You put a lot of effort into crafting the ultimate event and ensuring everything is set. However, this does not guarantee people showing up unpacking your event venue. Many people struggle with how to advertise a party or event.
Selling your event is not an easy task. There is, therefore, no one-size-fits-all strategy to promote your events. All communication channels and advertising strategies should consequently be channeled towards improving the likelihood of people attending an event.
Many mechanisms have been proven to be effective in advertising a special event or a party outlined and looked at in this article.
Event marketing is the broad concept of user experience and events to promote particular products, services, or brands. These events can occur in person, virtually, or a hybrid of virtual and in-person events.
There are different ways people can participate in special events and parties, including attending, exhibiting products and brands, organizing the event and other side events, sponsoring, presenting as a panelist or a guest, among others.
Special events and parties aim to bring businesses and people together in an enterprising or a personal way.
Because event and party marketing are often crowded and oversaturated, events become a terrific method to create lasting personal and business relationships that go beyond the event.
From a corporate view, parties and events benefit companies to create visibility and become a vital tool for marketing their products and fundraising.
An organization can effectively communicate to prospective leads and customers through events and parties by showcasing divisions and products offered by an organization.
It can also be used to establish a loyal customer base which can help build and grow the corporate brand. Therefore, special events and corporate parties are viewed as the best approaches to creating leads and meeting potential customers, suppliers, and distributors.
Event marketing and party advertisements are considered to have entered into a guerilla outfit where virtual and physical advertisements blend. Companies are increasingly investing in virtual marketing, especially social media platforms.
The types of personal parties may include;
- Birthday party.
- Weddings.
- Anniversaries.
- Banquets.
- Tea parties.
- Cocktail parties.
- Surprise parties.
- Graduation.
- Fundraising.
- Baby shower.
- Pre-party.
- Farewell party.
- Welcome party.
- Housewarming party.
- Pool party.
- Christmas carol.
- After the party,
- Events related to special days.
- Events related to religious events.
On the other hand, event marketing encompasses conferences, team building, recruitment events and job fairs, VIP events, product launches, galas and ceremonies, book or music album launches, internal company meetings, seminars, and trade shows.
However, there are a few things to consider before advertising your event or party.
When is The Best Time to Start Advertising Your Party or Special Event?
Before thinking of how to advertise a party or event, first understand that the most crucial aspect of any event is establishing lead times to ensure that associated activities and events such as entertainment booking, sponsorship, venue reservations, and others are completed.
If, for example, you require some music or performers to attend your party, it is evident that the best course of action is to ensure that there is sufficient time between arranging with the intended performers and the actual party or special events.
This type of preparation can take up to ten months to ensure that all necessary arrangements are made satisfactorily. Such a long period allows for adjustments or changes if something does not go as planned. A performer, for example, may withdraw, giving you enough time to find another.
A venue reservation is a household task because you must identify the specific day that you intend to hold your event or party and a rough estimate of the number of attendees. Therefore, it is recommended that you select more slots or spaces on the reservations as soon as possible to allow enough time to fill the slots.
Parties and all special events are susceptible and therefore require some reliable security system put in place and business insurance to cater to any liability.
In some cases, event organizations involve developing a landscape design and hiring car service, especially for events such as a wedding or birthday party.
The Event’s Goal
In the corporate world, the goal of any particular event is to generate a direct or indirect return on investment in monetary terms while also capturing customer leads at the event.
Therefore, it is critical to recognize that, for an event to be a success, you must obtain the appropriate target audience captured in your goal.
There is, therefore, a need to allow enough time between planning and the actual event date to ensure that you get the right people. After setting the goal, now you can think of how to advertise a party or event.
How to Advertise a Party or Event
Social Media
Social media are currently being implemented as an experiential digital marketing platform. The right to which people subscribe to social media platforms makes it appealing for event marketing.
It has become a part of social media, and experiential marketing goes hand-in-hand.
Statistics indicate that companies are increasingly investing in social media, making the campaign advertisements and return-on-investment easier to track since they are based on technological platforms.
Given experiential marketing, event marketing is also referred to as engagement marketing, participation, live marketing, or on-ground marketing. The consumers and the engagement marketers are actively involved in the creation and production of marketing campaigns and programs. The co-creation of production is based on the fact that consumers actively participate in the sharing of these marketing campaigns and events.
Sending Personalized Emails
People tend to feel special when sending personalized emails related to particular events or parties. Personal emails have been used for a long time to advertise corporate events and parties.
When sending personalized emails, a corporate organization emphasizes the importance of the party. It highlights the importance of the participants and stakeholders, including sponsors, panelists, attendees, and event organizers.
