marketing strategies for event management company

5 Event Planner Marketing Strategies Used by Top Professionals

As an event planner, much of your success is based on your ability to bring in new business, organize top-notch events, and keep your customers coming back. And while you may hope that your events speak for themselves (and maybe they do!), the reality is that you need great marketing to stand out from other event planners and attract new clients. That’s where this post on event planner marketing comes in.

In this post, we explore five proven strategies, tips, and examples that every event planner should know in order to boost their marketing efforts. Competition is fierce ” use this post to help you stand out from the pack.

Discover 5 event planner marketing strategies you need to know:

1. find your niche..

No business can be successful without a clear target audience to serve. In event planning, this means determining the types of events that you can produce most successfully, as well as the clients that you can produce them for. This is the starting point for all of your marketing efforts.  

Rather than focusing on demographics or catch-all terms like millennials, come up with specific ideal clients using as many details as possible. These are called customer personas , and they help shape your event planner marketing strategy in many ways. By knowing your ideal customer, you can determine the images to feature on your website, the social media channels to focus on, where to spend your advertising budget, and which event trends will be important for your business. The better you know your customer, the easier it will be to map out your marketing plan .

To figure out what your niche is, take a look at your most successful past events. Or, explore events from others that you would like to emulate. What aspects unite them? Are they all a certain size, in a certain type of location, or involving a specific topic? What about the event organizers or attendees ” were they from a certain industry? How would you describe their goals?

Event planner marketing made simple

Get Started Free

All of these questions should help you craft an audience targeting statement. This will be a mixture of your value proposition, your event type(s), your ideal customer, and (sometimes) a venue. Here are a few examples:

• I plan outrageous weddings for high-profile and celebrity couples who want to wow their guests .
• My company offers seamless, high-impact in-person and virtual conferences for nonprofit organizations.
• We help charities connect with passionate supporters through fundraising sports activities .
• I organize small-scale concerts in malls, parks, and outdoor theaters for up-and-coming local artists to gain a following.
• My business focuses on organizing virtual corporate events for the financial industry.

Once you’ve created your audience targeting statement, share it with your team and discuss what it means for your marketing. Where will you find the ideal clients from your statement? How will you communicate the value proposition through your website? What branding makes sense for the type of events that you’re planning? Together with your mission statement , this statement will give you a clear path forward for your event planner marketing strategy.

2. Make your website a priority.

With your audience targeting statement in mind, it’s time to take a look at your website. Go ahead and navigate to it now, imagining that you’re seeing it for the first time. Take note of a few key things.

• What is the first thing you notice?
• Without scrolling, can you clearly see the name of the business, the logo , and what it offers?
• Using a maximum of three clicks, can you easily contact someone to speak about an event?
• Do the images on the site convey what types of events are planned? Are they high-quality, visually appealing, and compressed to load quickly?
• Is the website building credibility by letting others tell a story? Does it feature testimonials, reviews, and attendee pictures and videos?
• Do the pages load quickly, with all content displayed easily even for those with limited eyesight or images turned off?
• Does the planner’s voice come through on the about page, the copy on the homepage, and the list of services?
• Is the navigation clear and easy to use?
• Does the website include links to social media channels?

Use your answers to these questions to make sure your website is clear, compelling, and matches the style and tone of your events. If you need some inspiration, take a look at these 7 stunning examples of event planner website design .

3. Create and grow relationships, both online and off.

One of the great things about marketing your event planning business is that you don’t need to do it alone. By forming relationships in your community and industry, you can set up a network of supporters who can help you reach your goals. 

Here are some simple ideas for developing and leveraging your connections.

• Partner with local vendors that offer services you use in your events. By having a go-to caterer, florist, printer, transportation provider , audio/visual company, etc., you’ll ensure high-quality services as well as referrals for future business.
• Choose one or two social media channels and commit to them. Ask questions, provide value, give advice, and get to know the people in your audience.
• Consider going offline and creating a closed or membership-based community . These communities are on the rise. They give planners a way to interact more closely with a set group of people, getting to know them and helping them solve problems along the way.
• Find ways to co-market with local organizations. You could offer restaurant gift certificates as door prizes, feature artwork from local artists in your event graphics, offer mini-massage sessions from a local spa during breaks in programming, or even ask a local food truck to cater.
• Be seen and heard in your community. You probably have lots of opinions on your industry and on local events, so make sure you share them. You never know who will hear your message and decide to learn more about you.

4. Show off your style … everywhere.

No matter what type of events you organize, you can create a reputation by having a clear point of view. Your goal here is for clients and attendees to know that it’s one of your events without knowing you’re involved. This could come through in signature welcome gifts, the way you handle breakout sessions, fun interactive elements, or the tone or theme of the event as a whole.

Once you’ve identified your style, highlight it to achieve maximum visibility. Curate the images on your website and social media to show off your style and point of view. Craft a digital portfolio that you can show to potential clients during sales meetings. Share images and videos of past events that really tell a story about you as an event planner.

Your style doesn’t have to be a specific visual element. The idea isn’t to be the wedding planner who always uses purple.  Instead, try to find something unique that you can offer in your market. Maybe you’re known for turning blank-slate rural venues into outdoor dreamscapes. Maybe your events are sustainable and eco-conscious . You could even be known for being on-trend and understanding all the latest in event technology . Whatever your unique offering is, highlighting it for your target audience will help to bring in new customers.

5. Manage the user journey from start to finish.

Marketing can sometimes feel like it’s all about awareness. You may feel like you’re constantly searching for new clients, trying to bring in visitors to your website in a bid to increase your visibility. But while awareness is very important, it’s not the only piece of the event planner marketing puzzle.

Every potential customer will go on a journey before ultimately choosing a planner for their next event. And while that journey will differ for each customer, there are some things we can generalize. The client will generally have a period of inspiration and research while they visualize their future event. Then they’ll begin to narrow down options for planners based on concrete criteria like budget, location, and area of expertise. They’ll contact a shortlist of people and choose the one that feels right. And after the event, they will potentially share their experience with others. 

This journey means that you have lots of opportunities beyond an initial web search to connect with your potential clients. Here are a few ideas for marketing throughout the entire customer journey.

• Optimize your website for search engines by choosing strategic keywords for your market. Use a tool like Google Keyword Planner to strategize and go after keyword phrases.
• Create separate landing pages for each event type and audience that you cater to. This way, you can write more specific copy on each page and rank better for search terms related to those pages.
• Create an email newsletter with tips for your type of event. Draw subscribers in with a free download, such as a planning checklist or event calendar.
• Provide high-quality content to educate potential clients about events in their industry.
• Reach out periodically to customers who aren’t actively planning an event, so that you stay top-of-mind for the next one.
• Manage your reputation by responding to reviews and feedback online.
• Display testimonials and images or videos from past events on your website.
• Include answers to frequently asked questions on your website so that it’s easy for customers to choose you.
• Encourage user-generated content at your events, and share it via your social media channels.
• If appropriate, establish a loyalty program or customer appreciation events and offers for customers who book more than one event.

Remember that your customers are busy people with more going on in their lives than this single event. Show them that you can make the planning process easy, and you’re well on your way to earning their business.

Put these event planner marketing strategies to use today! 

Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to event planner marketing. But if you follow the strategies above and shape them to your specific business, you’ll be well on your way to reaching more potential clients.

Up next: Do you specifically focus on weddings? Head here for our marketing tips just for wedding planners .

Marketing Strategies for an Event Planning Company

The success of an event planning company is mostly based on getting new orders and people to its doorstep. You must organize significant events to impress clients and turn them into returning customers and true conversions for the company. You may believe that your events have great speakers to promote your company, but you must also use the right marketing strategies to differentiate yourself from competitors. You have to make efforts to get new clients, make them loyal, and go long-term with the company.

Organizations hire event planners to make their events memorable, organized, and disciplined. Different events are unique in terms of budget, target market, and lead time, like a wedding event or conducting some seminars online and in person. So you have to gather different types of audiences by providing them with the right content. But as you know, the purpose of the event planning market is to inform the target audience about the event. But some marketing strategies are common for all types of events, as you can read in this blog. You can enhance the growth of an event planning company by following these suggestions. Let's get started. 

Create a Website 

A website should be the first and foremost priority, as it can help to build a strong connection with your target audience. Most people use the internet to search for an event planning company, and you can grab more audience by creating a captivating website . It ensures the event management company's online presence and increases customer engagement. It can help you reach your target audience. It does not restrict your company to a geographic location; it takes you from the national to the international level. Furthermore, you get more chances to grow with the website by introducing your business to a wider market.

Now that you know the importance of a website for your event planning business, you need to learn the essential things it should contain to make it sound and prosper. It should consist of the following:

The landing page or home page of a website for an event planning business should be very attractive as it creates the company's first impression in the minds of potential clients.

Make an excellent portfolio with photos of the events you have arranged. Make sure these are presented in an organized manner, i.e., section all the events like birthdays, seminars, webinars, weddings, and others. Be sure the design is attractive. Please don't mess things up; keep it simple.

Keep the process of contact and registration compact, as the complexity and higher number of steps required to proceed to registration can lead to losing potential interest in your website. You should include your contact and address information. The forms should only ask for the name, email, contact information, and events your clients want you to organize. You can make a contact form part of your website or provide a link on a website that directs to a separate page.

Make a photo or gallery section where you will add photos of different events. It will affect the decision-making process, as most of your prospects love to watch. It will add traffic to your site.

Add testimonial videos of your prospects for social proof to attract the target audience.

Add an "about us" section where you can inform your prospects about the types of events you plan and the history of your company.

Be sure to cover all aspects of your website to attract a potential audience.

Social Media Advertising 

Social media can expose a brand to a wider audience. It can help you stay connected with your current customers and attract new ones. There are a lot of opportunities on social media to grow a business. People spend half of their daily time on social media, which is why capturing your potential clients and making more prospects is great. Event planners can engage their clients by sharing high-quality content, pre-event details, videos, and photos from an ongoing event. They can also share feedback with their prospects about an event. It will increase the brand's value in the eyes of customers.

Use different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Keep sharing updates with your potential clients. Ask the potential customer to leave comments and reviews that socialize your brand and make it a significant brand.

Advertise on event planning sites

Partnership always pays off, and you can do more business by partnering with other businesses or organizations that share the same target market. Being an event planner, you should look for an event planning site with the same audience and advertise your services on their sites. You can pay them to promote your business or cross-reference their business using your website. It will be beneficial for both businesses. If you plan birthdays and educational events, you connect with event planners and ask them to run ads for their events on their website. This way, they will encourage their clients to consider your services when they need event planning. It will increase traffic to your website, which leads to more sales and conversions.

Make connections with wedding planners and photographers

Event planners work with others, so you must collaborate with wedding planners and photographers. An event is only complete with photographers, so you should connect strongly with them. It can also help you promote your business because when clients come to them for event planning services and need a photographer, they will also refer your event planning company.

If you are establishing a company in a physical location, choose one that is close to these businesses. Building strong relationships with these businesses will increase brand exposure and allow you to enter their doors and reach their customer base. Networking can earn visibility and credibility for your company, as well as allow you to move forward with other known companies that share related prospects.

Use Facebook Ads 

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, with more than two billion users, and it is still growing. That is why most businesses use this platform to get their brand in front of a wider market. It can be very productive for your event planning business as well. It will increase brand awareness and exposure, and you can connect with your potential clients here. It is a platform that allows you to create a business profile for free. Although it is very useful to promote your business freely and keep your audience engaged, with the paid advertising option, you can maximize your potential and make real conversions.

Facebook events can be a great way to address Facebook event ads . You must first create a Facebook event in which you must include all relevant event information, and then promote this event using Facebook event ads. It can help to promote your event and lead to increased ticket sales or bookings. Make an ad containing an interest or get an entry pass button to make it easy for potential buyers to book their tickets. You can create Facebook event ads from your account or business profile or by using Facebook Ad Manager. Be sure to follow the below points when creating a Facebook ad.

Create an optimized Facebook event page.

Add a cover photo that speaks about your business or events.

Please choose a unique name or the right keywords to increase its reach to potential clients.

Add relevant information to the ad to drive organic traffic.

Use different aspects of Facebook advertising, like photos, video, messenger, slideshow, and others.

Ask your potential customers to share an event in their profiles to gain more exposure.

Create a Google My Business listing

The event planning industry is tough to market because of immense competition, and a company has to adopt all possible strategies to expose its products and services to the right audience. Google is a place where most prospects find a service. Making a Google Business Profile is one of the best solutions to show your event planning in the searches where you are most relevant. It is an easy and free marketing method. You can control your brand's exposure in search results with a Google business listing. Do it as follows:

Sign up for Google Business and claim your business.

Select the "Event Planner" category.

Add your home address if you are running your company from home; if you have a separate office, add the location. It will help you rank when a local customer looks for a similar service.

Include images of current and upcoming events; they are worth a thousand words.

Complete the registration process.

Add reviews to increase band credibility and build authority.

List all the events that you cover in your event planning services, so only the real clients reach you.

In this way, you can improve the listing of your event planning business and make more potential conversions.

Consider Google Search Ads

Google AdWords is a service of Google that can add fuel to your SEO strategy and help you gain organic traffic to your site. Use the PPC advertising technique that returns you every single penny. In this approach, you should only pay when potential clients click on your ad. It can help improve your ranking in Google search results. Although PPC is a short-term approach, it can improve your listing, which will retain you in the long term. More importantly, Google search ads produce quick results as you launch your campaign. It can be very useful in increasing the visibility of your website, and potential customers can quickly notice it through ads.

Google search ads provide you with complete control over your campaign, and you can change or edit the campaign as and when you want. You can check the likes and impressions on your ad and then take appropriate actions to improve it. You can also mitigate an ad if it is not showing good results. Google Analytics also allows you to track your potential's impressions on various niche keywords. Remember, you should only choose the mid-range keywords because the high-range keywords are complex to rank because there are more competitors with these keywords. It will greatly help you get real conversions.

Ask clients for reviews and testimonials

Clients are your most valuable asset when you are running a business where you are selling services. If you have more happy clients, you can attract more clients. Ask your potential customers to share their experience with your company and leave reviews on your website or social media profiles. You can also make testimonial videos of your satisfied clients and share them on your website to attract more people to your brand.

