Event Promotion: Tips for Success

The most important part of any event is how well it is advertised.

You’ve spent weeks planning, setting everything up and making sure everything will go smoothly for the big day, but if you don’t get the word out, all your hard work was for nothing. Without event promotion help, no one will know about the happening, and if no one knows about it, no one will show up.

So how does one go about promoting their event? Here’s a checklist of things in order to avoid headaches later on.

1. Time is your enemy
What you thought would take only an hour could end up taking three hours, so make sure that you plan accordingly. Give yourself two to three weeks to advertise your event, more if possible.

Just because you suddenly need to get your event out there, other businesses won’t come to a screeching halt to take care of you and your needs. Life doesn’t revolve around you or your event and businesses have more pressing problems and worries that get added on a daily basis.

Do yourself and others a favor by allowing businesses some time to organize the inclusion of your information in their space, whether it is in the newspaper, on the Internet, or a local station.

2. Be interesting

Nothing is worse than a boring advertisement. You need something that is exciting and will catch someone’s eye. Use brightly colored flyers, original artwork and catchy phrases for your event promoting.

Be creative but be brief. Too much information can be overwhelming and people don’t want to read an essay. Give the basic facts and include contact information for further questions.

3. Location scout

Don’t just advertise in the same location as the event. You want as many people as possible to know about your event so make sure that you are trying to reach as many people as possible.

You can go as big as having a billboard or on a more scaled-back level, leave fliers at businesses that relate to your event. You could even stick fliers on utility poles at a crosswalk next to those about missing dogs.

4. Be vocal

Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to get your ideas out there and let people know what’s going on. Tell your friends about it and in turn, they will tell their friends, and tell their friends, and so on.

5. Be social about it

Social media is a great way to let people know about an event, but don’t solely rely on this for getting the word out. Tweet it, create a Facebook page, create a short video for YouTube or Vimeo, use Google Ads, etc.

6. Give a freebie

People love things that are free, so give away a ticket or two to get them interested in the event promotion. Contests are a great way to gain awareness and keep people’s attention.