The success of the online event largely depends on the way you choose to promote it. For well-established brands with no tight financial limits, the online event promotion campaign is not particularly intense.
However, if this is not your case, there are many ways you can attract attention to your event not spending a dime. Luckily, numerous small tricks, software, and tools can help you boost event attendance. Thus, taking advantage of the email signature software for your email marketing strategy will prove a skyrocketing success of the event at a low cost.
Here is a whole bunch of such tricks you can try to boost more significant attendance numbers.
Create a good looking event page and optimize it for Google
Let’s start with the basics. Social media is not the only possible way to get visible. The most natural thing for many people is to search for various things and events via Google.
However, is it possible to make sure people will find your event without investing in Google Ads? The answer lies within the essence of SEO optimization. A good-looking event page ranking high in the Google search results automatically catches the attention and seems more meaningful for the viewer. To give your event a chance to show up in top search results, take care of keywords, domain reputation and make sure the location and date are front and center.
Include a discount in your pricing strategy
A discount is one of the oldest pricing strategies that work exceptionally efficiently in any case. The online event promotion campaign is no exception here. Using discount codes and coupons proves to increase ticket sales and event attendance.
People are strongly affected by limited offers and exclusive prices. According to Market Track, 83 percent of U.S. shoppers have made an unplanned purchase based on a promotion or coupon.
Besides, discounts are an effective way to create hype around the event, provoke the feeling of urgency and appreciation of the participants’ loyalty. Thus, the attendees feel unique and exclusive, which results in positive associations and affiliation to your brand.
Use an email marketing for event promotion
Email marketing is among the top inexpensive yet efficient ways to promote online events. Over 75% of event creators pick email marketing as their most effective strategy, with 45% of event ticket sales coming from emails. Besides, it is only natural to use email marketing well in advance to generate interest in the event. There are two crucial benefits of the email marketing campaign you do not miss out.
Add event to your email signature
While considering creative and soft-sell ways to promote your event, take advantage of the email signature. Give it a thought. Emails signature is one of the most-viewed marketing channels available for an insignificant price. The promotional power, in this case, can hardly be underestimated.
Just create a signature highlighting the key event details, clear CTA, and eye-catching image for each of your employees.
If you want to add more personalization, you may draw signature as well.
Segment event invitations for different audiences
Those willing to use email marketing campaigns to their benefit should not ignore the audience segmentation feature. We all know that the message works the best when delivered to the right person at the right time. Behavior-based and demographic data allow achieving high response rates by specific audience segments to the tailored messages, invitations, and offers.
Promote events on social media
Undoubtedly, social media is a must-have for event promotion. As social media have become an integral part of our daily lives, if your event does not exist on social media, it does not exist at all. Building a social media presence is crucial for the event`s success.
Even though social media has increasingly become a “pay to play” marketing channel by providing numerous paid advertising opportunities, there are still some ways to get noticed for free. Here are a few ways to boost interest in your event at minimal costs.
Create an event hashtag
All the major social networks, now have a hashtag feature available. Therefore, most users who are potential attendees of your event perfectly know how to use them.
The mission of a hashtag is apparent – to increase awareness and visibility. Therefore, there is no way to promote the event on social media without incorporating an exclusive hashtag. Besides, there is nothing more simple than coming up with a unique hashtag phrase.
Including a hashtag in your promotions, commentaries, and posts, you’re not only pulling a conversation together, but you’re also making it easy for people to find and differentiate your event from millions of others.
Make a short video
In recent times the nature of in-person events has changed dramatically. Different events of various sizes all over the world are now fully digital experience. Nowadays, the visual impression is everything that matters. A digital event with no high-quality visual impression elements is destined to fail.
Besides, is there a more engaging and creative way to promote the event than video? In 2018, 95% of events that used video said it was effective.
A good video should attract, engage and help convert the viewers. Armed with inspiration, various video templates, software, and tools, you will easily achieve these goals at a reasonable price.
Promote with social media ads
Social media ads belong to the most effective ways to raise awareness and draw attention. Even though there is no free advertising on social media, these costs appear to be very efficient.
Image source: https://www.clicky.co.uk/ppc/social-ads/
Social media’s core value is that it helps reach a broader audience, which may not be directly related to your activity but might be interested in participation. Social media advertisement platforms give you more flexibility in targeting, opportunities to increase visibility, boost engagement, attendance, and total control over the money spent.
Conclusion
Online event promotion on a tight budget may seem impossible or at least a challenging task. However, the perspectives are much brighter than you think.
Fortunately, there is a variety of tools that can facilitate your efforts and boost success. Whether you decide to choose one of the methods mentioned above or all of them at once, you must understand the more effort you put into your event campaign, the better your performance will be. The quality and diversity of marketing efforts prevail over the money spent.