Be active on YouTube

YouTube can build organic traffic around your event planning company. It can excite your potential customers about your services, and they can be attracted by them. It has billions of monthly active users, so it's a place where you can sell your services. Share the BTS of an event to spread awareness. Create authentic and relevant content to get more likes. Keep sharing short clips with your audience if you only have a little time to make detailed videos. It is essential for retaining your current customers and encouraging new prospects.

Blog blogging for local SEO

With PPC, you can no doubt build organic traffic around your website, but it is a short-term strategy, so you must adopt a long-term product strategy. Start blogging on niche keywords with SEO. It will also improve the listing of your business in local directories. With a regular blog post, you can give yourself and your company an exact name. If you need more time to start a blog, hire a professional blogger to improve your local SEO and reach more prospects.

Summary 

You can have a successful event planning company by managing all your marketing efforts, time, and budget. You should do clear marketing, which covers all social media platforms, advertisements, video content, and blogging that can inspire your target audience. You can connect with your potential customers by keeping them engaged and informed about upcoming events. Share the feedback from an event after it ends successfully. Make a strong network to increase brand awareness, conversion rate, and sales.

You can take your business ahead of your competitors if you adopt all the strategies with the latest trends—host contests to increase brand reach and create a buzz of people coming to your doorstep. With the given tips and suggestions, you can make your business grow, but if you don't have enough time and staff to handle your marketing actions, then it is better to hire a consultant who will work on your behalf to improve your branding and help you reach target clients.

Good luck! 

Looking For Digital Marketing Services For Event Planning & Management Company ?

Event Management Platform

Digitize and scale in-person events

Virtual Events

Host events for worldwide audiences

B2B Matchmaking

Facilitate meaningful meetings and connections

Online Registration

Ticketing & Online Payments

Event Marketing

Event Calendar

On-site Check-in

Event Mobile App

Attendee Engagement

Event Data & Analytics

API Services

Build custom experiences and workflows, api documentation, explore eventtia's api documentation, serving multiple types of clients and industries, use one platform to host multiple types of events.

Enterprises

Access advanced enterprise features

Consumer & Luxury Retail

Host exceptional events for your customers

Universities & Colleges

Manage events that drive results

Brand Activation & Clienteling

Increase customer loyalty through events and experiences

Corporate Events

Inspire your teams and brand stakeholders by hosting events.

Knowledge center, learn how to get started with eventtia, blog articles & insights, access industry insights and trends, interactive demos, explore eventtia's user experience, platform comparison, discover why eventtia is the ideal solution, case studies, learn how famous brands use eventtia, product news & updates, keep up with eventtia's product updates, gain actionable industry insights, event marketing strategies and ideas: the 2023 guide.

Find out how Eventtia's Event Marketing & Experience tools can drive registrations at your events.

All-in-one event management software.

Best Brella Alternatives and Competitors in 2024

Best Swapcard Alternatives and Competitors in 2024

Best Cvent Alternatives and Competitors in 2024

• France and Europe
• United States
• Latin America

See how Cvent can solve your biggest event challenges.   Watch a 30-minute demo

Event Marketing Guide: Strategies, Ideas & Examples

There are seemingly a million ways to approach event marketing. In fact, depending on your role in your organization, event marketing can take quite a few forms. What’s undeniable? When it comes to events, whether they be in-person, virtual, or hybrid, promotion is key. 

Through the use of technology, data, and analytics, event marketing is actually very easy to implement across events and at scale. This event marketing guide will explain what event marketing is, how to create a winning strategy, and how to carry that strategy out to improve your events program. Here is a lowdown of everything you will learn in this definitive guide:

What is Event Marketing?

Types of event marketing, the event marketing process, event marketing plan, event marketing best practices.

"Event marketing" is a pretty broad term. So, what is  event marketing? It can have different meanings, but by and large, event marketing can mean one of two things: marketing tactics used to promote events or the strategic use of events as a marketing tactic to promote an organization, mission, etc. In either scenario, whether promoting your events or leveraging events within your marketing strategy, events are powerful.

For many organizations, events represent a large share of their overall marketing spend. In fact, many companies allocate anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of their budgets to brand experiences, with the predominant portion going to events.

Many marketers believe that, after a website, events are the most effective channel in their “marketing stack,” given the power of in-person and virtual experiences and the ability to forge one-on-one connections. That’s why event marketing is critical.

If the event marketing you do involves planning a calendar of events that will support your marketing plan, then your strategy and planning process will be more complicated and nuanced. For others, it’s a promotional plan for a specific event that can be broken down into a more manageable plan.

• Email Marketing
• Event-based strategy
• Event website
• Advertising
• Social media marketing
• Search Engine Optimization

Events are costly, which is why determining your event strategy is important. Your budget, goals, and more will determine what events you plan and the type of promotion you run with. The event marketing process begins by acknowledging that there is an event that can help your organization achieve a goal.

Events can add to the sales pipeline, help improve morale, promote a product, and more. Really, the event marketing process comes down to the goal of the event. By identifying what you hope to achieve, you can plan your promotion and objectives based on that goal.

Event strategies are wedded to the event marketing process. Timing can impact the event marketing process, so be aware of the environment and industry. For instance,  marketing your event during COVID-19 was different than any other situation. 

Promotion, Promotion, Promotion

Your event deserves to have a killer promotion plan. But it’s not always easy to know where to start. Your marketing plan should begin right when event planning begins. The two go hand in hand. After all, without a great promotion strategy, no one will know about your event.

So, how do you do it? We’ve created a basic event marketing plan template below to help you get started.

Know Your Event

The first step in your event planning is understanding your event and its purpose. From there, you can focus in on the details such as event name, theme, tagline, and color scheme. This event breakdown will serve as the blueprint for your event marketing plan.

Know Your Event Basics

• Event Purpose
• Event Type (In-person, Virtual, or Hybrid)
• Color Scheme

Your Event Website Is Critical

There are few events that can get away with not having an event website. If you’re not sure if you need a marketing website or a registration website for your event, think of it this way. Your event website will be the primary touchpoint you have with potential attendees. It needs to contain key information and convince attendees to register.

Event technology can also help you personalize the entire event planning process. You can create a branded event registration website that’s designed to identify who is visiting your website. This lets you modify the registration process based on attendee type. With more sophisticated software, you can even create dynamic registration paths and pricing based on preset criteria.

Types of Websites

First, what type of website will you be building? Event websites can be broken into two types, registration websites, and marketing websites. While there are many other types of websites that exist in the world, those are the two to choose between when creating a website for an event.

Registration Website

How complex is your event? If it’s a one-day seminar, this is the type of website you’ll want to create. Registration websites are perfect for events that don’t last long, are held in one location or virtually, and require very little information to explain. Generally, there will be one page of information and a call to action that takes the user to register.

Marketing Website

A marketing website is perfect for more complex events. Often, this type of event lasts multiple days, takes place at different locations or virtually, has multiple registration paths, or takes more than one webpage to explain. The marketing website allows you to set up multiple pages to give attendees all the information they need. These events tend to be more costly for the attendee, which means the marketing website needs to explain why the cost and time out of the office are worth it.

