Five Essential Tips For Running A Successful Event
Fall and winter are full of opportunities for event marketing. You can run marketing campaigns around events which are due to happen anyway, like major holidays. You can also create your own special events and market around them. Here are some essential tips for event marketing.
Think about the practicalities of the event
You need to have an event before you can market it. Major events like holidays will often have attached traditions. You can certainly use these for inspiration. Just make sure you can implement them safely for the number of people you’re expecting. If you’re creating your own event, think about what you can do to make it unique and engaging.
Avoid clashing with other key events
Other key events are whatever your customers think they are. As a rule of thumb, however, you want to avoid scheduling events at the same time as major sports games or must-see TV such as the DWTS final. If you’re running a local event, remember to check the local schedules as well to see if there’s any competition for that date and time.
Allow plenty of time to sort out event administration
Depending on what you are doing you may need authorization for the event. For example, if you’re using a city park, then you’re likely to need a permit from your city. You will probably also need insurance, especially if you’re running the event on a for-profit basis. General liability insurance covers general claims against your business. It may not cover you for an event.
Create a ticket-sales strategy
Assuming you’re running the event for profit (or to raise funds for charity), then ticket sales are going to be important. Firstly, you need to decide what kinds of tickets you’re going to sell. People often expect discounted prices for children and it’s fairly common to offer reduced rates for seniors too.
In addition to this, you can offer tickets with special benefits. For example, you could offer “early-bird” tickets and “VIP tickets”. Offering group discounts can be a great way to get people to bring their friends. Just make sure you can handle the size of the group. You may want to limit the number of tickets which can be sold at the discounted price.
You also need to think about where you will sell the tickets and how you will take payment for them. Ideally, you want to go where your buyers are. Depending on your target market that could mean the local grocery store or their favorite social media sites.
See if you can sell promotional items
It’s now possible to sell promotional merchandise without having to make bulk orders in advance. You just use economical and reliable print-on-demand services. Promotional items are a double win because they promote your event while earning you money. What’s more, people often love them!
The key to creating engaging promotional items is to make sure that they have an appealing design. Depending on your in-house resources, you may need to bring in a freelancer or agency to create one for you.