques, such as email and advertising, more effective.
12. Use badges to empower your grassroots marketers
Your biggest fans are your attendees. When someone registers or buys tickets for your event, send them an icon or badge that they can post on their website or to social media. These graphics can be embedded with HTML so that viewers can link back to your event page.
13. Partner with a sponsor
You might consider partnering with sponsors to promote your event. You have their support and they are interested in your event’s success so they might be open to sharing promotional opportunities. Discuss ways that your event could open up promotional opportunities for you both when discussing a partnership. To make the best partnership, the partnership should be mutually beneficial.
14. Zero in on a bona fide social influencer
Your biggest supporters are, in fact, your fans. You might also find one or more who are particularly influential . You can find these people and encourage them to spread the word. To find, manage and capitalize on social influencers within your field, you can use technology tools.
15. Brand ambassadors available for hire
The paid brand ambassador is the highest tier of influencer marketing. Look for people who have a lot of online influence, such as celebrities, experts in a particular subject, bloggers, and YouTube stars. You can usually enlist them with financial compensation to create timely and strategic posts about your event.
16. Turn attendees into event ambassadors
There are two options: you can either spend money on a brand ambassador or leverage your guests as ambassadors. You can be sure they will share their experience with friends and colleagues if you give them a great time. You can go one step further by giving them swag or lots of Instagram-able and TikTokable moments that will be conversation starters and promotional pieces that will keep them talking about you long after the party is over. You can offer them a link that they can share to earn a portion of every ticket sold if they have a large network.
17. Change the conversational focus to one that is promotional
Social media posts should not be a series of marketing messages. Engage potential ticket-buyers in meaningful conversations. The “4:1-1 Rule” is a good way to strike a balance: For every promotional post you make share or retweet a post relevant, then post 4 pieces written by brands or other people.
It’s important to think of it as providing useful content for your followers. You can build their trust and make them respect your event brand.
18. Social media allows you to tell stories
There are potential events marketing strategies that can be facilitated by the Stories feature on Snapchat and Instagram. Stories are a great way to engage your audience. Engage your social networks with real-time insider stories as you prepare for the event and during the event. This intimate way of connecting people to your event will make them feel more motivated to attend.
19. Limited-time offer
A limited offer, which will soon be discontinued, is a great way to convince people to enter their credit card details to confirm their tickets and spaces. It should sound appealing and make it clear that the offer is final once a date and time have passed. This will create a sense urgency and fear of missing out, which will drive sales.
20. Encourage widespread sharing of your event
It’s easy for attendees to share photos from your event with friends at home. They could even become your next attendees.
Snapchat geofilters allow you to add a brand illustration to photos. Instagram photo booths will automatically upload photos to Instagram for your attendees. Participants can use the Twitter wall to encourage them to tweet with your event hashtag. You can also set up a ministudio for TikTok videos.
21. Look for audiences that are similar to you
A solid list of people have purchased tickets to your past events. You want to reach more people.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all offer the technology to enable you to find similar audiences — people that match your buyer profile in terms if demographics, geography and online behavior. You can create targeted ads by using their automated tools and algorithms.
22. Make an event community
Social media is a great way to promote and showcase past events, as well as encourage future ones. Make the most of social media chatter and engage with others discussing your event. You can create a place where people can meet, network, and build relationships beyond the events they organize.
23. Orchestrate a social media ticket giveaway
You could have a simple enter-to-win sweepstakes or something more fun like a judged Snapchat drawing contest, or tag-a friend contest (“Who would bring ? People love to share their chances of winning with friends. Make sure to read the rules and regulations that each social media platform has regarding contests.
24. Join other groups at similar events
You are organizing a new tradeshow for technology and want to attract some of the Salesforce crowd. You might consider purchasing a Salesforce booth. Sponsor a happy hour or purchase a booth at Salesforce.
You can find events that have the same demographics, but not necessarily competitors, and work with them to promote your event.
25. Partner with another event
Partnering with other organizers can help you expand your reach and visibility. You can increase your ticket sales by partnering with an event brand that is familiar with the event industry and has a network. Your brand images should be merged so that your partnership is easily recognized by fans of both brands. Strong relationships can increase your ticket sales by more than just doubling.
26. Session invitation-only
A VIP-only, exclusive session is a great way to draw VIPs to your events. To encourage people to mingle and mix, you can offer an invitation-only session. A VIP presence at your events increases the credibility of your audience, and boosts your online promotion.
27. Integrate your CRM
Your event community will be easier to manage if the event registrants data is directly in your CRM. This will allow you to easily segment your attendees and create a list of people that you can promote to. It’s time for you to consider integrating your CRM with your event registration. Eventalways offers this feature for free, and many other tools to help you sell more tickets.
28. To learn from activity, connect a web analytics platform
You will be more informed when you make decisions about where to place your ads online. If your registration platform does not offer an analytics report or allow you connect to an analytics tool, you are doing yourself a disservice. This will provide valuable information about how visitors arrive at your site, and what motivates them. Do your research on which platforms offer this feature, and make sure to do your homework to ensure you get the best value for your money. This benefit is also available at no additional cost through Eventalways.
It is likely that you don’t have enough marketing budget or the marketing bandwidth to implement all these event promotion ideas at once. Pick a few, and measure the results so that you can identify which are most successful.