Your Event Website Should Include:

• Time and Date
• Call to Action
• Rich content

Create an Email Marketing Plan That Doesn’t Irritate Potential Attendees

Email marketing is a key part of all promotion plans. If you aren’t using an email marketing tool, find one quickly! They make it easier to design and automate emails. When planning, don’t overdo it. If you create a great, attention-grabbing subject line you’ll get those opens, but if you spam attendees they’ll unsubscribe.

Event Email Marketing

The right  event email marketing  can ensure you get the largest and most relevant audience for your event – but your efforts shouldn’t stop there. You want to build a buzz around your event and get your registrants engaged and talking before, during, and after your meeting or conference.

The effectiveness of email marketing is proven, and your leadership team is sold on the ROI of email promotion. But how do you use email to drive attendance to your event?

Top 5 Email Marketing Tips for Events

• Use online email marketing software to easily review, manage, segment, and update your contact lists. Targeted campaigns will significantly drive registration.
• Segment your email audiences. Rather than sending the same promotional materials to your entire audience, thoughtfully segment your audiences and create email content that's relevant to each specific audience.
• Create your emails to be consistent with your event website to ensure brand cohesion.
• Maximize registration and audience engagement by pre-scheduling emails, automating updates, sending confirmation and thank you emails, and sending email updates that apply to specific audiences and their interests.
• Review reporting (your marketing software will help you do this easily) to analyze open and click-thru rates to see what’s working and what’s not, and to uncover additional marketing opportunities.
• Comply with privacy regulations by allowing your recipients to opt out of email communications.

Bonus Tip: Test, tweak, and track your emails to get the most out of your campaigns . With the right event management software tools and a dash of innovation, you can work wonders for your event marketing.

You Can’t Avoid Using Social Media

In terms of free promotion, social media is one of the best tools. If you have a presence on all platforms, then you’ll want to promote on all of them. However, if your demographic trends towards using Instagram, don’t feel the need to promote your event on every platform. 

Where Will You Promote?

Social media basics.

• How often a week will you post
• Any vendors or speakers to tag

Fun fact: The average smartphone user looks at their phone 300+ times a day. That's a lot of social media use. Social media is an easy and  free  way to market your event, so in reality, it’s a no-brainer. Here are my five recommendations for using social media to promote your event.

Use These 5 Social Media Tactics to Promote Your Next Event

Create an event hashtag and stick with it. Hashtags are an easy way to track your event across all social platforms for you and your attendees. Use the same hashtag in every post and encourage your co-planners and attendees to do the same.

When coming up with your hashtag, make it relevant, easy, short, and memorable. If you have a catchy hashtag, you eliminate the hassle of constantly reminding your attendees what it is. A good tip is to make the hashtag the name of the event, which means you need to be strategic when you decide on your  event name and theme .

For Cvent CONNECT, we use the hashtag #CventCONNECT. Seems simple, right? It is, but it does more than what meets the eye. By naming our event  Cvent CONNECT , we remind our attendees that this is a networking event with industry peers. Every time they type the event name or hashtag, it triggers a reminder that that’s what the event is all about – connecting!

Contests are an easy way to get your attendees tweeting, Instagramming, or Facebook posting. Put your creativity to work and see what contest fits best with your event. One idea is to use your event hashtag and integrate it with a contest for the most social activity prior to your event. Then, the winner could receive a grand prize during the event. Another idea is to hold a photo contest to see who can receive the most likes or comments on a pre-event picture.

Ambassadors

Recently we combined our attendees and social platform into one and designed a social media ambassador program at Cvent CONNECT. During the registration process, we included a section where our attendees could express interest in becoming one of our social media ambassadors. Once we had a pool of applicants, we selected the top candidates and went from there. It was simple and effective.

Our ambassadors  engaged  the other attendees and their own followers to promote our events before, during, and after. This made life easier for the communications team while simultaneously showing a more personal side to our brand. We also incorporated a competition among the ambassadors for the most engaging content, which helped get the content flowing.

Consistent Posting

This is simple, post, and post a lot. You need to stay on your followers’ minds and be relevant. Social media is all about your followers and what they can get out of your posts. If you never post or if you post irrelevant things, then expect to be unfollowed. To avoid this, post creative and personable content.  Give your followers what they’re looking for .

Interaction with Followers

Interaction is key . You want to be a personable brand that makes your consumers feel comfortable. This is true for your events, too. If you want people to come, you need to engage with them before the event even starts.

Once you’ve promoted your hashtag, follow it! Type it into the search bar on your social platforms and start replying to anyone using it. By using your hashtag as a tracker, you’ll find people expressing questions, concerns, and praises.

Respond to them then and there. Social media makes it easy to fix problems immediately. If your attendee finds a problem with your event’s online registration, they might tweet at you. If you aren’t on top of your social handles, you could miss their comment and ultimately miss an attendee.

Paid Digital Promotion

It’s easy to use primarily free modes of promotion for your event, but paid promotion is still extremely effective. It all comes down to how much money you have in the budget. If your event has a large budget and is targeting a wider demographic, paid ads might be a great option.

A Few Basic Questions

• What is your budget?
• How many impressions do you hope to get?
• Print, digital, commercials?
• Consider other forms of promotion – direct mail, calls, etc.?

Don’t Forget About Sponsors

Not only are you marketing to attendees, but you need to be able to market to potential sponsors. After all, they’ll be key to defraying costs and gaining more interest. Work out clear sponsorship packages that can be conveyed easily, but also be ready to be flexible. Almost any sponsor is a good sponsor!

Defining Event Marketing Success

How do event marketers define success? According to a recent study by Cvent, the metrics for event marketing success encompass financial results, event attendance, lead generation, overall awareness, and post-event analysis, all aligned with the company’s overall business goals. Event marketing objectives help guide strategy and create a baseline to determine event ROI.

Alignment with Company Goals

The reason for an event should be tied to the goals of the company. Each event needs to show what it has achieved towards that goal. But remember, different events call for different goals, whether they be in-person, virtual, or hybrid events. Event marketers need to focus on aligning their activities with the marketing department and the company’s overarching objectives.

Event Attendance

Measuring the total attendee draw is a natural gauge for event success. Higher attendee numbers have a trickle-down effect as they can translate into more leads and greater event buzz.

Media Impact

The media metric has several component parts encompassing social media traffic and new followers generated; clicks and website visits; viewership for broadcast events such as sports and entertainment; and press coverage, both quantitative and qualitative.

Post-Event Surveys

These surveys can provide an accurate and timely read on the experiences and satisfaction levels of event attendees. The survey can also touch on other helpful areas such as likelihood to purchase.

Revenue and Lead Generation

Event attendees show buying signals through their actions at events. By tracking your attendees on-site and integrating their behavior back into CRM systems, event marketers can track the monetary impact of their programs.

Past Event Learnings

Event marketers are eager to understand and act upon insights from attendees at past events to continuously refine and improve their marketing at future events. The ROI calculated from an event can be helpful in budget-setting for future events.

To get a true calculation of event ROI, you need to take a deep dive into both the costs and benefits of running an event. Far more than simply adding up the direct costs to produce an event and the direct revenue it delivers, it’s important to understand the full spectrum of costs and benefits. To help you through this calculation, we’ve outlined the eight essential drivers of event ROI.