Personalized emails, therefore, accord specific people their designations, which showcases their value.
For panelists or contributors, effective personalized emails focus more on specific topics or subjects of discussions and the particular role of the participants based on a stipulated schedule.
Personalized emails are typically sent to email lists by corporate organizations drawn from customers, suppliers, partners, and other strategic stakeholders.
Using Event Marketing Platforms
Many event marketing platforms are used chiefly by corporate organizations and fundraisers. The two most common are Eventbrite and 10Times.
The advantage of using these platforms is that they have a large following of people looking to attend events best suited to meeting specific needs; schedule, expertise, location, and others.
This platform, therefore, indicates the specific location of events or parties by country and city, the specific venue, the date and time, the subjects and objectives of the event, the participants, the number of people expected to attend, and the online tickets obtained through subscription.
Most corporate organizations that intend to market their products or showcase their brand make such events accessible and affordable for people to attend. They are primarily held in hotels and conference centers where the facilitation of meals such as lunch or tea is funded by the organization or some arrangement where the participants pay a small fee.
Events such as training are mostly fee-based unless they are fully funded by governments, non-governmental organizations, or corporate organizations that intend to build their market systems or train on the use of particular products and digital platforms.
Using Virtual Meetings Platforms
The emergence of Covid-19 has brought about an explosion of virtual meetings and conferences on platforms such as Google Meet, Skype, Facebook, and WhatsApp platforms. Both corporate and personal events and parties are advertised and sometimes held virtually.
For corporate organizations, Google meet and Skype have proven to be effective. They both provide platforms for moderation of meetings, sharing of documents, and easy sharing of meeting links.
Use of Messaging Platforms.
Personalized text messages are also considered practical advertising parties and special events tools. Like personalized emails, messaging can also be personalized and can quickly receive responses from receivers of the advertising messages.
Phone Calls
The use of telephones and cell phones is one of the leading traditional advertising methods. The method was effective since it presented a personalized way of advertising an event or party.
When people receive phone calls that relate to invitations to parties and events, they tend to feel special as they regard phone calls as a costly means of sending a message and more personalized.
Advertising at Checkout
Suppose a company has a retail location or partners with a local firm that does have a retail location. In that case, it is possible to promote your party or event to customers who are checking out in the area.
People tend to buy into an idea if they like your products or are your regular customers.
One can prepare invitation cards that can be shared with retail customers as they visit the shop.
The three easiest ways of receiving customers through this means are:
Word of Mouth
Word-of-mouth involves telling customers directly and providing the relevant details of the event. When customers check out, employees can get them in some conversation related to specific events.
Texting Customers
In some cases, one can use platforms such as On-spot Social to engage the customers by sending them instant messages regarding a particular event or party.
Handing Them Postcards
It is essential to provide your potential attendees with tangible printed postcards, with transparencies for laser printers, that detail the venue, the date, and other event promotion details. Postcards can be very instrumental promotional tools for marketing your party or event.
Use of Local Media
Local media can include local TV or radio advertisements, a local newspaper, and websites that serve locals. Although local media are considered a traditional way of communicating about our advertising events or parties, it has proven effective to date, as people are glued to hearing information as they work and engage in different activities.
It is important to note that people always look for fun things to do around the local community, and they are for placing an invitation to an event or a party that could invite many people.
People also browse their local websites to establish new developments and happenings, especially since more digital users are tech-savvy.
However, it is essential to target your audience to get the right audience to attend your event.
Using Industrial Influences
Industry influencers are mostly industry experts who use different mechanisms to pass information. To get the industrial experts, one only needs to book an appointment and explain what you desire. Some of them require some fee to cover your advertisement on their related platforms.
Blogs
Blogging has become one of the essential tools against digital marketing. However, it is necessary to establish the right block to create content and pass it across to people effectively. Such a blog has many followers and traffic, which means that your advertisement is likely to be viewed by many potential attendees.
Should you wish to come up with your blog for an event advertisement, factor in the web hosting service and all related costs and SEO for lawyers, especially when an event may lead to a legal obligation.
Using Wearables
Items such as branded t-shirts and other tools that bear the logo design and the event’s details might expose the event or party to other people.
Such an approach can be eye-catching and relatively inexpensive.
Conclusion/Outro
Parties and event planning can be difficult, but the most challenging task is advertising the event and attracting the right audience.Many people struggle with how to advertise a party or event.
Event organizers can easily budget for, identify, and organize the location and venue of an event or party and invite speakers and notable stakeholders. However, the most crucial aspect is attracting the right audience to your event.