Organizing a conference always involves a considerable amount of challenges, yet by implementing innovative conference marketing concepts and tactics, you can ensure a successful result and increase the number of attendees in unforgettable ways.
It is said that if your event is paid, reaching 80% of your revenue goal prior to the event date is crucial—this means that only 20% of attendees should purchase tickets at the door.
However, the question is, how is this accomplished? The answer lies in finding exceptional ways for your conference promotion.
Effective event promotion transcends regular and ordinary methods like social media postings or email blasts—it entails deeply comprehending your audience’s aspirations and employing an appropriate event marketing approach to render your event irresistible.
So, if you are in search of imaginative and unconventional conference promotion strategies to draw attention to your forthcoming conference? You’ve come to the right place!
In this article, we are going to explain 8 innovative and pragmatic event marketing concepts to bolster attendance, boost ticket sales, and generate excitement for your upcoming conference.
1. Encourage Early Registrations:
Early registration can be a good strategy to stimulate interest in your audience. By offering early bird discounts and coupon codes, you not only motivate people to sign up promptly but also gain valuable insights, and more engagement into the effectiveness of your marketing strategies. To use this tactic, we recommend monitoring the response to understand audience interest and refine your promotional tactics accordingly.
2. Develop an Exceptional Event Website:
Crafting a compelling website dedicated to your event is crucial to driving attendance. For this, you have to ensure your website furnishes comprehensive details such as event dates, venue, speakers, and anticipated highlights.
Try to implement intuitive call-to-action buttons to facilitate seamless registration. Also, consider designing a dedicated landing page to furnish additional event specifics and simplify the registration process using user-friendly templates.
3. Showcase Speaker Profiles Effectively:
Showcasing speaker profiles on your event website is a fundamental way to acknowledge their contributions. Elevate their presence beyond mere schedule listings by creating detailed profiles outlining their expertise and session topics. Providing each speaker with a personalized profile link encourages them to share their involvement with their own audience. Besides this, enhance visibility by incorporating visually appealing social cards or Open Graph images for increased engagement on social media platforms.
4. Harness the Power of Paid Advertising:
Paid advertisements are one of the major parts of promotion in most industries including the conference and event industry. Even around 48% of brands realize an ROI of between 300% to 500% with event marketing, due to which it is considered a potent marketing strategy for conferences.
You can run ads on platforms like Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Instagram, and Twitter to expand your reach and attract a diverse audience. Furthermore, nowadays OTT platform audiences are rising very fast, so try to invest in Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms such as Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and Netflix for targeted advertising during content streaming. Also, optimize ad targeting and ensure clarity and creativity to capture attention effectively.
5. Utilize Collaborative Partnerships:
Another strategy to promote your conference is using strategic collaborations with keynote speakers, influencers, brands, and sponsors to amplify event promotion efforts. Opt for collaboration and partnerships with sponsors who can promote your event on a large scale to your targeted audience.
Also, go for brand partnership opportunities to tap into wider audience networks. Other than this, to promote your event beyond your current customer base, make prominent use of keynote speakers and influencers in your promotional campaigns.
6. Harness the Power of FOMO:
Utilize the power of FOMO, which drives individuals to act when they perceive the risk of missing out on a valuable opportunity. Leverage FOMO in your event promotion strategies by demonstrating to potential attendees what will be the result if they don’t attend your conference, or what potential loss they will face by losing this opportunity.
Share compelling visuals such as images and videos from past events, accompanied by captions emphasizing the exclusivity of the experience.
7. Create a Customized Storybook Invitation:
This is another not-so-popular conference promotion idea that may require some investment in budget, creativity, and planning, but it could result in attendees becoming loyal customers or enthusiastic advocates for your event.
Here’s how it works:
Translate the event particulars into a concise, illustrated storybook format. (While printing is an option, we suggest considering a virtual approach to maintain your budget.) Each page of the storybook will convey event information through a narrative lens, casting the invitee as the central character.
As the protagonists, they will embark on a journey, encountering event speakers portrayed as characters, tackling session topics as challenges or quests, and uncovering the advantages of attending as rewards or treasures. The story culminates with an invitation for them to partake in the real adventure by attending the conference.
8. Conduct a Ticket Giveaway Promotion
Offering complimentary items tends to resonate with people due to innate human tendencies. Thus, consider providing a limited number of free tickets as part of a giveaway. Even offering just one or two tickets for free can facilitate a contest and generate heightened interest in the event.
Promote the giveaway through social media advertisements, introduce a unique hashtag, and ignite audience engagement. This approach not only aids in capturing more leads but also encourages attendees to spread the word, which leads to organic marketing for your event.
For instance, establish entry guidelines such as sharing content on their social media feeds or tagging a specified number of friends to expand outreach within their network. Prioritize adherence to social media contest regulations, particularly on platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
Wrapping Up
In today’s highly competitive environment, it’s essential to promote an event in a creative manner, given that attendees are increasingly discerning. Employing unconventional marketing strategies and exploring innovative event ideas enables organizers to not only attract attention but also provide a memorable experience for participants.
As the demand for today’s event attendees is escalating, it’s crucial to grasp your audience’s preferences, think innovatively, and stay flexible to thrive in the constantly changing marketing environment for successful event promotion.