Event Costs

Event expenses can account for 25% or more of a company’s B2B marketing budget and internal meetings can add another 3-5%. The total cost to make events happen requires a closer analysis of expenses at a granular level. Three different costs should be examined.

Direct Costs

These are costs most familiar to event planners. They are the costs of hosting an event. Examples of direct costs include venue costs, food and beverage, travel, entertainment, and rental equipment. Hopefully, you are reconciling your budgets and have a good handle on direct costs.

Indirect Costs

Indirect costs offer a more complete view of the investments to run an event. They include salaries and overhead of the teams involved in staging an event as well as other shared expenses. Indirect costs are calculated using accounting processes such as activity-based costing, which assign attributed costs to products, services, and events. To understand the indirect cost of your event, work with your finance team.

Opportunity Costs

Events have an opportunity cost. Your organization chooses to deploy its resources to an event as opposed to digital marketing, or some other activity. These alternative sources of value comprise opportunity costs. To understand this cost, you need to know the benefits the other activities would yield as compared to your events.

Identifying Benefits

Events can impact the top line and bottom line of an organization. Similar to expenses, it’s important to know how to measure the different types of benefits.  

Direct Revenue

Direct revenue is the money made directly as a result of hosting an event. Examples include ticket sales, sponsorship dollars, registration fees, onsite product sales and advertising revenue. Direct revenue varies based on the size and scope of the event. This is the money you are hopefully calculating today to show the value of your event.

Attributed Revenue

Organizations market and promote their products at events which drive future revenue. Onsite product demos and account planning conversations help fill the sales pipeline, fuel new sales, and increase customer renewals. As those new opportunities result in new business, the dollars can be attributed to the event as attributed revenue.

Event Branding & Brand Equity

When an event is branded well , it takes on a life of its own while maintaining the essence or brand values of the organization behind it. Event marketing departments achieve this with a combination of digital branding ( event apps , event website, email marketing) and onsite branding (exhibition stand, banners, badging, set and stage design, etc). Those that do it exceptionally well add creativity, tone of voice, plus a trusted delegate experience to achieve a must-attend event.

Some benefits, such as brand equity, are more intangible and cannot be measured through hard dollars. Brand equity doesn’t deliver immediate monetary rewards, but event attendance has an impact on brand attitudes.

Consumers like well-known and admired companies, which leads to doing business with that company. Brand equity can help propel Customer Lifetime Value, the long-term profit contribution from a customer. Your events should leave a positive impact on your attendees, driving positive brand equity.

Knowledge Exchange

Knowledge exchange is the accelerated learning that occurs during events. This interaction between customers, prospects and the company can help shape product development, increase learning, fine-tune marketing, and speed receptivity to sales. Your events must create an environment to share knowledge, which leads to brand equity and attributed revenue!

Ticketing and Pricing

The process you use for ticketing and pricing can have a big impact on your event’s ROI. You can’t just focus on the costs and adding a profit margin; you must consider the perceived value of all parties. There are several pricing strategies you could use to match that value. All of these decisions can be difficult to navigate, so check out this  Event Ticketing and Pricing Guide .

Event Technology and Online Event Marketing Software

Event marketing software makes event marketing easier. The more comprehensive your marketing tool is, the easier it is to integrate with other systems you already use. For starters, look for a tool that allows you to create customized and automated emails. This will alleviate manual email promotions and allow you to allocate your time to more pressing issues (like driving registration).

With event management software , you can be sure that you have the data you need to prove the success of your event marketing strategy. The best way to implement these technologies is a comprehensive  event management platform .

Choosing Your Event Technology

With all the changes in the events industry over the past few years, you need technology that can support your events today. Virtual and hybrid events are here to stay, but navigating which tools are the most beneficial is tricky. There are new requirements for success, such as reliance on integration, automation, and event scoring. Fortunately, we have insights and best practices ready for you in this eBook .

One Event Management Platform

With one event management platform, it’ll be easier for you and your team to learn and use technology. Additionally, when all the data is collected and stored in one place using event management software, you’ll get better visibility into the event and your processes. Finally, having data all in one place makes it easy to make sense of your numbers and make decisions in the future.

• Understand the goals and budget of the event
• Create a plan to meet event goals
• Set goals so that you can measure success
• Schedule promotion in advance based on important event dates
• Use discounts and sponsorships to increase attendance
• Use event marketing software to decrease time spent on manual tasks

Virtual Event Marketing

In addition to traditional event marketing, there is more to be done when it comes to marketing virtual events . The silver lining of virtual events is that the barriers to entry with an in-person event are eliminated or lessened. Travel is nonexistent, and the cost is very often reduced. With these barriers gone, your virtual event has the potential to attract more attendees than your in-person event ever has.

However, you still need to make sure you're marketing your event well. Social promotion is still key for these events, and working with sponsors and partners is important to expand your reach. 

As always, your registration website should be informative and should showcase your brand. Virtual event marketing takes the right technology for the job, so have a virtual event platform in place before you try to take on virtual or hybrid events. The virtual Attendee Hub is one solution that gives you the ability to create a fully branded experience, virtually. 

Event Marketing Is An Essential Part of Event Planning

Events can drive organizational success. Whether in-person,  virtual , or hybrid, they empower connections and educate attendees. Event marketing is essential to persuade attendees and increase registrations, and it's made easier with event management software.

Without promotion, no one would know that an event is happening. Through the use of event technology, promotion is easier than ever. As you plan your next event, take the time to outline an event marketing plan.

Looking for more resources to help you craft an effective event marketing strategy? Check out our eBook, The New Event Marketing Opportunity , to learn about how marketing for events has changed and how it will continue to change, best practices for event marketers in the new hybrid world , different marketing strategies for different types of events, and more!

Julie Haddix

Julie Haddix is the Senior Director, Industry Solutions for Cvent, Inc. She has worked for Cvent for over 13 years and helped to build the company’s Enterprise sales and marketing divisions, including its approach to Strategic Meetings Management. Julie has also been a part of the planning team for Cvent CONNECT, Cvent’s annual user conference, leading the event marketing and content development efforts. In her current role, she oversees strategic content direction for the event marketing and management platform. Julie graduated from the McIntire School of Business at the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Commerce and concentrations in Marketing and Management. She lives in Westchester County, NY with her husband and 2-year-old son.

More Reading

14 steps for successful pr event planning, your guide to planning inspiring meetings in greater palm springs, where inspiration and creativity come to life - hilton head island.

Subscribe to our newsletter

The Ultimate Guide to Event Marketing

Discover the benefits of event marketing and how to build an event marketing strategy that engages attendees and converts valuable leads.

FREE EVENT PLANNING CHECKLIST

Everything you need to manage event marketing and promotion.

Updated: 02/22/22

Published: 01/25/21

Think back to the last event you attended.

Was it a conference or trade show? An intimate seminar or startup launch party hosted online? How about a fun, socially-distanced 5K or golf outing?

These events are all very different, but to the brands or organizations who hosted them, they all had a common purpose: to entertain and engage attendees — a.k.a. potential customers.

Event marketing is a highly valuable strategy for all kinds of businesses, from technology and education to non-profit, medicine, and retail.

