'Fresh' UK Marketing News from theMarketingblog

How to promote an event for free / @Mitingu

When was the last time you bought tickets to an event the old-fashioned way? Quite a tough question? Perhaps you bought tickets for your child’s school play. The reality is that, since nearly all ticket sales have moved online, event promotion has drastically changed. 

Whether you’re promoting a conference, music festival, training workshop or charity fundraiser, there are many free ways to promote events online  http://www.mitingu.com/

These are our top tips and a few creative ideas to get you started...

Digital Media

Video can be expensive to produce but there are creative ways to whip up a video to draw attention to your event. Do you have footage from a previous event? If so, consider pulling out specific elements and freshening it up with a new background track. If you're hosting a music event, ask your acts for permission to use their footage to promote your lineup. Once you’ve got a video put together, embed on your event page, and share to your audience via social media.

Content Marketing

Create a unique content that ties into your event. If you’re organizing a conference, engage your speakers to answer a few questions for an interview style post or find out if they have content to share as a guest post. If you’re planning  a theatre show, ask actors to share their stories or engage your social audience to suggest questions. Tell the stories of those touched by your charity or cause, if you’re organizing a charity event.

Social Media

This is probably the most referenced method for promoting an event for free online. Just beware that over-promotion on social media isn’t well received. Promotional posts shouldn’t account for more than 10-20% of your daily or weekly updates. Find creative ways to plug your event by sharing a blog post like those mentioned above or an infographic related to the theme or topic of your event. If you’re managing a conference or business event, check out Evvnt’s post on using LinkedIn to promote events.

News Flash If you’re planning an event in January, don’t forget we’re still running our 50% off January promotion! 

Get Fans to do it For You

Incentivize your audience and attendees to share the event with their friends. For example, if an attendee signups up 5 friends they receive a free drink, free ticket upgrade, free track of your headlining artist. Alternatively, you could giveaway tickets to your event to create shares and buzz around your event. Encourage your audience to share the contest in order to boost entries or chance of winning.

Email Marketing

Send event invitations to your existing database. If you don’t have an existing database, once you’ve started to receive registrations you can email them updates and news about your event as well as any special offers. If you are collecting personal information in order to create a tailored event experience, consider how you can start using this information through email ahead of the event.

We don’t profess to hold the secret formula to promoting events for free or argue that these ideas are revolutionary. We do however, focus on providing our users with the best possible, free-to-set-up platform, enabling them to create uncluttered, professional event sites, promote and sell tickets, register attendees and view the success of the event with at-a-glance analytics.

Create a free account and explore the platform in your own time. We’re just a click or call away to answer your questions and if you’re planning an event in January, don’t forget we’re still running our 50% off January promotion!

 Graphic at the top by Waag Society

-See how your #University / #BusinessSchool ranks in our new marketing tool #EduRank

-See how your #University / #BusinessSchool ranks in our new marketing tool #EduRank – http://www.edurank.co.uk 

3 years after the release of the Education Engagement Index (the first online tool to measure Universities’ and Colleges’ social media engagement) the Net Natives team have overhauled the service and relaunched it at EduRank.co.uk.

Edu Rank is the latest education marketing tool to help marketers compare Universitis’, Colleges’ and Business Schools’ social-media performance. Education institutions will be able to monitor their social media performance on a monthly basis and crucially, compare themselves with up to 3 other Universities, Colleges or Business Schools (see EduRank.biz)

Net Natives have also updated the way that institutions are scored and ranked in the index, taking into account the way that education marketers use social media to promote their institution vs using it for student engagement.

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Focused on traditional, end-to-end market research projects - Hard to reach B2B or B2C audiences, sensitive subject, multiple countries, mixed methodology, tough deadlines / insight engineers

At insight engineers we find that our business generally fits into two types of work:

  • Primary research – Traditional, end-to-end market research projects. We tend to conduct work in this area when there’s something ‘tricky’ about it. Hard to reach B2B or B2C audience, sensitive subject, multiple countries, mixed methodology, tough deadlines, etc. We don’t have a field-force to maintain, so we can be method-neutral. We’ll design a bespoke solution based on its merits, rather than sell you a ‘product’.
  • Consultancy – We’re nothing if not grey haired! The benefit of which we’re able to pass on to all our clients, from advising on building an insight function from the ground up, to making sure you’re getting the best value for money from your existing agencies.

insight engineers

Here are some of the things which kept us busy in 2014:

  • Delivered a monthly C-Sat Programme, with leisure and business customers, identifying and tracking ‘magic’ and ‘miserable’ moments in the purchase process, and proving how ‘going-beyond’ to solve a problem strengthens the sales experience, promotes advocacy and enhances future brand loyalty
  • Developed an approach, with SMEs, to evaluate the appetite for a new Cyber security service, from initial proposition through to fine-tuning the precise offer content and sizing the potential uptake within tiered ‘go-to-market’ product bands
  • Identified and took forward drivers of advocacy into helping the client create and craft a motivating reward programme and marketing initiatives for convenience retail (for the next 1-2 years)
  • Identified the resonant and differentiating phrases, territories and look and feel of communication for a low engagement B2B audience in Europe
  • Sized and confirmed the pertinent themes and facts to use for Key Opinion Leader briefings and European Conference Papers for a blue-chip healthcare client
  • Tested and revised a future pricing concept in B2B Service Provision
  • Scripted and managed senior staff briefings of a blue-chip client’s insight portfolio at a series of town hall events
  • Managed the placement of a major advertising tracker, from suggesting agencies to pitch, mentoring the client team through the pitch process and helping ensure that they received best value for money from their new agency

If you have similar issues, and you’d like our help, please get in touch.

I graduated in 1988 with an Honours degree in Geography from Exeter University. This led naturally (!) into a career in market research. 25+ years later, I’m still a market researcher.

Over the years I’ve specialised in print and radio media research, mystery shopping, customer satisfaction, loyalty, branding, advertising and customer experience research. I’ve worked mainly in the financial services, telecoms, energy, retail and technology sectors. I’ve operated in the B2C and B2B environments in the UK and round the world. Although primarily a quantitative researcher I’ve been known to conduct the odd depth or group.

Nowadays, I’d describe my specialities as running ‘tricky’ primary research projects for blue-chip clients on the one hand, whilst providing consultancy on the research process and better use of research on the other.

My work based interests are around better communication of research findings and data visualization.

Away from work, I enjoy FPS and MMORPG PC games and running (although not at the same time).

Movers and Groovers :Airbnb,Travelport,Hyatt, Delano Las Vegas hotel,All Leisure Group, Hurtigruten,Hotel Gotham,American Express ,

Maria Ersmaker has joined HurtigrutenMaria Ersmaker has joined Hurtigruten

Sarah Weetman has been promoted to head of trade sales at All Leisure Group. Weetman was previously group trade marketing manager at the group from 2012 and will now aim to boost its agency sales. She started her careers at Page & Moy in 1998 and also worked at International Cruise & Excursions.

Maria Ersmaker has been named regional sales manager for the southern region at Hurtigruten. Ersmaker has replaced Lucy Hone in the role, who left the cruise line earlier this year. Ersmaker joined the cruise line in 2011 and her accounts will now include Iglu, Bath Travel, Advantage and Travel Network Group.

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