Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Download PDFDownload PDF
Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Laura Thrasher
/
March 12, 2014
Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

MIN
/
March 12, 2014
About the Episode
Episode Highlights
Meet our Guest
Episode Transcript

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!
Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Get the Report

Not a valid e-mail address

Great, thank ya!

You can now access the content.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Blog

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Panelists
No items found.
Introduction
Introduction

Great, thank ya!

You can now access the content.
Download NowDownload Now
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!
Panelists
No items found.
Infographic

When's the Best Time to Promote Your Event?

Discover the best time to promote your event including when to launch, ramp up marketing, send event reminders, and more.
Download InfographicDownload Infographic

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!

Collecting payments with online forms is easy, but first, you have to choose the right payment gateway. Browse the providers in our gateway credit card processing comparison chart to find the best option for your business. Then sign up for Formstack Forms, customize your payment forms, and start collecting profits in minutes.

Online Payment Gateway Comparison Chart

NOTE: These amounts reflect the monthly subscription for the payment provider. Formstack does not charge a fee to integrate with any of our payment partners.

FEATURES
Authorize.Net
Bambora
Chargify
First Data
PayPal
PayPal Pro
PayPal Payflow
Stripe
WePay
Monthly Fees
$25
$25
$149+
Contact First Data
$0
$25
$0-$25
$0
$0
Transaction Fees
$2.9% + 30¢
$2.9% + 30¢
N/A
Contact First Data
$2.9% + 30¢
$2.9% + 30¢
10¢
$2.9% + 30¢
$2.9% + 30¢
Countries
5
8
Based on payment gateway
50+
203
3
4
25
USA
Currencies
11
2
23
140
25
23
25
135+
1
Card Types
6
13
Based on payment gateway
5
9
9
5
6
4
Limits
None
None
Based on payment gateway
None
$10,000
None
None
None
None
Form Payments
Recurring Billing
Mobile Payments
PSD2 Compliant

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!

If you are hosting an event to increase customer engagement, you know that the goal is to get people through the door. By choosing your event promotion timeline carefully, you can maximize your event’s exposure and increase attendance. Promoting an event requires a delicate balance: you want to engage your audience and generate excitement without becoming tiresome or spammy.

When to Launch

Save-the-dates and occasional teasers can start as soon as you have a firm time, location, and event landing page. Remember: you can’t undo the impression a bad invitation creates, so hold off on this step until everything looks great. Your event landing page should be accurate and the registration form should be functional. If you’re not ready to accept registrations yet, you can include a simple contact form to collect email addresses. The sweet spot to kick off your promotional push is 45 to 90 days out. This gets your event on customers’ radar and also gives your marketing team time to build buzz without becoming stale. Larger, more elaborate events may require more lead time, and informal or online-only events may need less. Before you launch, draw up a clear plan of attack. Your promotional plan should state clearly what you are going to do, when and how frequently you are going to do it, and what method of communication you will use. Since your goal is to get people to the event, be sure that all of your communications have a clear link to your event’s registration page.

Ramping It Up

Your brand’s most loyal followers will be excited to help increase your event’s visibility. Keep the conversation two-way: engage with commenters and people who use your hashtag. Answer questions. People get annoyed with being bombarded with sales-y messages and want authentic, likable engagement from businesses. In the weeks preceding your event, gradually increase mentions of your event along with your normal social media content. Because images result in more online sharing, post branded images on social media. At the six-week mark, do this once or twice a week. As you approach the event, increase your frequency. In a few days before, post about your event daily. Email marketing is a must for building awareness of your event, and you need a clear plan to avoid under-promoting. After your initial “save the date” email, send out another message to coincide with your six-week push. Your email should have a clear call-to-action that leads to your registration form. Then, touch base with potential guests every one to two weeks. Segmented email marketing works great at this stage: you can send messages to those who have not yet registered and encourage them to do so. A different message can be sent to registrants, looking forward to the event and encouraging them to invite family and friends.

long form tips

Pro Tip: Delivering branded tickets to event registrants isn't hard. Use this simple system to automatically deliver beautiful tickets to event attendees as soon as they sign up.

Reminders are Essential

To avoid no-shows, you have to give people a helpful nudge. Set up your email marketing platform to send a reminder email a few days before your event to those who have RSVP’d. Consider investing in an automated voicemail service to remind your registrants to actually show up. Or try something new to increase attendance: Twitter and text messaging are two of the fastest-growing methods for influencing customers’ decisions to attend your event. (Just be sure to collect the necessary contact info during registration!)

During and After the Event

Post your event hashtag prominently to encourage online interaction. If you can, designate a live-tweeter/live-Facebooker/live-Instagrammer for the event. Have them keep an eye on your social media accounts to see what people are posting about your event. Retweet or share great photos or comments. (If you don’t have the manpower to do this at the event itself, do it the next day.) Immediately following an event is the best time to convert attendees into customers, so follow up with an email that includes an event survey to gather important feedback to help you plan for your next event.

Discover how easy it can be to manage your events and boost attendance with Formstack. Our event management tools make it quick and easy to launch event registrations, create tickets,  and more!
Laura Thrasher
Laura is a freelance writer based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She previously taught English at the University of Alabama and enjoys sharing what she knows through speaking and writing.
More Articles
Meet The Host
Content Marketing Manager
Connect
Lindsay is a writer with a background in journalism and loves getting to flex her interview skills as host of Practically Genius. She manages Formstack's blog and long-form reports, like the 2022 State of Digital Maturity: Advancing Workflow Automation.