Not only do events benefit their hosts and sponsors, but they also enrich the lives of their attendees. Events inspire, teach, intrigue, entertain, and bring people together in a way unlike most other marketing efforts.

What is Event Marketing?

Types of Event Marketing

Benefits of event marketing, event marketing plan.

Measuring Your Event

What is event marketing?

Event marketing is planning, organizing, and executing an event for the purpose of promoting a brand, product, or service. Events can take place in-person or online, and companies can either host an event, attend as an exhibitor, or participate as a sponsor.

Event marketing refers to a variety of events. You could organize a small roundtable of seven to 10 guests, partner with another brand to sponsor a 5K, or set up an exhibit at a major trade show — or host one of these online.

You could host a multi-day event that attracts thousands of attendees, sponsors, and speakers … like INBOUND. INBOUND 2022 , for instance, will host sessions both online and in-person and attracted thousands of attendees around the world.

It doesn’t quite matter the size of or platform for your event as long as you’re bringing value to your customers, potential customers, and brand. We’ll talk more about how to build an event marketing strategy below .

In the meantime, let’s go over some of the different types of event marketing your company could host, sponsor, or attend. Note that all of these events can take place virtually , too.

Conferences

Conferences are large events typically organized and hosted by one major company and sponsored by a long list of smaller brands and businesses. Conferences are valuable for both B2B and B2C brands. These events typically offer the most dynamic agendas, filled with speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Trade Shows and Expositions

Trade shows or expositions (expos) are large events organized around a specific industry or type of product, such as sales technology or medical devices. Trade shows give companies a chance to show off their products and services and typically bring in the highest number of qualified leads. Whereas conferences are open to the public, trade show attendees are typically pre-qualified buyers, company representatives, and salespeople.

Seminars (often called webinars when hosted online) are valuable, education-centric events attended by a small number of people. They involve discussions, lectures, and intimate networking opportunities.

Roundtables are similar to seminars, but usually have even fewer attendees of comparable “levels”, such as CEOs, surgeons, or teachers. Both events typically last no more than one day.

Pop-Up Shops

Pop-up shops are temporary retail spaces that give companies the opportunity to sell their products in a controlled environment. They’re typically organized by e-commerce brands that don’t have a full-time brick-and-mortar storefront. Pop-up shops also allow otherwise digital brands to bring their brand to life through a physical, immersive setting for their customers.

Launch Parties and Celebrations

Launch parties or celebrations are small, personal events held at the launch of a new business, upon a big announcement, or to simply celebrate a success or milestone. Some companies put on a yearly party to host and entertain customers or clients. While these types of events shouldn’t be centered on a product or brand, a simple speech or presentation can help align the event with a company and remind attendees why they’re there.

Workshops are similar to seminars and roundtables in that they’re focused on sharing knowledge and educating attendees. But unlike seminars and roundtables, they’re typically open to the public. Workshops can be offered both virtually and in-person, and while they aren’t traditionally promotional, they’re usually centered around a topic relevant to the business … which makes a company seem more credible in their field.

Other types of event marketing include job fairs, customer-only conferences, networking sessions, VIP experiences, sponsorships, awards events, and competitions (like 5Ks or golf outings).

In a recent article on the ultimate marketing advice , multiple experts mentioned that events were the best way to connect with your audience and grow your brand. Here’s a direct quote from Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight (who spoke at INBOUND):

...businesses will utilize event strategies more than ever before as human experiences will be how companies choose to differentiate themselves , especially those that can’t do so through technologies. The key to any great event strategy is very simple — identify the memory you want attendees to walk away with and work backward ."

Events work because they’re different than every other type of marketing. They’re immersive, entertaining, and memorable. They’re also useful for businesses in any industry

Event marketing helps companies be successful — we’ve proven this above.

But how do they do that specifically? Why should you invest in this strategy for your business? Here are some distinct benefits of event marketing.

Events marketing generates business.

Companies choose to invest in event marketing because events inherently generate new business and revenue opportunities — 95% of marketers believe that in-person events can have a major impact on achieving their company’s primary business goals.

As an event host, the registration process alone generates a list of people who are already interested in your product, industry, or at least fall in your target demographic. If you’re participating in or sponsoring an event, you can collect leads through an email list, demo offering, or by running a competition.

Event marketing provides one-on-one customer engagement.

Lots of today’s software and e-commerce businesses never get to meet their customers or clients in person. That’s where event marketing is beneficial.

A 2020 Bizzabo study found that 93% of marketers believe in-person events provide attendees with a valuable opportunity to form connections in an increasingly digital world.

Engaging customers and potential customers at events initiates personal interactions. These personal, one-on-one interactions build brand loyalty and help customers humanize your brand. Events also provide a reprieve from the distractions of daily work — meaning you can capture a client’s attention better than over a phone call or in-office pitch. With that attention, you have a chance to sell — or upsell — your products and services.

Event marketing builds brand awareness.

Hosting or participating in events is a key way for companies to establish and grow their brand. 64% of event marketers reported that the primary reason for hosting events is brand awareness for their company or products.

Event marketing allows you to associate a physical identity and aesthetic with an otherwise digital brand. Like with pop-up shops, events provide a truly immersive experience at which consumers and customers can get a real feel for your brand and what it looks like in person.

The best part about using events to build brand awareness? People talk about events. Consumers, customers, media, bystanders, and influencers talk about events in person, on social media, in the press … you name it, making events a fantastic way to educate and alert people of your brand and products.

Event marketing encourages product and industry education.

Regardless of what type of event your company hosts or participates in, there’s most likely an education component. That’s what makes event marketing so successful — they don’t focus solely on a brand or product.

Instead, they focus on educating and entertaining a demographic or industry … and promote products and services on the side. (In fact, this makes for great marketing across the board.)

Now, let’s talk about how you can implement your next event. Your events should have a marketing plan separate from other efforts you do for your business.

You can cross-promote (i.e. share event information on company social media and vice versa), but it’s wise to detail your event marketing as a standalone campaign strategy.

Here are some questions to help you build your next event marketing strategy .

What are your SMART goals? What’s your budget?

SMART goals stand for s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant, and t imely. Keeping your goals SMART helps you avoid running with vague goals like “bring in leads.”

SMART goals have a dual purpose: to give you direction when planning and implementing your event and to help you decide whether or not your event was a success (and if it wasn’t, to know how to improve).

An example of a SMART event marketing goal would be to “grow our prospective leads list for our new product by 100 names by the end of the event.”

This goal is specific (prospective leads for only the new product), measurable (100 names), attainable and relevant (assuming the event is relevant and there are more than enough attendees to get 100 names), and timely (by the end of the event).

Note: Don’t limit your event to one single goal. You should also set intangible goals like “strengthen relationships” and “engage prospective customers,” but in terms of creative and fiscal decisions, use your SMART goals to guide you — and to measure on the backend.

Lastly, take some time to define your event marketing budget. This is crucial as it’ll likely be the deciding factor on everything from the venue to the entertainment to the website.

What’s your event’s theme, brand, and schedule?

To market your event, you must know what information and content to market. Before moving further, establish your event’s name, theme, brand, and purpose. Why should people attend? What will they gain? Is your event an offshoot of your company, or is it a standalone brand?

