The Small Business Event Marketing Toolkit

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1 The Small Business Event Marketing Toolkit Best practices and resources to help ramp your marketing efforts before, during, and after your small business events.

2 In This Toolkit First Steps Event Marketing Checklist Important Info to Include on Your Event Page

3 First Steps What are your business goals for the year? Would you like more leads? Position your company as leaders in your market? Grow your business network? As a small and growing business, hosting events on a regular basis is a great way to build up your client base, grow your network and generate revenues. Events are wonderfully flexible and can accommodate all kinds of different goals for small businesses. Some top event objectives are: Lead generation Growing your business network Conveying a brand message Educating an audience Client retention For almost any key business goal, there is the ideal event to go with it. As a growing business, you may not have dedicated marketing and sales teams to rely on, so you need to find a way to get the right audience to your events, and then manage your attendees, with a minimum of fuss and resources. Running an event can sound complicated, but it doesn t have to be. The first step is to get planning your event use this simple checklist below to make sure you have the key milestones covered. 3

4 Pre-Event Marketing Considering Your Stakeholders Understand your audience Are your attendees interested in professional networking? Fun or social activities? New experiences? Learning opportunities? Their interests should drive the nature of the event you hold. Sponsors If desired, solicit event sponsors. Ensure you ve defined and agreed upon the value sponsors will receive from your event, be it logo placement, comp d tickets, a VIP experience, or the opportunity to market to guests. Partners Explore ways partners can help promote your event, via social media, blog posts, or s to their database. Venue If your venue has an event listing or social media presence, ask if they can help promote your event. And - make sure your venue has WiFi! 4

5 Pre-Event Marketing Setting Up for Sales Event Page Build for conversion Make purchasing a ticket as easy as possible. Include important information above the fold, a strong call to action, and minimise the number of fields required for registration (see Tips for a Winning Event Page below). Emphasise images Images and media are a great way to communicate the event, capture interest and drive demand. Use logos and photos of speakers, performers, sponsors, partners, and video from the previous year s event. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Include search keywords on your page. Ensure your images are searchable by using ALT tags. Build inbound links to your event page via online event listings, PR, and blogs. Tracking Use unique tracking links for every marketing channel , social media, display ads, blog posts, etc. to track how much traffic was driven, how many tickets were sold, and how much revenue was generated through that specific channel. Pricing You may want to consider special pricing to encourage ticket sales. Offer early bird pricing or extra giveaways (free drink, t-shirt, etc.) for attendees that purchase sooner, or group pricing to incentivise attendees to invite their friends. 5

6 Pre-Event Marketing Marketing Planning Build a calendar Use your event goals as a framework to build a marketing calendar for s, social media, blog posts, PR, and more. Assign dates to all of your outreach from the event announcement to reminders to promotions. Sustained communication will help keep the event top of mind and minimise ticketing lulls. Social media management Establish clear ownership for managing and monitoring social media among your team. Be prepared to respond to questions, encourage fans, handle complaints and act on them. Event hashtag Create a hashtag that s unique, intuitive and easy to remember. Use it consistently at the end of social media posts and updates, and encourage partners, staff, and sponsors to use it as well. 6

7 Pre-Event Marketing Marketing Content Initial announcement Introduce your event and drive awareness and ticket sales across , social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, staff, and partners. Identify your biggest fans and ask them to follow, share, or retweet your event news and updates. Ongoing updates Subsequent communications should build on each other and include pictures and video from the previous year s event, quotes from attendees, and developing news such as new sponsors, speakers and entertainment, etc. Engagement initiatives Looking to increase buzz? Consider raffling off event tickets, holding contests or giveaways, or providing special limited-time offers with a ticket purchase on social media. PR Ensure press is SEO-friendly with a full link to your event page. If press mentions appear without a link, reach out to the reporter and/or publication, thank them for the mention, and then politely request a link to your page. Most are happy to do so. Sponsors Be sure to leave space in your social media calendar to recognise sponsors, so that they and other potential future sponsors can see the value of supporting your event. 7

8 At-Event Marketing Onsite Include social reminders and your event hashtag on marketing materials, presentations, and signage. Encourage attendees to upload photos and videos, and share their event experiences. Scheduled social media If your event is on a set schedule, it s not a bad idea to schedule tweets in advance. Schedule reminders about when speeches/performances are occurring, giveaways, where the bathrooms are, etc. Live social feed Consider using live social media display services such as Tweetwall to show activity around your hashtag on a screen and encourage even more activity. Live event stream If your event includes performances or speakers, consider live streaming them to amplify your reach to a larger audience. In-event technology Consider creating a mobile app, running live polls, or bidding apps if you re holding an auction. 8

9 Post-Event Marketing Thank yous Show appreciation for your attendees, sponsors, staff, and customers via and/or social media posts. Share Post event pictures and and videos, and encourage attendees to do the same. Also, it s never too soon to give insight into what s in store for next year. Ask for feedback Free tools like SurveyMonkey let you easily send surveys and automatically compile the results. Continue the connection Throughout the year, allow attendees to continue networking on a LinkedIn or Facebook group. 9

10 Analytics Track channel results Take a detailed look at specific performance within each channel. For , watch open rates, click-through rates, event page visits, and the number of ticket sales sold as a result of a specific . You may find that even though the open rate was high, the click-through rate was below average. That s when it s time to test the call-to-action, copy, and images. Measure all the costs When calculating ROI for a specific channel, consider all the resources that are going into the execution. Retargeting and display ads, for example, require design work and effort to develop the copy and messaging. Don t forget to count the additional placement costs to run the ads. All of this should be included as part of the cost per channel when calculating the ROI. Be flexible and adjust Your event marketing plan needs to be fluid because as you monitor your campaigns, you re inevitably going to need to adjust by doubling down on channels that are performing well, and canceling channels that aren t. Make sure you can act quickly to make the necessary changes before it s too late. Monitor your event marketing calendar to ensure that it s reflective of your updated plans. Create a post- event document of marketing channels that worked and what you might have done differently, and use this document as a solid blueprint for your next event. Congratulations! You have completed the checklist for marketing and promoting a successful small business event. 10

11 Tips for a Winning Event Page Below are some frequently asked questions that you may want to include on your event page. (Go here to learn how to include these FAQs on your order confirmation and page.) 1) Is there a phone number or where I can contact the organiser with any questions? 2) What is your refund policy? 3) Are there ID requirements or an age limit to enter the event? 4) Do I need to print out and bring a ticket to get in? 5) Will you be selling tickets at the door? 6) Is there parking at the event? If not, is there a nearby facility where I can park? Some of these questions may not apply to your event, but having some or all of these questions answered on your event page will help eliminate confusion for your attendees, and make things run more smoothly on the day of your event. 7) Is there public transportation to the event? Is there bicycle parking? 8) Who s participating or who are your sponsors? 9) Are group tickets for sale, or is there a discounted rate for groups? 10) Where is the event taking place? 11) How do I get there? 12) What is the event / hosting organisation about? 11

12 About Eventbrite Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote and sell out any event. The online event ticketing service makes it easy for everyone to discover events, and to share the events they are attending with the people they know. 12 Learn more at eventbrite.co.uk/smallbusiness. To speak to a seasoned account executive, give us a call on