"It's not so much what you offer, it's how you offer it" - Brian Halligan, co-founder of HubSpot
In today's dynamic and fast-paced world, the amount of information is many times more than our minds can process. This is also why our attention span is getting smaller and smaller. This is where the role of marketing comes in - to get through the door of consciousness and stay there. This is how our customers will know about our products or services. In the following lines, we will share some useful tips on how, with the help of Entase, your events can reach more people who would be interested in them.
Essential event marketing tips
The marketing process briefly has 4 steps:
- Create a persona. Who are our customers?
- Channel selection. Where can we reach them?
- Content creation. It should hold their attention.
- Convert. Here we have to make it as easy as possible for them to buy.
Almost every business knows who its customers are. But it's a little more difficult to think about distribution channels. In this regard, we would like to share some basic tips for online distribution, some of which we will cover in more detail in the following lines.
Announce the event as early as possible
The sooner an event is announced, the more options you will have for its distribution. For example, if the event is larger or happens infrequently, consider an early bird campaign. These are early bird ticketing campaigns where visitors get a discount. Plan when and how to "nudge" your audience. For example, if the event is in January, it is not particularly appropriate to run an advertisement for it in the period 1-20 December, because then people are thinking massively about gifts and their budget. Advertise the event actively while other events are going on. It is also possible to give discounts to people attending a certain concert or theater who want to buy a ticket for another production.
Text and visuals are not just formal
Text and graphics are powerful weapons for presenting your event. Emotions are the main reason we buy anything. We don't want to buy a camera, but to capture memories with loved ones. We don't want to buy a theater ticket, but to spend time with a dear person. Text and visuals should create an emotion.
Use a url shortener
It is a good practice to use a URL shortener. The easiest way is to use the built-in tool in EntaseThis makes the link to the event look nicer. Learn how to generate short links with Entase.
Consider what are the right distribution channels.
If the event is for children (for example, a puppet show), you can look for Facebook groups for mothers. Almost every city has several popular Facebook groups for the city where you can write about the event. Local media is also a good option for marketing any event. Facebook advertising with good targeting is almost a must, even if it's on a small budget.
How to promote an event on Facebook
In Bulgaria, Facebook is one of the main ways for people to learn about the events in and around the world. That's why it's practically a must-have channel to reach your audience. Here are some ideas and best practices that will help spread the word about your current and future events and help more people learn about you.
Well-maintained Facebook and Instagram pages
They should be regularly filled with content. The posts that reach the most people are videos, followed by photo galleries, single photos, and lastly, text posts. That's why it's best to post videos or a few photos of an event. This way, the posts will reach more people. The use of hashtags is also highly desirable. Also, make sure that everything on your Facebook page is correct - correctly filled in phone number, website, email, a button to the site and other elements.
The visible part of the screen is the most important
In marketing, the term "above the fold" is often used. This is the visible part of the screen when the user opens a site or an application. In the case of Facebook pages, the first thing a person sees when opening a page is: the cover, the profile picture, the name of the page, a pinned post (if any). Therefore, it is desirable that the upcoming events are regularly shared in the form of a post that is "pinned" at the top of the page. In terms of visual content, it is appropriate that the cover of the Facebook page also includes the monthly program or upcoming events.
Facebook and Instagram advertisement for the event
The platforms allow us to advertise a specific Facebook event. This is a very good option for advertising, because it is possible to target according to the geographical target (if the event is in the town of Ruse, targeting is implemented only for Ruse-based users). Also, we can target by demographic (if the event is for kids, women ages 25-45 are targeted). With a budget of about BGN 100, the advertising of the event can reach thousands of people who are potential customers. The sooner you release the event, the better. Thus, the audience will be "warmed up". Don't forget the mandatory elements, such as adding a link to buy tickets, marking the correct time and date of the event. It is important to post content in the event itself. Thus, those who have noted that they are interested or will attend will receive a reminder. They will probably mention the event to their relatives and friends. Consider a gaming element. For example, one of the guests will receive a poster with autographs of all the performers in the event. Everyone wants to be a winner.
Instagram - regular uploading of stories
Instagram is becoming a stronger channel and will soon overtake Facebook. If you have a resource to make videos, it would be great to do so. We advise you to work with local and micro influencers on Instagram and other social networks. For a few free tickets, you can ensure your content reaches thousands of users. And fans of some influencers would attend the event to see their favorites.
Facebook groups - a much neglected but powerful channel
Groups remain one of the main reasons people visit Facebook. They can be by interests, by demographics (groups for parents), local groups and others. Consider how to prevent your content from being considered spam. For example, you can offer a discount % to members of a determined group. Most large groups have active moderation. In this case, we advise you to first check with an administrator or moderator before posting the content.
How to promote with the help of Entase
The Entase platform Entase provides many opportunities and facilities to promote your events.
Coupons
Nowadays, people are "addicted" to discounts. Marketing specialists use various techniques, one of which is issuing vouchers. They can be used in many ways – generating multiple vouchers that can be used once and given away or put on a promotion. Another good way would be, when working with influencers, generating a discount voucher (with unlimited use) for them to distribute to their audience. At Entase, it is done with just a few clicks. Our advice is to plan a few months ahead. Let's take the first 3 months of the year as an example. There are a few bigger dates – 14th February, 3rd March, 8th March. For the first one, you can do a "Two for One" campaign - 50% discount when buying 2 tickets. For 8th March, you can schedule a voucher code to distribute to popular influencers and moms. For national holidays, patriotic events or events related to the occasion can be organized and members of the public, historians and intellectuals can be invited. Learn how to create vouchers with Entase..
Embedding events or repertoire
Easy embedding on your site or a media/partner's site shortens the steps a user needs to take to purchase a ticket. Learn how to generate a embed code with Entase..
Promotions and pricing policies
With the help of Entase you can easily define different pricing policies and categories. Such can be the well-known discounts for students and pensioners, as well as discounts for groups or promotion under other conditions. Learn how to manage pricing policies with Entase..
Email marketing
Entase allows the collection of emails of event attendees. Subsequently, they can be easily removed from the system and notified of future events. A free and easy-to-set-up option is through Mailchimp, where you can send promotional emails to up to 2,000 people for free. When selling a ticket at the box office, we advise you to ask the buyer if he/she wants to leave his/her email to receive promotions and news.
Other ways to promote events online
The digital world provides endless opportunities for advertising and marketing. Not all of them are suitable for events, but in the following points we will look at a few that would be a good and low cost option.
Google display advertising
These are banners that people see around news-related and other sites on the Internet. They provide the possibility of targeting according to the geographical target (if the event is in the town of Ruse, for example, targeting is implemented only for Ruse-based users). There is also the ability to target by age and gender. For example, a children's event may target women aged 25-45 (potential mothers).
Advertising in local media
Many people are informed daily about what is happening in their town/city from local media. We recommend entering into a partnership with a local media that will cover the upcoming events of your cultural institution.
Video content
Nowadays, video content is an extremely powerful tool in the online environment. However, its disadvantages are significant – it is much more difficult to create video content than text, for example. But that shouldn't stop us! Social networks such as TikTok are currently mainly used by the younger generation, but they are gaining more and more popularity. In 2021, TikTok was the most visited site in the world (yes, it surpassed even Google and Facebook). If you manage to break through there, you will have put yourself on the map for the future.
In today's digital and global world, the amounts of information are astronomical. This is also the reason why marketing is increasingly necessary to be able to reach people. No matter how good and cheap a given product or service is, people must somehow find out about it. Word of mouth advertising remained in the 20th century. Take advantage of the opportunities that online marketing provides and we guarantee that the results will not be late!