Next, figure out where and when your event will take place. These will likely be the most-asked questions by attendees.

Then, research and outline your event’s schedule, such as keynote speakers, workshop sessions, entertainment portions, and times to gather and network.

You don’t have to secure all of these before you start promoting your event, but you should at least have an idea of who will be there and what you’ll offer for attendees.

Who are you marketing to? How will you reach them?

Define your target audience. Who would benefit most from attending your event? What kinds of people would enjoy your workshops, learn from your speakers, and engage your sponsors?

Establishing your audience will help you target and invest in the proper marketing channels. Social media and your event website are given channels in today’s digitally-saturated market. If your event is local, consider print advertisements. Consider adding your event to an event listing website like Eventful , Hey Event , and 10times to reach more people.

Event marketing with email

Email is another popular and effective way to promote events. 39% of marketers found that email marketing tools were the greatest contributor to event success.

Email information is easy to collect at registration, and attendees check email, so they'll easily notice updates and confirmations.

Often times, companies will create separate email addresses and newsletters for their events as a way to keep communication and promotion separate from it others marketing efforts.

This also benefits your attendees — they probably don't want their inboxes flooded.

What’s your content creation and management plan?

Promoting your event involves a lot of information — what, when, where, why, who, and how, for starters. To properly manage all this information, you must establish a viable plan to create and control it.

Because your event details likely won’t be ready all at once, you’ll be tasked with releasing, updating, and changing information for months leading up to the event. Will you do this via newsletter? Who will be in charge of making sure the website is up-to-date? Will you invest in an event app so attendees have this information in their pocket at all times?

What’s your event marketing timeline?

To engage your audience, it’s best to promote your event throughout the weeks and months leading up to it. It helps to outline a promotion timeline so you know when and what to release. A timeline like this also helps pique your attendees' curiosity as you release new names or information at different times.

It’s also wise to organize a multi-touch promotion. Include a variety (i.e. email, social media, direct mail, phone calls, print ads, and paid ads) to reach the maximum amount of people.

Simply getting the word out there could make a massive difference in your registrations.

How will you promote and market during the event?

Marketing your event shouldn’t stop when your event begins. Dedicate some resources to promoting your event as it’s happening. Attendees may learn something new about what’s offered, and those who didn’t register will be curious about what they’re missing.

Most companies use social media to engage people while their event is happening. 73% of businesses use social media to promote specific events and features during the event, 55% use it to post photos, and 35% use it to amplify product announcements.

Consider taking Facebook or Instagram Live Video or Live Tweeting during your event .

How will you measure your event success?

In the midst of a bustling event, it’s easy to take a look around and feel good about your attendance and engagement. But is that the best way to evaluate whether your event was a success? Probably not.

Like every other marketing investment, it’s wise to set some key performance indicators (KPIs) against which to measure your event and evaluate its performance.

Here are a few common KPIs for event marketing.

Registrations and check-ins

Not everyone who registers for your event will attend. Compare your registrations to your actual attendance and consider reaching out to a few who registered but didn’t check-in. Take a look at your registration data to see when the most and fewest tickets were purchased and what kinds of tickets were purchased, if you offered a variety of ticket packages or options.

Revenue and cost-to-revenue ratio

How much money did your event bring in? If your event required a paid ticket, gross revenue is an important measure of success. How does that amount compare to what you spent on the event? This comparison will help you better understand the value of your event and the resources offered. Events are expensive, but they’re not worth going in debt for.

Attendee satisfaction

Did your attendees enjoy your event? What did they participate in and enjoy the most? “Satisfaction” may seem like an obscure metric, but understanding the opinions and perspective of your event attendees can help you better understand where your event was a success … and where you could improve. Consider building a survey to ask your attendees about their experience, takeaways, and to calculate a Net Promoter Score (NPS) for your event.

Here’s a direct quote from another expert who provided some marketing advice in a recent piece of ours, Mike Piddock of Glisser spoke at INBOUND:

“Events need to be assessed with hard metrics , rather than just 'gut-feel' opinions and feedback forms to rate the coffee. Measure attendee engagement , rather than simply counting who registered and who showed up, as this is a great proxy for the effectiveness of the event .”

Social media mentions/engagement

How often was your event discussed on social media? What was the general consensus around the event? Did your attendees share content that engaged non-attendees? (It’s highly likely — a 2016 study found that 98% of consumers create digital content at events, and this number has likely risen today.) In today’s digital world, social media is a great measure of event success and reach. Take a look at your event mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. Consider using a hashtag so you can easily track posts.

Lead acquisition and customer conversion

Acquiring leads and converting customers is one of the main benefits of event marketing, so it’d make sense to measure these as KPIs of your event. Make note of how many qualified leads you gain from your event, and then track how many of those leads are converted into paying customers. This can help reveal the direct ROI of your event and see which tactics worked for lead collection and conversion.

Get Started with Event Marketing

Organizing and implementing an event is a daunting task. But approach it with a "snackable" strategy, and you’ll be planning your first event in no time.

Whether you’re aiming to entertain new clients, build your contact list, or raise money for your non-profit, event marketing may be the solution for you — and most fun for your customers.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

Related articles.

19 Creative Pop-Up Shop Examples

How to Build an Event Website That Drives Registrations

Top 5 Reasons to Attend INBOUND 2021, According to HubSpot's Global Events Team

Hopin: Making a Global Impact with Virtual Events

15 Ideas to Promote Your Next Event

What Is Event Branding? + 5 Examples to Inspire You

What Is a Breakout Session? [+ How To Plan Your Own]

25 Post Event Survey Questions to Ask

7 Types of Corporate Events [+ Virtual Event Ideas]

How to Sell Out Your Next Event [+Tips From INBOUND Marketers]

Elevate your event planning with this comprehensive checklist from HubSpot.

Views: 5983

Posted on 10/17/2022

The top five event planner marketing strategies for massive success.

As an event planner, you know marketing is essential to your success. Without a strong marketing strategy, you will struggle to attract new clients and grow your business. But what are the best marketing strategies for event planners?

You can use many different marketing strategies, but not all will be effective for your business. First, it is essential to understand your target market and find out what they want. Then you can work on finding the best marketing strategy to give them what they need. Once you know what your target market wants, you can tailor your marketing efforts to meet your potential client’s needs.

You need to attract new clients and keep them returning for more. While your events may speak for themselves, you still need great marketing to make sure you stand out from the crowd. Luckily, there are some simple event planner marketing tips you can follow to get started.

This article will dive into event marketing and the top five event planner marketing strategies you can implement for massive success.

Table of Contents

What Is Event Marketing?

Event marketing is the process of promoting and marketing a specific event. An event planner will then use this process to plan and market an event for their client. This can include anything from a corporate meeting to a music festival. Event marketing involves creating a marketing plan, targeting the right audience, and using the proper channels to reach them.

You can use many strategies to market your event, but it is crucial to tailor each approach to your specific target market. For example, if you are targeting business professionals, you will want to use different tactics than music fans.

That is the basis of successful event planner marketing. Now let’s get into some more specific strategies.

What Are the Top Five Event Planner Marketing Strategies for Massive Success?

Below are the five best strategies you can implement to help achieve more success in the world of event planning.

