Advertising Ideas for Events

Organizing an event is no simple task. It does not matter whether it is small or large. What matters is that people know about it and attend it. All your efforts at event planning will be successful when you advertise it well. Moreover, not only does the advertising matter, but also the medium through which you advertise. All these simple things, which you may have overlooked in the grander scheme of things will make your efforts at advertising an event more effective.

Event Promotions and Advertising Ideas

The basic psychology behind various advertising techniques is this: the grander the advertising campaign, the more audience it will attract. However, these methods depend on the type and scale of the event you are having. For instance, the promotional techniques for an event such as a fundraiser for charity will be different from those for a rock concert. Also, your events promotion and marketing campaign should fit within the budget allotted for the event. Fortunately, not every advertising method is extravagant and expensive. Here are some tips that will help.

Identify Your Audience
What kind of audience are you targeting for the event? Is it a group of youngsters for a rock concert, or is it a group of businessmen for a corporate event? Depending on your audience, your advertising techniques and marketing strategies will vary.

Get Good Sponsors
The kind of sponsors you get for an event in some way gives the audience an idea about how good the event might be. For instance, if it is a well-known company that sponsors your event, audiences will be able to identify with it, and may consider attending the event. On the other hand, if you get little-known companies as sponsors it may affect the attendance of your event. It is a psychological aspect that is involved in advertising. Getting sponsors for an event is a difficult job, but you can try to get a mix of some well-known and some little-known sponsors for the event to strike a right balance. This will help you use their database to connect to an audience too, and the sponsors too will use their own different types of advertising to get you your audience.

Make Radio & Newspaper Announcements
Perhaps the most traditional advertising technique, a radio announcement and newspaper advertisements are still most effective advertising techniques for events. The announcement should not be made way in advance, or way too close to the date of the event. A minimum of a 2 week notice should be given to your audience. To further attract more audiences, give out free tickets, or prizes to the listeners and readers upon answering a few simple questions. This will also increase the word-of-mouth marketing that is an essential technique of advertising. These promotional advertising offers can go on even until the last day to attract a good audience.

Billboards Still Work
Banners on a billboard are very helpful. Of course, you have to determine whether this method of advertising fits within your budget, because it is slightly expensive. Moreover, the use of billboard advertising also depends on the scale of the event. You needn't put up an advertisement for a garage sale on a billboard. Billboard advertising is another one of those things that vouches for your event as a good, authentic one, if it is a large-scale event you are having, such as a food festival, a sports event, or a music festival.

Use Well-Designed Posters
Posters are another valuable technique for marketing and promoting events. Hire a professional to design your posters, because they indeed have a great impact on the audience. Depending on the type of event, the type of poster will vary. Put up these posters in the necessary areas. For instance, if it is an event for youngsters, put it up in colleges, at local fast-food joints, and other places where it will catch their attention. You may even design different posters and put them up through the planning phase, to keep the audience's attention and to attract a larger audience to the event.

Make the Most of the Internet
If you have a database of e-mail addresses, send out the event details to people via this medium. Moreover, use all your social networking accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, to tell people about the upcoming event. In fact, Facebook even has an events application, that allows you to post the venue, date and time of the event, and ask other users to send their RSVP. This is one of the modern advertising methods that will help you gain a valuable audience for your event.

Hand Out Flyers
You would assume that posters and flyers have the same function, but there is a difference. For one, you cannot send out posters to a large audience. In such a case, the flyers are more helpful. Flyers can be distributed at street corners, put up on windshields, and sent out with the local newspaper. They definitely help you attract a larger group of people as audience for your event. The flyer designs, posters and newspaper advertisements should be the same, or at least have a common background to advertise the event.

Give out Souvenirs at the Event
Depending on your event, you could give out promotional products such as caps or t-shirts to those who booked their tickets earliest, or all those who made it to the event. This will leave behind a good and positive memory of the blast they had at your event.

Keeping a log of the number of people that attended the event, and where they heard about the event will help you get an idea about which one of your advertising ideas for events that you have organized were most effective. This will help you divert your energy towards the right marketing and advertising campaign for the next event you hold. Lastly, ensure that the actual event matches up to your advertising campaign. No one likes false promises of a good time. Good luck!