$pa Marketing: Event(ful) Marketing
I’ve tried hundreds of marketing tips and tricks over the years, but one that totally changed my business was event marketing. In this article, I’ll teach you: how to market your business using something everyone loves, parties, and how to create such an exciting event that everyone will want to be there.
Don’t Go It Alone
If you’re afraid hosting an event will break the bank, rest assured—you can easily throw a bash for next to nothing, or even FREE. How? By partnering with your vendors, individuals or companies who can sponsor the event. They can cover food, swag, supplies and samples. Why would they want to do this? Easy! Because it’s targeted brand exposure for them.
What’s the Entertainment?
Not sure how to entertain your guests? Be the entertainment. Help your customers get to know you at your events by sharing your story and your passions. Let them know what inspired you to start your business. I always say that I never “sell” anything—instead, I connect, educate, entertain and inspire. You can do the same by simply being yourself and talking about what you love to do.
This is How We Do It
At my company, National Laser Institute, we host a monthly in-person and Zoom happy hour called Skin Scene which we position as a girls’ night out; this encourages attendees to invite their friends and as they say, the more the merrier—especially for our Zoom events where we don’t have to worry about running out of food. This isn’t just any old happy hour—it’s an event on steroids! Because who doesn’t want free appetizers, wine, socializing with friends and giveaways? We market the event well in advance on social media as well as with email and text campaigns to our client database.
During the event, we do live demonstrations that generate engagement because they are both educational and fun. It also allows attendees to get to know our awesome team. We offer plenty of prizes to keep everyone interested. We always mention the prizes in our advance marketing because it drives traffic to our events, and we incentive people to bring friends by increasing their odds for prizes for every person they invite. And at the end of the event, we use a call to action for a “deal of a lifetime.” People buy based on the way you make them feel, and our events create tremendous buzz and positive vibes that encourage them to make purchases.
First Impressions
Often, an event will be the first experience that potential customers have with you. So, you want to use that event to create a relationship with people and get them so excited about your “deal of a lifetime” offer that it’s almost too good to refuse. They’ll want to jump in and test out your company on the spot. This creates a natural flow to commitment and obligation to you.
Summary
Even if you haven’t hosted many parties in your life, regular events that showcase your business and your passion can be fun, rewarding and easily create cash flow. Give it a try!
Louis “The Laser Guy’s” Three Additional Tips for Event(ful) Marketing:
- Capture LOTS of content … video footage, pictures and testimonials. Consider hiring a content creator (photographer) to keep a library of content.
- Encourage social “joins,” “follows” and “shares” during AND after the event, and tag attendees in posts as much as possible; you’ll get more shares which multiplies your exposure.
- Update your marketing list with attendees and invite them to your next event.