Let’s get into it.

1. Have a Well-Designed Website That Showcases Your Work

Any good marketing strategy begins and ends with your website. A well-designed website is an essential marketing strategy for event planners to achieve massive success. It allows them to showcase their work professionally and polishedly, which can impress potential clients and help them stand out from the competition.

Additionally, a well-designed website can be a powerful tool for generating leads and attracting new business. By including clear and concise information about their services and examples of their past work, event planners can make it easy for potential clients to learn more about what they offer.

Quick tips to optimize your website for success:

• Make your website’s design simple and easy to navigate.
• Include clear and concise information about your services and examples of your past work.
• Make it easy for potential clients to learn more about your offer.
• Build trust and credibility with potential clients by having a solid online presence. Pro tip: use a responsive Google review widget to showcase your Google reviews on your website.
• Use effective calls to action like a call now button to encourage potential clients to contact you.

Everyone is online now, so you need to ensure that your number one source where people can find your work — your website — is optimized for getting you more clients. Have a dedicated page showcasing your best, most popular, and most successful events.

Also, ensure the best ways to contact you are prominently displayed throughout your website. There’s nothing worse than liking what you see and not knowing how to get in touch.

2. Create a Solid Social Media Presence With Lots of Engaging Content

Creating a strong social media presence is one of the best things event planners can do to market their business. By sharing engaging content, they can attract new customers and keep them returning for more.

Content is king when it comes to social media. That’s why event planners need to ensure they are constantly creating new and exciting posts that will capture the attention of their target audience.

One way to do this is to share photos and videos from past events. This will give potential customers a taste of what they can expect if they book your services.

You can also use social media to promote special deals and promotions. For example, you could offer a discount to customers who book their event within a specific time frame.

Another idea is to use social media influencers to put the word out about your event. Influencers are an increasingly popular way to promote events and are surprisingly effective at bringing in people. You can contact bloggers, vloggers, and other social media influencers in your niche to put the word out about your event to their followers. They may require some form of compensation — monetary, free tickets to another event or some other form of payment. In addition to partnering with social media influencers, consider buying Instagram followers to boost the reach of your promotional posts.

The bottom line is that your marketing strategy needs to include social media if you want to achieve massive success as an event planner. Many tools and software available today can help you write social media posts, accurately schedule them, and ensure you’re caught up with replying to everyone who’s contacted you.

3. Use Search Engine Optimization To Make Sure Potential Clients Can Find You Online

One of the most critical event planner marketing strategies is using search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure your website appears as high as possible in search engine results. When potential clients search for event planners in your area, you want them to see your website first. And that’s where SEO comes in.

SEO is the process of optimizing your website with keywords that help you rank higher on Google and other search engines. You can use specific keywords and phrases to ensure your website appears higher on results pages. As a result, more people will see your website and learn about your event planning business.

As an event planner, you should have a niche and, therefore, a target audience. Once you have a target audience and a niche, you can find the SEO keywords that those people most often use and insert them into your website copy. This will allow your websites and landing pages to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) and skyrocket the success of your marketing strategy. There are many SEO software tools and SEO project management softwares you can use to help you out.

SEO is one of the more crucial aspects of achieving success with any online career, especially if you want to be a sought-after event planner. The best way to get noticed more and have people calling to book events with you is to utilize the power of SEO and jump to the top of people’s online searches. Soon, you’ll be on your way to attracting more clients and growing your business.

4. Send Out Regular Newsletters With Event Updates and Promotions

Newsletter (e-newsletters, as opposed to paper newsletters) marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your clients and promote your event planning business and should be integral to your marketing strategy.

There are many benefits to emailing out regular newsletters

• You can keep your clients up-to-date on the latest news, events, and upcoming promotions and discounts.
• A great way to connect with your clients.
• An easy way to share important updates, news, and information with your clients.
• Best of all, they’re a great way to promote your business!

When creating your newsletter, be sure to include a variety of information. Share highlights from recent events, offer tips for planning successful events, or showcase pictures from past events. You can also include promotional codes or discounts that are valid for a limited time.

If you’re not currently sending out newsletters, now is the time to start! It’s a quick and easy way to connect with your clients and promote your event planning business. And the results can be impressive.

5. Use Event Hosting and Planning Software To Streamline Your Marketing Strategy From Beginning to End

Event planning and hosting software can be a great way to facilitate your event planning business better and market your events more effectively. By using software, you can automate many of the tasks associated with event planning, including marketing.

Event hosting and planning software can help you develop an effective marketing strategy by keeping track of your target audience, sending automated emails and newsletters, and managing your social media accounts.

In addition, the software can even help you develop custom promotional materials, such as flyers and posters.

Using event planning and hosting software also saves time and energy while still marketing your events effectively. This will allow you to focus on other aspects of your business, such as developing relationships with clients and suppliers.

Ultimately, using all-on-one event planning software to plan events and marketing strategies from start to finish will help you grow your event planning business and attract more clients.

InEvent is one such software that can help event planners achieve massive success. InEvent is an all-in-one event planning hub with an enterprise ecosystem of services to implement solutions for event managers from start to finish. Their software is designed to help companies transform their corporate events, trade shows, exhibitions, meetings, and training sessions into more efficient and cost-effective experiences.

Event planners are becoming more popular as a career, and with the advent of online events, becoming a necessary job to facilitate massive online events and meetings.

A unique aspect of being an event planner is that they need a robust marketing strategy to showcase all of their past work to get more work. All of the marketing strategies we’ve covered in this blog are essential for event planners looking to achieve massive success.

You can reach a wider audience and promote your business more effectively by optimizing your website, having a robust social media presence, utilizing SEO’s power, sending out newsletters with promotional codes, and utilizing event hosting software such as InEvent.

These event planner marketing strategies will help you achieve massive success as an event planner. So get out there, do the work, and become the best event planner you can be with these strategies.

This article was developed by Andrew Dunn founder of INDMND.com , providing valuable insights for business owners to leverage technology to 10x their businesses.

Share on your social networks:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

About the Author / Akeem Okunola

You might also like

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts

Sustainable Event Planning in 2023: 10 Smart Tips.

How to Use In-Person Events to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy

How to Plan and Execute Event Logistics for a Successful Event

8 Ways To Make Your Events More Festive This Holiday Season

12 Mistakes to Avoid In Event Planning and Tips for Success

Crafting Event Proposals: Your Comprehensive Guide

9 Tips To Become an Effective Speaker at Events and Conferences.

Event Data Security in the Digital Age: Protecting Attendees and Insights

An Essential Guide to Event Badges

4 Winning Strategies for Tailoring Financial Events for Next-Gen Advisors

Maximizing Webinar Success: Essential Goals and Metrics to Track

Essential Components of a Sales Kickoff Agenda.

10 Cost-Saving Techniques for Event Planning in 2024

10 Effective Conference Marketing Ideas for 2024

Your Guide to a successful PR Event Planning

17 Creative Workshop Event Concepts and 7 Pro Tips for Successful Hosting

20 Event Engagement Ideas to Wow Your Attendees.

How To Improve Your Event Website: 6 Essential Tips

• Registration
• Hospitality
• Get in touch
• Certification
• Partnerships
• Integrations
• System Status