If you are thinking about planning an event of any kind, you will hopefully have realized that how you advertize and promote the event will in most cases determine whether it is a success or failure. By now you probably have a date set for the event, the location and you are now left with just letting your audience know about it.

The methods used for promoting your event will invariably change depending on the purpose of the event, the type of audience you are targeting to attend and the budget and resources you have at your disposal.

Take a look at a few pointers you can consider when determining your very own promotion plan.

Identify Your Audience

First and foremost you will need to identify who you are trying to attract to your event. Think about what types of people will be interested in an event of this kind and which types are likely to benefit from attending. There is no point wasting your time on the wrong audience, concentrate on those who you believe will be interested.

Brainstorm Your Promotion Methods

Now that you know your target audience you need to think about how the best way would be to communicate information about the event to them.

• Are they likely to be reachable by email?
• Where do these people frequent both online and offline that they would be able to see your promotion material?
• Would they be regular listeners to radio and which stations?
• What printed newspapers or magazines would they read?

Promotion Vs. Budget

As in industry you will be looking for the best value for money and this is no different when promoting your event. You need to find the very best cost effective methods available to you to get your message to your desired audience.

Word of mouth is usually one of the most effective methods to get news of your event across. It is personal and people are more likely to spread news of the event through word of mouth.

Do remember that not all methods of promotion have to even cost anything. There are many ways to get the word out about your event that cost nothing at all.

What Is Your Timeline?

Never leave yourself with little time to promote your event. You should always have at least two weeks to advertise and promote before the event starts, otherwise you could find that not many people attend at all.

You also have to consider how long it will take to develop the advertising material. Posters, news releases, flyers, mail-shots and any online content will take time to develop and get to the masses. Always know the timeframe needed for your material to be developed. If you are printing posters or the like, you will quickly learn that this can be done through 24 hour printing but always look around for the best prices.

Always be sure that your promotional material has been delivered well in advance of your event starting. If it gets to them too late they could have already made other plans.

Create As High Quality Pieces As Possible

Think heavily about how you are going to promote and create it to as high a standard as possible. Make sure you get your desired message across but do not overload people with information. Short and sweet is usually best and will be remembered far easier.

Highlight the aspects of the event that will appeal to your audience the most, the aspects that are sure to get them interested. Whether it is a headlining musical act, a promotion or something that they are going to get a lot out of, make sure it is made clear in any promotional material.

Is Your Event Newsworthy Enough For The Media?

Usually your event will be media friendly if it has one or more of these attributes.

• The event involves high profile people.
• The event is likely to have a big impact on those who attend.
• If there is a large number of people expected to turn up.
• The event and its topic are a little on the controversial side.

Basically, if your event is something that people are talking about, the media are likely to want to be all over it. If the media is not interested enough to come to you, perhaps you can go to them, though it might be at a cost.

A great way to get the media’s attention is to hire a speaker. It may seem like a daunting task at first, but websites like Leading Authorities make it easy to browse through and hire a large variety of speakers for your event. Not only can you search by topic, but also by their price range, meaning you don’t necessarily have to break your budget just to find a noteworthy speaker. Dedicating some of your finances to a high profile speaker is guaranteed to get the attention of the media, and it will ultimately be a great way to promote your event.

With all of the above firmly in mind, you should now be better equipped to promoting your event efficiently, cost-effectively and in a timely manner to ensure that it is a rip roaring success. Just remember that planning has to be at the forefront of everything regarding your event, especially with that of the marketing side of things.

Photo credit: scott_oakley