Events are a powerful marketing tool with a profound impact. 95% of marketers agree that events provide great opportunities to make real-life connections. Not only that, but they also offer ways to create lasting brand awareness.
When you’re planning an event, you want to use all the best event marketing tools at your disposal. Doing this not only allows you to bolster your event’s success but also to track customer engagement as well.
Are you looking for ways to boost your event planning business? If so, keep reading to learn more about these event marketing tools and their uses below.
Enhances Event Promotion
Everyone has the same fear when it comes to event planning. What if you threw a party and nobody came? That’s why event promotion is so vital.
You need to use event marketing tools to promote your event. In a survey of marketers, 75% chose email marketing as the most effective promotion strategy.
By using event marketing tools for event promotion, you can update your promotional content as needed. Utilize multichannel marketing through mobile apps, social media, and email marketing.You can also use event marketing tools to personalize promotional content for specific audiences. This can help you get the right attention on your event promotion and increase the likelihood of event attendance.
Offers Streamlined Registrations
Event marketing tools can also come in handy when it comes to the registration process. If your event registration is too long or complex, it can deter prospective attendees from signing up.
You need to ensure that you streamline the registration process. One way to accomplish this is with sign-in options for previous participants. This allows them to use stored information to register easily for other events.
For example, having a dedicated online form or portal makes it easy for event attendees to register from anywhere at their leisure. You will also need to make sure that this form is accessible on mobile devices. Failure to do so will result in poor event registration numbers.
If your initial event registration list is already full, ensure that you have a standby or waitlist option available.
Enables Early Bird Registration Incentives
It is important to pique interest in your event as soon as possible. One of the best ways to do this is through the use of early bird registration incentives.
Show prospective event attendees that they can save a substantial amount off their registration costs by registering early. This encourages them to sign up to take advantage of these offers.
Event marketing tools allow you to offer time-sensitive offers with early registration. Creating a sense of urgency and instilling a fear of missing out (FOMO) in event attendees helps drive your marketing momentum.
Event marketing tools can track early bird registration numbers and show you where your efforts are most effective.
Provides Consistent Communication Methods
Consistent communication is the bridge between your event and your customers. Keeping registered and prospective attendees informed is key.
With event marketing tools you can send out automated event reminders, registration notices, promotions, and event updates easily. You can even use customer engagement tools to reach out to those who haven’t signed up yet.
For example, a prospective attendee who has expressed interest by providing their email address but hasn’t registered for the event. This could trigger a follow-up email asking them why they haven’t registered yet. It could also include a promotional offer to entice the person to take the initiative to register.
Supports Customizable Branding
Your event’s brand is an essential part of your event marketing strategy. Well-executed events can create lasting brand awareness with event attendees. Event marketing tools let you incorporate your brand into every aspect of your event planning process.
You can use these tools to apply your logos, color schemes, and other visuals across multiple mediums such as:
- Websites
- Registration pages
- Emails
- Promotional content
- Social media channels
Consistent branding is key to maintaining a cohesive brand image. It also makes your brand and your event appear more professional. With high-quality and consistent branding in place, you can create positive brand impressions across multiple marketing channels.
Optimizes Mobile Accessibility
In the modern age, people are rarely without their smartphones and tablets. It’s important not to overlook this detail in your event planner marketing.
By using event marketing tools, you can ensure that all elements of your event are mobile-friendly. This includes any elements that may take place before, during, and after the event.
For instance, prior to the event, you’ll want to verify that your registration forms are mobile-friendly and accessible on multiple phone models and mobile browsers. For post-event tasks, you may wish to send out links via SMS messaging inviting attendees to fill out event experience surveys.
Promotes Interactive Content
Using interactive content is a great way to elevate your event participation and interest. It goes beyond the typical static experience. You’re enhancing event attendee enjoyment levels by getting them involved in the activities.
There are many types of interactive content available including:
- Quizzes
- Polls
- Presentations
- Q&A’s
- Games
Implementing interactive content encourages engagement with your brand. Event marketing tools can help you customize content based on user preferences. This can improve the overall event experience of attendees.
Interactive content can provide you with instant event feedback. It also facilitates the collection of user data which can be used to tailor future marketing efforts.
Encourages the Use of Gamification
Taking a page from the interactive content book, gamification is a way to incorporate fun into events. Gamification is ideal for encouraging event participation. Examples of gamification include:
- Trivia Contests
- Scavenger Hunts
- Spin-to-Win Prize Wheels
- Escape Room Challenges
- Team-building Exercises
These activities can be augmented further by incorporating points, badges, and other rewards for high scores or the completion of tasks. It encourages friendly competition among event attendees which can improve networking capabilities.
Gamification can also enhance the learning process. By playing games relating to event content, it feels like a more organic way to learn and retain information. This is especially true when applied to events like online webinars which can sometimes be seen as dry and static.
