Promoting a ticketed event successfully takes careful planning and execution. You need to spread awareness about your event, convince people to buy tickets, and ultimately ensure good attendance. This requires utilizing various promotional channels and techniques. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore proven methods for promoting ticketed events effectively.
Set Clear Goals
The first step is to set S.M.A.R.T. goals for your event promotion:
Specific – Be precise about what you want to achieve. Examples: Sell 500 tickets, get 1,000 registrations, reach 50,000 people on social media.
Measurable – Quantify your goals so you can track progress.
Achievable – Make sure your goals are realistic given your timeframe and resources.
Relevant – Your goals should align with your overall event objectives.
Time-bound – Put deadlines on when you want to achieve each goal.
Defining your goals gives you clarity on what success looks like and how to get there. As you promote the event, you can continually evaluate if you’re on track or need to adjust your efforts.
Develop a Promotional Timeline
With your goals set, build out a detailed timeline of all promotional activities leading up to the event. Here are some key elements to include:
- Early awareness campaign – Starts 1-2 months before the event. Focuses on announcing the event and generating buzz.
- Ticket sales launch – When tickets go on sale, often 6-8 weeks pre-event.
- Special promotions – Any contests, giveaways, early bird discounts etc. spaced out during the cycle.
- Reminders – Ongoing reminders, especially as the event nears.
- Day-of messaging – Last minute reminders and updates right before event day.
Plot all of your planned activities on a calendar to visualize the cadence and ensure nothing is missed. Leave some flexibility for adding promotional boosts if needed.
Promotional Tactics
Here are proven techniques for spreading the word about your ticketed event:
Email Marketing
Email is one of the top channels for directly engaging your existing contacts. Send a series of emails announcing the event details, when ticket sales open, special offers, reminders, and more. Offer exclusive pre-sales to your email list before tickets go public. Personalize messaging and incentivize sharing with friends.
According to Campaign Monitor, customized promotional emails deliver transaction rates 6x higher than generic emails.
Social Media
Leverage your brand’s social media presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote the event. Post announcements, creatives, special offers, contests, reminders, and more.
Run paid social media ads targeted to your ideal audience. Facebook reports that events with a Facebook page see 86% higher attendance than those without.
Influencers
Recruit relevant influencers, bloggers, media personalities to help spread the word. Offer them special perks like free VIP tickets in exchange for promotions to their audience.
An Eventbrite study found that 70% of consumers are more interested in attending events promoted by influencers they follow.
Print Advertising
Take out ads in local newspapers, magazines, circulars, posters, billboards etc. Display key event details, dates, imagery, and a call-to-action to purchase tickets. Print ads can effectively reach local audiences.
According to MarketingCharts, 70% of B2C print advertising readers take action after seeing an ad.
Radio Spots
Run radio advertisements on local stations or relevant broadcast channels. Radio expands your reach and repetitively gets the event message across through verbal communication.
Per Media Dynamics, 18% of listeners act on radio ads by contacting or visiting the advertiser.
Website and SEO
Have a dedicated page on your event website with all the relevant details, FAQs, tickets, etc. Ensure the page is search engine optimized with target keywords so people can easily find it through search engines.
Website and SEO should help drive 20-30% of overall event traffic, reports MDG Advertising.
TV Advertising
Local TV ads get your event in front of a broadcast audience. Short and catchy clips can generate strong visibility. Target channels popular with your target demographic.
MarketingSherpa indicates 72% of consumers feel more informed about a product after seeing a TV ad.
Contests and GIVEAWAYS
Boost excitement and social sharing with contests like ticket giveaways, golden ticket prizes, social media contests, photo contests etc. Require contest entries to be shared publicly for greater visibility.
Contests increase brand engagement by up to 54% and social media engagement by up to 5X, according to an ION report.
Cross-Promotions
Partner with complementary brands and influencers to cross-promote each other’s channels and events. This expands your collective reach. Offer custom perks, discounts or bundles to incentivize their audiences.
87% of brands say cross-promotion helps expand brand awareness, per Social Media Today.
PR Outreach
Pitch media outlets, local publications, event calendars, culture blogs etc. to cover your event. Press mentions lend 3rd party credibility. Offer media exclusive perks and access in exchange for coverage.
Journalists say press releases are the top way they discover stories to cover, states PR Newswire.
Boosted Posts
Boost key social media posts about your event by putting paid spend behind them. This amplifies their reach to a larger targeted audience.
Facebook reports that boosted event posts can increase confirmed attendees by 32%.
Retargeting Ads
Serve targeted display and social ads to people who’ve visited your event site but haven’t purchased tickets. Retargeting brings them back and nudges them to convert.
Retargeting yields conversion rates 70% higher than non-targeted ads, says WebReputation.
Text Message Updates
Collect opt-in phone numbers to send SMS reminders and real-time event updates. People heavily use and respond to text messages.
98% of SMS messages are read within minutes of delivery, according to Mobile Marketing Watch.
Promotional Partners
Form partnerships with brands and businesses to help tout your event to new audiences. Offer them exposure at the event and on your promo channels in return.
71% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands who partner with other brands they trust, says Zephr.
Unique Stunts
Stage creative attention-grabbing stunts like pop-up events, guerrilla marketing, projections on buildings etc. This generates buzz and social media chatter.
Experiential stunts deliver 31% higher emotional connection and 28% higher purchase intent than traditional ads per EventTrack.
Leverage Your Network
Encourage your personal and professional connections to help spread the word within their own networks. Proactively share event details and any affiliate codes.
85% of consumers say recommendations from family and friends strongly inspire their purchase decisions, reports Nielson.
Targeted Out-of-Home Ads
Place outdoor advertisements – billboards, transit ads, posters etc. – at high-trafficked locations relevant to your target audience. Use eye-catching creatives and messaging.
Out-of-home ads generate 20% higher awareness and purchase intent versus other media, according to Ocean Outdoor.
Guest Bloggers and Contributors
Have influencers or internal team members contribute blog articles leading up to your event, to be featured on your website and shared across social channels. Useful tips and insider info build relevance. Guest contributors expand your reach by tapping into their own audiences.
Blogs developed by guest contributors gain 3.5x more traffic than branded blog content, reports Content Marketing Institute.
Email Signup Onsite
At the event, offer ways for attendees to sign up to your email list. Send a personalized post-event thank you and future event announcements. Add email signups into your promotional cycle for your next event.
Email signups snag 65% higher conversion rates when collected in-person versus online, says Marketo.
Post-Event Survey
Send an online survey to attendees after your event wraps up. Gather feedback on their experience, satisfaction, and what they want to see in the future. This helps improve and optimize your next event. Offer incentives like discounts to encourage participation.
96% of people who respond to online surveys feel more valued by companies who seek their feedback, reports SurveyMonkey.
Promotional Codes
Offer special discount codes and coupon promotions at various times during your ticket sales cycle. They incentivize quicker purchase decisions and let you track effectiveness of various promo channels. Partners can also distribute custom affiliate codes.
Discount codes can improve conversion rates by up to 40%, according to an Everlytics study.
Key Promotional Strategies
Beyond specific tactics, here are some smart overarching strategies to make your event promotion as effective as possible:
- Promote early and consistently over time – Don’t just rely on late promotions. Gradually build momentum.
- Personalize messaging – Avoid blasting generic “one-size-fits-all” content.
- Provide value – Share useful info, insider tips, and perks that get people genuinely excited.
- Leverage influencers – Let voices with established credibility help endorse and share your event.
- Make it visual – Use eye-catching videos, photos, graphics, and multimedia.
- Reward sharing – Incentivize social sharing with contest entries, discounts, and other perks to spark viral spread.
- Remind and retarget – Frequently remind those already aware. Retarget people who previously showed interest.
- Monitor and adapt – Closely track performance of each activity and double down on what works.
Top Platforms for Promoting Events
The table below displays some of the top marketing platforms and tools for promoting your ticketed event:
Platform | Best For |
Paid ads, audience targeting, event creation, video | |
Visual content, influencer marketing, Stories | |
Email Marketing Tools (MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc) | Bulk emails, automation, design templates |
Promotional Code Platforms (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc) | Discount codes, bundled deals, affiliate programs |
Social Media Marketing Tools (Hootsuite, Sprout Social, etc) | Publishing, analytics, monitoring, scheduling |
Online Ticketing Platforms (Eventbrite, Brown Paper Tickets, etc) | Event pages, integrated promotion, ticket sales |
PR Distribution Platforms (PR Newswire, PRWeb, etc) | Press release distribution |
Social Contests Tools (Wishpond, Vyper, etc) | Viral giveaways, sweepstakes, promotion |
Text Message Marketing Tools (EZ Texting, SimpleTexting, etc) | SMS reminders and updates |
Survey Tools (SurveyMonkey, Typeform, etc) | Audience research, post-event feedback |
Key Metrics to Track
Closely monitor the performance of your promotional activities using these metrics:
- Website traffic – Volume of visits driven to your event site or ticket sales page.
- Online reach – Total number of people your social media posts and event page content is served to.
- Engagement rate – Level of social engagement (likes, comments, shares) across your event posts.
- Referral traffic – Volume of visits referred from social media, ads, partners etc.
- Discount/promo code usage – Percentage of tickets purchased with a specific promo code.
- Email click-through rate – Percentage of recipients who click links within your event emails.
- Survey response rate – Percentage of attendees who take your follow-up event survey.
- Contest entry count – Number of entries into any social contests or giveaways.
- Social sentiment – Positive, negative or neutral vibes towards your event amongst social conversations.
- Attributed ticket sales – Tickets that can be traced as directly resulting from a specific promotion.
Analyze and compare metrics across channels to determine the ROI of each, and optimize accordingly.
Conclusion
Promoting an event effectively takes creativity, consistency, and utilizing a mix of proven promotional strategies across diverse digital and offline channels. Define your goals, build a promotional timeline, track key metrics, partner with influencers, and deliver value through your content and messaging. With the right preparation and execution, you can successfully spread awareness, drive ticket sales, and ensure strong turnout at your next ticketed event.