Accommodates Personalized Experiences
Personalized experiences are more memorable by far. Not only can personalized experiences encourage increased customer engagement, but they can also lend themselves to creating higher event satisfaction rates. This is due to the fact that you can tailor your event based on the data of its attendees.
Using event marketing tools lets you plug into attendee data for targeted marketing. You can personalize content and specific event activities that align with their interests. Offering event attendees custom event agendas helps them choose the areas of interest most relevant to them.
Your event attendees will feel like you’ve gone the extra mile to cater to their unique preferences. This can contribute to strengthened brand loyalty.
Allows for Social Media Integration
Social media is a wealth of different demographics and interests. With social media, you’re able to tap into this diverse landscape for effective cross-promotion of your events.
With an expansive reach of 4.88 billion active social media users, your event planner marketing has the potential to make a big impact. Event marketing tools allow you to integrate your promotional efforts into these platforms through methods like custom hashtags.
Once an event is shared on social media, it has the ability to be shared among other followers. One share can quickly blossom into hundreds and even thousands more. Social media boosts your event’s visibility while also creating a place for attendee connection even before the event has started.
Aids in Lead Generation and Management
Event marketing tools allow you to collect and manage leads. These leads are crucial for customer conversions and marketing purposes. Leads for event signups can even be used for post-event communications like future events and event surveys.
Lead generation allows for deepening customer engagement. It helps marketers customize their communication efforts. This can then assist in the sales and conversion process.
Even if a potential event attendee doesn’t end up attending an event they expressed interest in, you still have access to qualified marketing leads. Information consent is often a condition of signing up for an event and providing an email address and other data.
Facilitates Virtual Event Hosting
Virtual events continue to be a growing force in the event planning industry. Every good event-planning business needs to have a model in place for both in-person and virtual events. There are even hybrid options that incorporate an in-person and a virtual event element together.
Leveraging virtual events in tandem with in-person events can bolster event attendance even further. This is because you are tapping into an abundance of event attendees who can’t be there in person but still want to be a part of the festivities.
Event marketing tools now come with the capabilities to facilitate virtual events. This includes facets like chat rooms and virtual showrooms. Even post-pandemic, an astonishing 93% of event marketers still plan to host virtual events in the future.
Maximizes Resource Management
There are so many facets that go into event planning. You need to account for factors like the venues, sponsors, speakers, and vendors. Tracking and managing all these variables can be challenging on your own.
That’s why event marketing tools are so important. They can help you manage many of the logistical aspects of your event. For example, they can assist you with coordinating exhibitors and sponsors for a smooth setup.
Another way you can maximize your resources is by utilizing venue management. This allows you to view floor plans and seating charts, and manage booking. You can even access budget management tools to ensure proper fund resource allocation.
Delivers Cost-Effective Solutions
Event marketing tools are a smart way to manage your event planner marketing needs. By using features like automation, you can easily set the parameters of certain tasks in the system and it will take over from there. This could include undertaking event email marketing, which can be a tedious task otherwise.
This can save you money because you won’t have to hire someone else to do the more repetitive workflows manually. It can also save you valuable time that you can use to focus on other aspects of the event planning process.
Manages Customer Event Feedback
If you’re wondering about whether your event went well, look no further than your own event attendees themselves. Feedback surveys in the form of push notifications, emails, and text messages provide event attendees with many ways to voice their opinions of your event.
By sending out post-event surveys you can ask event attendees to review and rate their total event experience to gauge overall satisfaction rates. You can use this feedback to help plan events in the future as well.
With event marketing tools, you can even receive feedback from your event attendees while the event is still going on. If there is anything they don’t like about the event, you can see this information in real-time and do your best to remedy the situation and increase satisfaction rates.
Handles Post-Event Analysis
Even after your event ends, your work isn’t done. It’s time to see how you did. By using event marketing tools, you can access valuable insights into your event’s performance.
Evaluate data like event attendance, ticket sales, and customer engagement levels. You can compare this data to similar events or events from previous years to measure your overall success. You can see where your event was successful and where you may need to improve.
This data is crucial for helping you fine-tune your efforts for other upcoming events. When paired with customer feedback, you’ll have a blueprint that you can use to guide your event-planning business through future events with ease.
Explore More Event Marketing Tools for Your Event Planner Business
Event marketing tools are essential for event planning. They can help you with aspects like event personalization, customer engagement, and resource management. This can lighten the load of the frazzled event planner and lead to a more successful event overall.
Virtual Edge is your source for planning and accomplishing successful virtual events and meetings. You can find insights and news on a wide variety of event planner marketing topics like event technology and event management.
Read more informative articles on our site today, like this one on Unique and Awesome Event Themes.